I lost a 1/4" square piece of my nose to a ferret, but the situation was a extreme one -- and that is not at all an exaggeration. Besides, it almost never shows. We have learned between Steve having a section removed surgically due to a growth (benign) and Shermie clipping me that the nose regrows remarkably well. I wonder if it is because it often grows through life? No one here except us and our vet knew the cause; I told others that I had clipped my nose on the outside wooden stair edge. Since another neighbor almost separated his nose that way it was easily accepted. Anyway, Sherman had been through surgery and despite attempts to keep him calm (I am kind of the chief town crier for "no climbing" post- surgically and have been for maybe 2 decades.) he had injured himself internally post-op at home by attempting a leap against the door barrier (Afterward we had to dope him up for a week.). I was helping Sherman when an outside noise scared the bejeebers out of him. THE FUNNY THING IS THAT I THOUGHT LIKE A BIOLOGIST THE ENTIRE TIME. First there was the canine puncture. Canine punctures tend to form starred slits like a plus sign +. I felt that and I already knew it. Then I felt the incisors pop through the skin and scrape. Now, interestingly, I had tended to think of their incisors in terms of mainly grooming especially since they are so short, but the clip and scrape by the incisors perfectly meshed with the inside slits from the canines. So, it was puncture and lacerate, complete the edges of the square with the incisors, scrape and swallow. It left a missing square with two lacerations radiating out to the sides from the middle of the square. Then Sherman looked horrified as he apparently realized what had happened. In his entire life he never bit me again. Like I said, the circumstances were extreme; he was injured, he was in severe pain, and then when I almost had him settled enough to be helped that terrible noise suddenly occurred. BTW, years later, when Sherman suddenly developed a severe allergy to an antibiotic -- which is what finally killed him despite his always being medically challenged -- he actually held on to life until we could get back to the hospital to see him the next day and then would not leave my arms. He died in my arms. I've been bitten by a range of animals in my life and this certainly was not the worst bite I have taken by a long shot. The worst bites I have had have all involved primates. An Ateles bite almost cost me a hand to spreading infection inside the bursal sheath but I got lucky. Even decades later I still have a netting of chimp bite scars that haven't all faded away from my years working with them. And then there was my first serious primate bite -- my kid sister almost cost me a nipple in my early formative years when she was a lot younger, jealous of my just starting breasts and sharing a bedroom with me. (She also later bruised one of them so badly that the doctor then had my mother buy me a well padded bra at an early age for protection. You KNOW that I got ribbed at school for changing overnight, and I was too embarrassed to say why.) I find that ferret bites are rare when they are raised to have trust, but as with any other domestic animal they can happen if the circumstances are extreme enough. I have also found that they are nothing compared to jealous kid sisters. [Posted in FML issue 5017]