Flicking the nose will never help. In fact, that is the ONE thing that you can do to make a ferret hate you. And it's hard to make a ferret hate people. Just do scruffing, say no, and hold the ferret there until they are bored. This will make them want to avoid biting you because it interrupts there free time/play time in such a way that they are really conscious of - rather than "time outs" in the cage. If the ferret comes after you after you set him or her down, continue scruffing until the ferret walks away and leaves you alone. This could take a long, long time depending on how determined and stubborn the ferret is. I had a ferret who would continue to come after me. So I started to scoop her up and carry her around in a way that she couldn't bite me. She soon learned that coming after me meant "boring time" because she wouldn't be able to play with me carrying her. So when I saw her coming after me, I went after her, and she'd run and go play. Also, if she came at me, I would clap softly in front of her, and advance, making her back off. I don't believe she means anything bad - but her biting is clamping, blood-drawing, and she shakes when she bites, and doesn't let go. Her teeth are very, very sharp and long. So avoidance is the key with her. In situations like that I recommend enrichment. Give lots of toys the ferret actually LIKES. By giving distractions and things to hide, hide in, climb, and explore, the ferrets attention will be off of the people. Once the ferret is bored, it might come after people again. Similarly, have some other ferret friends for your ferret to be distracted with. If the girl I talked about earlier gets bored, I can expect to have her come after me. It takes about half an hour to an hour for her to start getting bored and I have to change things up again. Some things we need to know to help your friend is how old is the ferret, how long has she had him, how long was he not biting her, and what did he act like then (was he friendly? Giving kisses)? My guess - and it's just a guess - is that she may have adopted him a few months ago, and he has gotten used to everything, and is not staking out his 'territory'. Also, is he neutered or not? All you can do for the time being is not give an opportunity to bite. Give him free time, watch yourself, and don't interact too much. This may be a ferret that only has a lot of interaction with other ferrets, at least until he stops biting. We have always had one or two ferrets that are just "look but don't touch", because they will bite you. The first adoption, we had no clue the ferrets were like that. Then, the other we brought in, we knew, and we just give her space. Sometimes I try to get sleepy kisses from her when she wakes up. I realize I could lose my lips or eyelids when I do this. But sometimes it's nice to get ferret kisses from a ferret who, when fully awake, would bite you. I'm a thrill seeker. LOL. A quick aside to something that is very unlikely but I will mention it anyway - a change to hard biting could mean the ferret is experiencing pain. The few times I've been bit by a ferret who was not known to bite, was when they had just had an accident, been beat up severely by another ferret, or was trapped somehow and scared/in pain. This means your friends ferret may have something wrong inside, a broken bone, rib, anything (it could be anything, really). However because she mentioned the licking, it sounds like it probably is not pain induced. But aside from that - some ferrets have been known to be fearful of scents, or have a certain scent drive them crazy. It is not common from what I can tell but sometimes you get a ferret who is very high strung. Like the type who goes nuts and bites people's hands when they squeak a squeaky toy. And by bite I mean very, very hard bites trying to either stop the squeaking, (perhaps they are trying to save the "baby" since I've only encountered this with females, who then start shaking hysterically). You will have people say all ferrets can be "taught". I disagree. Many times people who say these things may not have come across a truly unchangeable ferret. For the most part, that is true - most "hard biters" may come around at some point - but if you work with a ferret doing the normal stuff - scruffing, saying no, and carpet-dragging, making them bored of biting you, you are simply teaching them to avoid you, really, so just also avoid situations in which you will be bitten. Don't expect a hard biter to be completely handle-able. Don't expect kisses without bites. The ferret will have to do their part, and you yours. Laryssa [Posted in FML 6209]