Hello one and all! Please forgive me if this suggestion has already been made...but one way to encourage a boistrous ferret to unclench its jaws is to place a finger over said ferret's nose. This method does require some presence of mind--especially if the ferret has closed its eyes, wrinkled its nose, dug those little nippers in and begun wrenching its head around. The ferret will gradually loosen its grip when it can't breathe; this is your cue to withdraw easily, gently, and above all--quickly. Sometimes this window of opportunity is rather brief since the ferret may come up for air and immediately head back for a second round--but this typically happens only with ferrets that are slow to refine their social skills (due to neglect, improper training, and/or abuse). The finger-over-the-nose treatment will not go far towards training a ferret not to nip; it is, however, an effective way to get them to let go without hurting them. Consistently gentle handling with Bitter-Apple flavored hands will (in most cases) teach the ferret not to nip. By the way, many lotions and creams have lanolin or perfumes in them that ferrets like the smell of, and sometimes they can get a bit carried away... Mary Van Dahm at the FAIR shelter in Westchester IL is an expert at handling "delinquent" ferrets; in the past weeks she has been socializing two very young and VERY rambunctious jills that were dumped in a box next to a highway. They were picked up by two good Samaritans who weren't sure what these little critters were but suspected they shouldn't be playing in traffic. These kind people (who happened to be wearing nice thick gloves) were able to save two of the six kits. We named them Daisy and Clover--they were probably never handled before and are pretty much jet-propelled most of the day, but can be picked up now without shelter volunteers having to lather up first with Bitter-Apple. All this to say that you needn't resort to nose-flicking as a deterrent. I think the jaw-popping suggestion is interesting but I wonder whether it might not be a little risky since it involves applying pressure to jaw hinges. Considering the rather small size of ferret heads and the strength of human hands when the adrenalin is flowing it seems to me that it would be easy to do some damage to the ferret, but I haven't tried it and I may be worrying for nothing. (I should add that I am perhaps overly sensitive to jaw problems since I've been dealing with TMJ ever since my second year in grad school when I nipped an assistant professor and had my jaws popped by a couple of tenured thugs--all due to improper treatment and abuse of course.) Best wishes, Anatole Mookie, Maia, Sabrina, and Poppy * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Anatole Mori Managing Editor * * Classical Philology * * [log in to unmask] 1010 East 59th Street * * office (312) 702-2564 University of Chicago * * fax (312) 702-9861 Chicago, IL 60637 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * [Posted in FML issue 1773]