I feel that I must post this, because I do not understand it.  I have never
believed any of the hoopla about ferrets and infants/small children, so
please keep this in mind while reading.  I had a very strange and scary
experience recently.
 
While babysitting my three and four year old nieces last Wednesday, I took
my three ferrets out in an enclosed area to play with them, with my nieces
(very supervised, of course).  My six year old has been around them alot,
and he has NEVER had a problem with them (he has never had a problem with
anyone).  Dopey, my three month old hob, hid from them and wanted no part.
Cleo, my four month old, had a serious problem.  While we were all sitting
on the floor (I make them do this or they cannot play with my ferrets),
Cleo literally started growling and ran up my three yr. old niece's arm
and proceeded to attack and bite her head.  I grabbed her off very quickly
and no harm came to my niece (my niece was laughing and did not even
realize that she was being attacked).  That playtime ended very quickly
and I will never allow Cleo around them again.
 
It really frightened me and I come from the belief that ferrets are the
sweetest animals.  I have never believed that they cannot be around small
children and figured that in all the cases I have heard of, it was lack of
supervision or neglect.  If I had not been in the room for that split
second (or had my back turned), I am not sure what would have happened.
Cleo is very sweet and has never done anything aggressive like this before.
The only other time I noticed odd behavior was when I had a rubber glove on
and was cleaning the boxes - she then tried to attack my hand.  I instantly
removed the glove and put my hand to her, and she just sniffed it (did not
bite).  I attributed this to the odd smell of the glove.
 
I am very upset by this incident and need some feedback.  Please do not
flame me, I am not trying to cause hysteria or problems, I am very
surprised myself and do not want to think that all of the previous hype
might be true.  I am a very attentive owner and spoil my ferrets.  All get
lots of attention and playtime outside their HUGE cage.  This is not a case
of neglect.  I feel very lucky that I was able to stave off the attack as
quickly as I did.  Cleo really was attacking her viciously.
 
Please respond, I am curious if anybody else has experienced similar
incidents.  I love my ferrets and am saddened that she can no longer be
trusted around my nieces (they love ferrets too).
 
Thanks
[Posted in FML issue 2761]