Now I know this is going to upset some people, but hear me out. Since I became a ferret parent I too have had to deal with biting. My lovable and sweet Trinity and hugable Howie were also biters in the beginning. Both were Marshall Ferrets, but still had that bad habit of niping toes, fingers and once an arm. Instead of getting fed up with them and smacking their noses or picking them up and telling them no, or anyone of a dozen other ways I had heard to make them stop. The reason being we had already tried most of them and hiting a animal is the worst thing you can do. I did get fustrated one day while my wife and I were enjoying some very spicy Thai food. Howie ran under my feet and nipped me for the final time. I stuck my finger into the EXTREMELY SPICY Thai hot sauce and then let Howie bite my finger. He let out a "yip" and scurried to the water bottle. Trinity was next. Five years later, they have not biten a human since. Out other four adoptees have also received the TABASCO treatment when they have shown signs of being a biter. When we receive a Ferret into our rescue that the former parent says was a biter, we give that Ferret the Tabasco treatment and it cures the ferret immediately. Now someone out there is going to e-mail me and say that this is cruel and evil. Maybe it is, but what is worse. Giving up your ferret because you cant stop them from doing something that is natural to them? After years of thinking about this, I have come to the conclusion that Ferrets bite each other as part of play, mating, and communication. They hopefully like their owners and will either bite them for one of three reasons, (1) to play (2) fear (3) anger. Anyone one of these is a legitimate response, but unfortunatly we humans don't have the thick tough skin of a Ferret or the mental capabitily to understand Ferret sign language. So we immediatly think of biting as vicious attacks. This is were the wonderfully tasting TABASCO comes in. By allowing the Ferret to taste your Tabasco tasting skin, they now realize you taste horrible and that may not be the way to communicate with you. I don't know I can only base this one my work with all the ferrets it has worked on. When people call the U.F.O. hotline and tell me their Ferret is biting them, I have been telling them to use TABASCO sauce (RED) and I have had 100% positive success. Now don't be like one girl who was afraid of using TABASCO and thought the Ferret might like pace picante sauce instead. Well she was right the Ferret liked pace picante sauce too much and bite her harder. She called crying telling me I was full of something. When I asked her what she used, then I told her to use RED TABASCO. Two days later she called and appologized. The little biting demon that was possessing her wuzzle was now gone and a cute fuzzy furry freeloader took over. Try it, if it does not work, your only out a $1.00 instead of $7 or $8 for bitter apple. Let me know if you try it and find success or failure. Rick United Ferret Organization [Posted in FML issue 2356]