We've got 23 and 1/2 years of experience with ferrets and our work out to be so trusting that some like to put their heads entirely into our mouths. Stop the physical punishment! Go to consistent times out in a cage or carry cage when the kit screws up. This is the single best technique we have ever found. Also, since he is a kit have his teeth checked during his regular vet appointments for vaccinations in case there is a problem related to dental eruption gone wrong, and get him one of these SAFE teething aids: Cheweasels, Foamy Fries, or Marshall Chews. All of those are made of dense gelatin so while they can cause a bit of GI upset if a ferret eats too much at once they do not cause life-threatening blockages unlike many of the dog teething aids or toys when used by ferrets. Ferrets will do just about anything to please their humans, but they also can get stubborn, too, so physical punishment has a strong tendency to backfire. On the other hand encouraging good behavior with loads of praise, cuddles and sometimes treats, and showing a ferret that bad behavior get it ignored (in the cage or in the carrier) works wonders. Besides, if you inflict pain with your hands you teach that hands are to be feared and fearful animals are more likely to be defensive, and you teach teach that hands and pain go together so maybe they will naturally figure that means it is acceptable to give what they receive. Face it, kits, puppies, kittens and even baby sisters (or brothers) DO bite for a while till they learn that it doesn't tend to work out to their advantage, but that not biting does work to their advantage. DO be consistent and patient. Steve isn't as persnickety as I am on that score and I never get a nip whereas he on rare occasion will. Many people tend to think of animals as stupid, but when you consider how rapidly most domestic animals learn to live within a different species (ours) rules and how bad humans are at even meeting other animals half-way a person really needs to do a bit of re-considering of who is the faster learner. :-) D, I have not read anything to indicate that insulinoma is the leading ferret health problem in terms of rates, nor above the rates of adrenal neoplasias. Is your area experiencing a recent upturn which your vet mentioned that has changed rates there, has it just been discussed recently a lot in some fora in which you participate (Mentions do tend to appear in clumps because people join in.), or did someone else say it (in which case, please, ask the person for the source), or do you have a journal article I need to see (in which case I really, really would appreciate if you would post the journal name, number/date, author(s), etc. >One of my ferrets, Tabitha (now an Angel) was at one time Insulinoma >(Hypoglycemic); however, she somehow swung to diabetic and I was giving That on rare occasion will happen even without surgery (and temporary diabetic range glucose levels after surgery are not usual). I don't have the time to look it up right now but I think that either Dr. Bruce Williams or Dr. Jerry Murray (maybe both, or perhaps a different vet or location?) wrote to the ferret health list in the past on how this can happen. I don't have the time to search right now, but you can find the easily searched FHL Archives in http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org . If I were doing that search I would begin by searching for diabetes in the content and the from containing williams or AFERRETVET. Another possibility might be a past Ferrets article of Dr. Williams and you can find the ones which appeared 6 months or more ago in http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. I LOVED the story about the ferret who tried urinating while standing up in the sick in imitation of his Daddy! The weirdest imitation we have encountered was when Hjalmar tried belly dancing while Steve was holding him upright because I was working on my helices. That was a LONG time ago. [Posted in FML issue 4717]