Yesterday a woman called me, who had been referred to me by my ferret club,
with a behavior problem in a ferret she had gotten recently.  The ferret
was really hyper and just bit and bit and bit.
 
When all was said and done, I discovered that the ferret was a kit, 3
months old, had come from a pet store locally, had no run time there, was a
dark eyed white, tended to bite really hard when she reached in the cage
for him and *grabbed him from the side or back* was not current on his
vaccinations, and, she'd only had a him for a day and he had no run time
with her.
 
This is a person has 4 other ferrets she has rescued from ads in the local
paper, and is obviously a caring ferret owner.  However, she'd never had a
kit before and had no clue how to cope.  She was ready to return him to the
store, but we talked and now she realizes that he might be deaf, and is
certainly in need of a lot of excercise and socialization.  I'll check in
with her today to make sure that all is well.
 
Obviously, this ferret was lucky that he ended up with someone who was
willing to find out what was wrong and work with him.  Lots around here
aren't.  Still, for a fairly inexperinced ferret owner, or someone like
this lady, with really small children, a older ferret would be a better
pick.
 
We've got one really young one right now, a singleton survivor of a litter
of 5 - and he is a maniac.  I'd never had a ferret less then 14 weeks old.
Even with age approrpiate handling before he came home, Henry is a ton of
work.  Someone who didn't know what they were in for, might find him
frightening.
 
Ann
[Posted in FML issue 2450]