>>>How is the little FML rehab girl? I think her rescuer was surprised to find so many of us willing to take and train her, and that all of us who have done so avoid violent approaches with ferrets.<<< Little L. B. (Little Bit** as her owner calls her) is doing quite well. She has yet to bite me, but Joan can't quite claim that. All in all her problem seems to be fear of people. I have a feeling that sometime in her past, before Nancy got her that LB was punished very severely and is terrified of being picked up. Generally the first step in "training" a ferret not to bite is to find out why they are biting. We've found that the majority of biters: 1. Are playing and don't know how hard they are biting; 2. Want to be set down and have found that if they bite they will be set down right away. If the person doesn't "hear" them the first time, they just have to ask "louder"; 3. Are frightened of being held; afraid that they are going to be punished. I've never met a ferret that was just downright "mean" and bit for the pleasure of inflicting pain. The first is the easiest to break. Often just wrapping your hand around the face and shouting in it's face a couple of times, is enough to let them know that you don't like to "play" that way. Bitter Apple sometimes helps on the more difficult ones. The second is usually just a matter of not setting them down when they want it no matter what. After they settle down and consent to being held, a treat followed by setting them down seems to work very well. We hold them until we get a BIG sigh. The third one is the most difficult. We've found that having a treat in hand each time we pick it up seems to help. That, and a lot of love and cuddling, plus refusing to let it get away with the bite. There we use the scruff and shake from side to side while shouting 'NO!' in it's face. Then lots of scritching and loving. L.B. usually responds to this by sulking a lot then doing a war dance once she's put down. She's been our most challenging case so far. As I said, I am unscarred so far, but Joan has some marks on her nose and arms. (I don't think LB likes females. She also doesn't like other ferrets. Vinny, another rescue, has a hole in his nose from when he went to sniff LB. He's still a little upset from that <G>.) Dick B. [Posted in FML issue 1310]