Joy,
 
I read your message about your mom's agressive ferret you are taking care
of.  I don't know if this will help but I will tell you how I tamed my
agressive little girl.
 
When I got Lady Star, she had made the trip from Canada (also), to
somewhere in central Arizona, then to a pet store in Southern Arizona.
Someone bought her and then returned her after 2-3 weeks because they
couldn't cure her of biting.  I felt so sorry for her and visited her every
day for a week at the petstore.  When I finally made the decision to bring
her home, it was to be permanent as she had traveled quite a bit and had
been uprooted many times in her short little life.  When I brought her
home, I had not held her at all.  By the time I got her home and situated
and started working with her, I will vouch for her being a terrible biter!
She'd nail you every chance she got, as well as all the other ferrets when
she was finally allowed to be with them.  My hands looked like hamburger
during this training time.
 
I had been told to thump a ferret on the nose if they bit.  When I would do
this to her she would bite harder.  I'd thump, she'd bite and etc.
Somewhere later I read that instead of thumping her nose, to slightly tug
her whisker.  BINGO!  This worked wonders for her.  You don't have to pull
hard, just a little tug.  Course you give them lots of love when you do
this (and hold their head when you love them so they can't bite).  Give
them lots of love so they don't become afraid of you.  But I couldn't
believe the difference this type of dicipline made in my "baby".  I never
thump a ferret any more (that was bad advice I had been given when I first
got ferrets).  Usually, I just hold their head and talk to them, if they
continue to bite, the whisker tug works great.
 
Lo and behold, after I had her a year I read an article in Modern Ferret
about how to test for a deaf ferret.  I got to thinking, she reacted just
like in the article, so I did the tests, and suddenly realized why my baby
had been so agressive.  She was deaf and heavens knows what terror she went
through her first couple months until she found a permanent home.
 
She is now 3-1/2 years old, still trying to be the alpha ferret, even over
the boys, but two of her "brothers" (also from Canada), tease her
unmercifully and she has to "put them in their place" daily.  But she is a
real sweetie now and she will be with us the rest of her little life!
 
Just have patience, and maybe this type of dicipline will work for the
BEAST Mr. Johnston.
 
mjo and the zoo (Phantom, Lady Star, Bilbo, Frodo, Frito, Pepper,
Caesar, and the dogs Garth and Darwin)
 
p.s. five of these ferrets are from Canada, one from Marshal Farms, and
three we don't know (one has a p in her ear).
[Posted in FML issue 2778]