Hello,
 
I am an owner of 4 ferrets.  I received my fourth ferret, Sparkles, from
somebody at my work place.  Sparkles loves my other three ferrets and they
all love her too.  Sparkles is about 2 and a half years old.  I have had
Sparkles now for 5 months.  The only problem I have with her is that she
bites and is sometimes very aggressive.  I have trained her how to do
everything else including using the litter box.  But I cannot seem to
train her not to bite.
 
Whenever Sparkles bites, I always scruff her and look her in her eyes and
say "NO!" Then I put her in her cage for about 10 minutes for a little
"time out." But this does not seem to be working.
 
Sparkles gets overly excited very easily.  As it looks like she is very
happy, she is always dancing in front of me back and fourth.  Then, when
she gets really excited, she will bite and will turn very aggressive.
After she bites, I try to catch her to punish her, but she always bites my
hand while trying to grab her.  I have to struggle to get ahold of her.
 
I just don't know why Sparkles bites so often.  I have trained my other
three ferrets to never bite.  I cannot get through to Sparkles.  I do not
want to get rid of her because of this matter.  I am always holding her
trying to love her and talk very nicely to her.  She just does not
understand that biting is not allowed.
 
If anybody has any advice, please don't hesitate to email me.  I love
Sparkles very much, and don't want to have to give her away.
 
Thank you very much,
Shane
And the crew:  Joe, Jack, Jill and Sparkles
 
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[Posted in FML issue 3462]