hi everyone :0 i had a really crappy experience this weekend, and wanted
to share it with everyone... *SIGH*
 
i just got a new ferret 3 weeks ago, a small baby girl.  she was not a
nipper... she was a BITER.  i had been working with her... i have 6 other
ferrets and they all learned in a matter of days not to bite..
 
thursday, i was putting new doors on the ferret cages, and i had put Lilian
in the bedroom with the other ferrets so they could play together.  when i
was done, i couldnt find her, so i put the other ferrets back in their
cages, brought some food and a litter box and water in the bedroom, and
decided id just find her in the morning.  well... SHE FOUND ME!  i (kinda)
woke up because i felt this tickling on my forehead... but fell asleep
again, because i thought i was dreaming.  the next thing i know, this ferret
has a chunk of my forehead in her mouth, and she is SHAKING me like she
wanted to kill me!  i ended up with a few puncture marks, and a couple of
tears in the skin.  i picked her up and put her back in her cage, hoping
this woudnt happen again... she was so cute, i just didnt want her to be
such a pain!
 
i kept working with her biting, and it actually seemed like it was gonna
work... but sunday night, i opened up her cage so they could all come out
and play... i picked her up, and made the comment that it seemed like she
was improving.  I WAS WRONG!  as soon as i said that, she streaked up my
arm, around my neck and started attacking my ear!  she had a death grip on
it, shaking it, and HISSING while my ear was in her mouth (dont ask me how
she did that!) i reached my hand up to get her off, and she released her
hold on my ear, but started turning my fingers to hamburger.
 
i tried very hard every day to cuddle her, give her treats and make her like
us, but i just couldnt.  i called the pet store and asked if i could take
her back, they said to bring her in, then when they saw the damage she had
done, they offered to give me a kit from the next litter.  they said that
all the ferrets from that litter had been acting wierd, and this was the 3rd
one (out of 8) to be returned for the exact same reason.
 
i KNOW they werent abused by the pet store ppls... maybe by customers, but i
dont think they were there more than a week... so im not sure about that
either.  i DO know they were MF ferrets... so maybe this was caused by
inbreeding, a traumatic travel experience, or they might even have been
handled roughly at MF... who knows?
 
please dont flame me for taking it back to the store, i already feel like
i failed her... (and myself) *SIGH*
[Posted in FML issue 1875]