>From all of my kissey-licker ferrets to you all, Right on, Troy Lynn Eckert, concerning the need to find out why a ferret bites. I currently have an albino female who is blind. When she first came into the shelter, she got me a few times before I realized that she couldn't see. Now that I know that I make sure she gets my scent first before touching her. She's also on the LUMPS (a home-made soup I make for all the ferts) and is turning into a delightful little gal. For what it's worth, I should like to tell of a program we've put into practice here at Ferrets NorthWest FNW that completely eliminates the motive(s) for the ferret to bite. Starting with the kits, even when their eyes are still closed, we start them on the LUMPS. Mom too. At this stage they're still nursing - sucking,as it is. It appears that if you can transition the kit from the sucking reflex to the licking-sucking reflex over a short period of time, they really never go through a biting (human skin) stage. They must be kept absolutely fully fed, however, such that their little bellies are bulging. To actually feed LUMPS to the new ferret for the first time, I use my index finger. I dip my finger into the LUMPS and bring it up to the ferrets nose/muzzle to let him scent it first. Most often, they will start licking the soup-smeared finger. I let them do this for 2 or 3 licks, and then quickly dip my finger in the LUMPS bowl for a second go-round, each time making the kit come just a step or two closer to thetuna fish can filled with LUMPS. I don't permit them to lick all the LUMPS off my finger, because that can lead to the ferret grabing my finger in its "needles," aka, the bite. Instead always I withdraw my finger and dip it into the fresh, warm LUMPS, then offer it repeatedly. Within 3 to 5 repititions of this finger licking the fert has its nose just about into the can of soup, still licking my finger. Then slowly I draw my finger away from the fert's nose toward the opposite side of the can, and wahlah! the fert is licking the soup at the junction of the miniscus and the inside wall of the can. Now I've got him. He's a licker forever after. Be aware that the kit's teeth are growing and their teeth/gums need the exercise of biting, tearing and crunching solid food. To achieve the satisfaction of this need, I get the doggie rawhide (shaped like a dog bone), I soak it in slightly salted water for a few days until it softens enough so that I can take it all apart. Then with a strong pair of tin snips (scissors work too, but it's awfully hard on your fingers) I cut the rawhide into 1-inch strips about 6 inches long. I then cut this strip in half almost all the way, leaving the far end of about an inch uncut. So I wind up with one strip, cut almost into two long pieces. This I give to the ferts and stand back to watch the fun. Two or more ferts will bite into the one, two-legged piece of soaked soft rawhide and do they do battle. I'm telling you it's like a little war in their cage. They bark and squeal as they try to keep this piece of rawhide all to themselves. Sharing is not in their genes, let me tell you. Finally, after a while when they settle down, they are chewing and chewing and chewing; boy, that must feel good on their teeth and gums. All is quiet on the Western Front after that. Real Frettchenvergnuegen. Also to satisfy their chewing needs, they get whole chicken legs/thighs/backs to munch on. They really do enjoy that cooked chicken, and it's cheap. I buy it in 10 lb bags at 49 cents a pound when it's on sale. I cook it in a forced hot air oven and collect the fat and juice that drips into the collector bowl. I then bottle this fluid before it cools, and later it goes into the freezer for addition into the LUMPS the next day, along with yesterday's leftovers. In summary, let me say that in a healthy fert, no deafness or blindness, a supplementary soup diet is just about the best thing you could possibly feed a fert. And it's cheap, can make it almost entirely out of human food (meat comes from the local butcher's electric meat saw collector tray - it's free too) including vegetables and fruits and grains (cooked oatmeal), and the three additives of brewers powdered yeast, fresh garlic, and fresh onion, does wonders in repelling fleas. By making this LUMPS, I don't have the expense of that costly pet store ferret food. When I read of people paying such hight prices for that Totally Ferret food, I have to shake my head in bewilderment. When you've got 36 ferts on your hands day in and day out, you somehow come up with a better way. At least, I think it's a better way. Another neat thing that has come about with this daily feeding of warm LUMPS, is the learning process in the fert. Every time the fert starts licking, I sound a goose horn right beside his cage, so that in a short time the fert is conditioned to the sound of the squak of the goose. The sound of that squak really brings them up on point, so to speak, for they know what that squak means: hot LUMPS! I do this just in case one of them gets outside the house into the woods and I have to go hunting him down. Just the sound of that goose horn outside at the end of day when that little guys tummy is empty, well it's like a fert magnet. They come a'runnin. As the ferts are adopted I show the new owner this procedure in the ferretarium and suggest that he too continue with this fert training, just in case his new fert gets lost. Hey, it works! By the way, since feeding my guys and gals the LUMPS, never, never have I had one case of epizootic catarrahl enteritis, the so-alled green slime feces. And I get incoming ferts all the time, some in lousy shape. What'daya make of that, Hummm? I'm hooked on LUMPS - it's worked for me. Oh I almost forgot: LUMPS = Lipinski's Ultimate Mustelid Porridge Soup.(for health) Edward Frettchenvergnuegen Lipinski, der Frettchen Meister von Mercer Inselreich, Der Staat Washingon, Die Vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerika [Posted in FML issue 2051]