Hello!!  I have recently bought a one year old male ferret out of the paper
from a family that said their new born baby was allergic to him.  I am now
starting to doubt that story though.  I really do want to keep him but he
has some bad habits that seem to be coming out little by little.  Hopefully
some of the responses I get from in here will help me to train or at least
understand him better.
 
When we first got him he was very playful, and still is.  That is great and
I love to play with him but he is so playful and energetic that he doesn't
enjoy just being held or sitting still so that I can pet him.  I can't take
him anywhere with out a lead because he is so curious and energetic he gets
into everything.  I want to be able to just hold him and pet him sometimes
but he squirms until he finally gets loose.  Also, recently he has started
biting and scratching everything in site, including me and my fiancee.  He
digs holes in the carpet even after you spray bitter apple on them.  He has
also went to the bathroom outside of his cage several of times.  He doesn't
like to be bathed either.  I think he is just extremely hyper and that
affects all of this but I would like to change that because right now he has
a play area that is blocked off from anything else in the house yet I still
can't leave him in there alone with out him scratching or going to the
bathroom.  He is in need of a distemper shot on May 30th but I am not sure
if that has anything to do with it.  We have tried the ignoring him
punishment, the tapping him on his nose, getting down and hissing like his
mother would and holding him down (not so tight that he can't breath) until
he doesn't want to fight anymore but nothing has worked.  We have all of his
papers with his Vet visits and shots and even the original stuff they got
when they got him from the pet store.  Any insight that anyone has would be
greatly appreciated.  I am moving into a house with a three year old boy in
it soon and I am afraid that isn't a good situation.
 
Thank you!!!!!
[Posted in FML issue 1863]