On all ferrets biting: I think play biting is more of a social behavior with
ferrets than with some other animals, but most can be trained not do do
this.  I've seen MANY people say their ferrets have never bitten.
 
Personally, I think most animals (not all, there are always exceptions) will
bite under certain circumstances.  I think if you take a normally
trustworthy ferret, back it into a corner and poke at it with a stick long
enough they would certainly be more likely to bite.  Parents will defend
their young if they think they are threatened.  Those statements are true
 
for just about any animal.  (OK, granted, the pet guppies I had NEVER bit
me...of course I never poked at them with sticks either...)
 
Some of what you see is related to the animals size and what we humans are
willing to tolerate.  I have been somewhat remiss in being strict on
training my two; but if these were animals weighing 10 pounds or more
permitting the same behavior would be dangerous and intolerable.  It is for
this reason that it is more common to see small dogs with worse manners than
large ones.  (I'm not saying this is true across the board-it isn't.)
 
But so what if a little Yorkie doesn't heel?  You are bigger than they are.
On the other hand a Great Dane with bad leash manners would be a real
problem.  And even a 20 pound dog with bad leash manners can present a
problem if the owner is walking them on ice or snow.
 
Lack of responses-
I usually read mine in the am and am in a rush to go to work.  There are
certain things some folks have carved out a niche for themselves in the way
of responses; I will usually respond to questions on rabies, for example,
we can usually rely on Bill K to comment on show related questions like
colors, as well as a variety of other things.  (On the other hand, he rarely
says anything about rabies, and I usually stay out of the discussions on
colors.:-))  Ask about evolution and Bob C will probably have something to
say.  Some of the response rate is determined by who has expertise, how busy
the list (and appropriate respondees are that day), and what day of the week
it is.  "Huh" you say?  Well if you post a low priority (non-emergency) type
question on the FML during the week and I ignore it in the am due to my
schedule, I probably won't respond to it at all.  I'm more likely to respond
to something like that if I read it on a weekend.
 
FWIW, I wasn't too worried about a ferret losing a few whiskers, and figured
you'd probably get at least one person telling you not to worry about it, so
I let it go.  (Yes- they will grow back!)
 
-Ilena Ayala
[Posted in FML issue 2188]