Hi. My name is Nicole. I am currently fostering Summer, on behalf of the Ferret Aid Society of Toronto. I have reason to believe that she is deaf and has been abused by a male at some time in her life. The lady that surrendered her to our shelter said the ferret was her son's, but since he's gone to college and has no interest in the ferret any longer, Summer was given to us. Summer came in with another ferret, Coco (the fatest ferret I have ever seen!) but it was very easy to tell that they didn't get along at all. The first night Summer stayed with me, she bit my husband's finger quite badly. I had never seen a ferret in attack mode until this day. And all he did was reach out his hands to let her sniff them. Since this time, Summer plays with me only. In fact, I am one of the only people she will allow to touch her. So, I think she's deaf because she doesn't respond to the mad jingling bell test that woke up all my other ferrets. She also gets really skittish if you sneak up on her. So, as i have never had a deaf ferret before, I need to know what to do to get her to stop biting so much. I still have to wear gloves when I take her out of her cage or when I play with her as when she gets over-excited, she bites (hard!). Summer is the most beautiful sterling silver ferret I've ever seen. I know she'll eventually make someone a great pet one day, but as things look now, she might be my foster for years. We have come a long way together though. At first she bit toes and the arch of my foot if it was unprotected by a shoe. She would automatically bite my hand whenever I reached in to take her out to play. Now, when she's tired, she rests her head on my foot (shoeless) wherever I am standing. If she wants to play, Summer lightly swats my leg with one of her paws. Seeing her war dance with me for the first time was one of the best ferret moments I've had. She'll let me kiss her head and tickle her tummy without too much fuss now. She's learned some basic signs for "no" and "follow me". When we've been playing for a while and Summer's too excited, she still bites, so this is where I've been working the most with her. If anyone has any sign language signs to teach her other things I'd love to know them. Summer is very smart and has mellowed this much in the last month. I'm just worried about her attachment issues and her overwhelming fear of other animals or males. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Nicole and Summer [Posted in FML issue 2475]