I have a question with regards to Bitter Apple. I have heard too many myths about this already, and I'm hoping to get some reliable info. There is a store in Ottawa's East end which is actually fairly decent when it comes to ferrets. Staff seems reasonably knowledgeable and caring about fuzzies and all ferrets are given a lot of constant handling, so they tend to be very comfortable with people when they get sold, and trained not to bite. I was a bit concerned when I first heard this that they might be accomplishing this through nose flicking. However when I asked I was pleased to see the clerk look shocked at the suggestion. He said they would never do something like that, what they do is coat their fingers with bitter apple and, in the most extreme cases, spray a flicker of it directly inside the ferret's mouth, making sure it goes nowhere else (like the eyes). My question is precisely about this. The bitter apple ingredients list a 20% dilution of isopropanol. Could a bare flicker of this inside the mouth be very harmful for a ferret, if used *very* sparingly? In the most extreme cases, it seems to work very well as a deterrent (coupled with a lot of loving handling and attention, teaching the young fuzzies to trust humans and associate them with pleasant things). Somebody posted a couple of days ago about a little female who constantly *bites*. Somebody answered yesterday that treats to help associate human handling with good things are paramount (combining both positive and negative reinforcement). I could not agree more with this. Both of the females we have were extremely competitive and willful at first, testing all the time and drawing blood on a regular basis. We used scruffings and blowing on their face but we also gave them *a lot* more of love and rewards. It takes time (months in our case), but they turned into real loving sweeties. I think the love particularly helps a lot, if you can hold them lovingly even when you have to scruff them, understanding that it is their nature to be restless and slowly and gently stroking them lovingly while speaking in a soothing and reassuring tone of voice to them. They come around really fast, and come to love you in return. Oh, another thing. I've found that my hearing ferrets go into absolute bliss when playing classical music to them, particularly opera. Has anybody else noticed this? They are great fans of --of all possible choices!-- Wagner in particular. Cheers, Jaime [Posted in FML issue 3052]