Hello!! I have recently bought a one year old male ferret out of the paper from a family that said their new born baby was allergic to him. I am now starting to doubt that story though. I really do want to keep him but he has some bad habits that seem to be coming out little by little. Hopefully some of the responses I get from in here will help me to train or at least understand him better. When we first got him he was very playful, and still is. That is great and I love to play with him but he is so playful and energetic that he doesn't enjoy just being held or sitting still so that I can pet him. I can't take him anywhere with out a lead because he is so curious and energetic he gets into everything. I want to be able to just hold him and pet him sometimes but he squirms until he finally gets loose. Also, recently he has started biting and scratching everything in site, including me and my fiancee. He digs holes in the carpet even after you spray bitter apple on them. He has also went to the bathroom outside of his cage several of times. He doesn't like to be bathed either. I think he is just extremely hyper and that affects all of this but I would like to change that because right now he has a play area that is blocked off from anything else in the house yet I still can't leave him in there alone with out him scratching or going to the bathroom. He is in need of a distemper shot on May 30th but I am not sure if that has anything to do with it. We have tried the ignoring him punishment, the tapping him on his nose, getting down and hissing like his mother would and holding him down (not so tight that he can't breath) until he doesn't want to fight anymore but nothing has worked. We have all of his papers with his Vet visits and shots and even the original stuff they got when they got him from the pet store. Any insight that anyone has would be greatly appreciated. I am moving into a house with a three year old boy in it soon and I am afraid that isn't a good situation. Thank you!!!!! [Posted in FML issue 1863]