This is my first post to the list; I'm an English vet and a newbie ferret owner. I have had multiple pets for years (dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens, rats, hamsters at various times), and have a slant towards "exotic" mammals at work. About 2 or 3 weeks ago, someone found a stray ferret wandering in a local housing estate and brought him along to the surgery. All the nurses (= vet techs) immediately were impressed by his personality, and pointed him out to me when I dropped in that weekend. I'd vaguely been thinking I might get a ferret sometime, though I hadn't planned to get one now, but I thought he was lovely too, and so I persuaded my husband we needed him. I also know I'm better able to treat species I've personally kept and therefore understand, and so I hope keeping him will help me to be a more knowledgable vet. We hung onto him the legal 7 days for an owner to claim him, and then I castrated him. Other than an exploratory nip at my toddler's hand, which didn't leave a mark, there had been no biting, and he's been very calm and confident about being handled. I am so used to dealing with dogs and cats that I expect to be able to predict their actions in most situations without even thinking about it, but I find Baldrick is so different that I don't yet understand at all how he's going to react in a given situation. He does all the ferrety things described on the list - wardancing, digging, etc. He's currently living outside (because of the smell - remember he was a fully adult entire hob until a week ago), and coming inside under supervision. He has seemed cheerful and curious about coming inside. Because of years of getting bitten by hamsters, I have been careful not to poke fingers at him and to make sure he knows I'm there before picking him up. I don't know if this is necessary - presumably he's clever enough to know what a finger is? Now to the point of this post. On Saturday, my elderly mother came to visit. We were in the dining room, which is a room Baldrick doesn't know well, and were sitting watching him as he explored. She was sitting on a chair, and he came up, sniffed at her leg, and then bit her ankle twice, hard. She was wearing tights (= pantyhose), which I never wear - I think he's only seen me in trousers. We prised him off her leg and stopped the bleeding. Fortunately, her leg seems OK. Remember the UK is free of rabies, so that isn't an issue with a stray ferret. Since then, Baldrick has continued to appear entirely pleasent. My concern is that I have so little experience of ferrets that I have no idea why this happened. It doesn't seem like aggression to me. Curiosity? Play? Do many ferrets bite hard now and then? Would he have known it was a leg, or might the texture of the tights have intrigued him? Could/should we have avoided this, is it likely to happen again? I would be really grateful if anyone experienced with ferrets could shed some light on what may have been going through his mind at this time. I have rehabilitated problem animals before, and I wouldn't mind if I understood what had happened, but I don't! Thanks for any help, and for your interesting posts, Alison Skipper in England, and a long list of family and animals including Baldrick! [Posted in FML issue 2967]