My ferret has turned on me! He's after my blood! Well, ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little. Here's the story. I've had Buddy for about 2 months now, and during that time he hasn't shown the slightest aggressive behavior toward me, at least until recently. In the past few days, though, he has bitten me hard enough to draw blood three times. The first two were partly my fault. Last Friday Buddy was crawling around inside an empty cereal box. I had a mischievous urge and tipped the box up to see what he would do. He started scrambling inside the box, and it tipped back over. I bent down by the box, feeling guilty, to see if he was ok, and he came flying out and clamped onto my nose. I yanked him off, bapped him on the nose, and severely scolded him, then put him in his cage. I figured, though, that it was my own fault, that Buddy had been scared and confused, and probably didn't even recognize me when he jumped out of the box. Then yesterday morning, Buddy tried to get onto my bed, but slid back off (the sheets were too slippery to get a grip on) and fell in a heap. I reached for him, asking in a quiet soothing tone if he needed some help getting onto the bed, but he avoided me, so I made a quick grab for him and he bit me on the thumb. I reprimanded him again and put him in his cage, but thought he must just have been startled by his fall from the bed and my quick grab (though I've grabbed him like this many times when it was time to go to work and he didn't want to go back in his cage, and he never so much as nipped me before). By the way, I know many people let their ferrets run loose all the time, but for several reasons that is not feasible for me at this time, and wouldn't be safe for Buddy. Anyway, last night I was petting Buddy, and he seemed immensely content. A few minutes later I was lying on the floor, and Buddy was sniffing around my general vicinity. He started sniffing at my ear, and I started chuckling, and saying stuff like 'cut it out, Bud, you're tickling me'. Next thing I know he clamps on to my ear. If this keeps up I'm going to run out of blood. It's getting so that I jump whenever he makes a sudden move near any of my body parts. Has anyone else out there had their rug-weasels start biting for no apparent reason? Did discipline eventually cure them? Did it take long? I know he's only bitten me three times, but those teeth are sharp! Besides, I certainly don't want him biting any of my nieces or nephews (they all think he's wonderful). Currently I'm batting him on the nose, yelling at him, and sticking him back in his cage when he bites (some people also suggest shouting OUCH when a ferret bites, to let them know it hurts. I've been doing that too, and I don't have to fake it :). Any other suggestions? Any encouragement from experienced ferret owners that he will probably stop this soon? By the way, Buddy is neutered (so he can't be more aggressive because of being in season) and had his rabies vaccination over a month ago, and has had no contact with other animals except a vaccinated cat 8 days ago (so he can't have rabies, as rare as that is in ferrets anyway). I don't know if this is related, but Buddy has been chewing things a lot lately (especially the corner of the bathroom door. Naturally, he completely ignores the small nylabone that has been sitting in his cage since I got him :). One more thing. Buddy was neutered before I got him, but he was still pretty smelly, so I had him de-scented as well. This seemed to get rid of the ferret smell in his favorite haunts (under the couch, for instance), but didn't seem to reduce his personal odor very much. I bathe him every couple of weeks, but his odor starts coming back the next day and is back at full strength within a few days. Any suggestions for reducing his smell? It's not really all that strong, but I wouldn't mind making it less so. A 2 year old neutered/descented female I saw at a local breeder had no odor at all. Perhaps males are just generally smellier? John Rosloot, computer technician University of Regina; Regina, Sask, Canada [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 0272]