My ferret bites!!Question:My ferret is 9 weeks old. Her name is lizzie. I take very good care of her... she is very spoiled. I want to love her but she bites me sooo hard and she wont let go! I dont know if this is just because she is still young or if she just don't like me. She don't really bite my husband like she bites me. I need to know what to do so i can teach her not to bite.Please help me Answer: Often I find with many small animals that biting comes from being in a situation where they do not feel comfortable when people try to pick them up. Do you use faster motions than your husband? Do you hold her differently? What do you do when she bites? Are you doing anything to try and increase her trust before trying to pick her up? Young animals need to learn to be handled and some animals will develop preferences with who can and cannot handle them. Teaching good handling manners to animals and even to their owners is part of developing good pets and good pet manners. Another thought is are you a perfume wearer? Are you calm or stressed when you go to her? Your body language, and sublt changes in your tone of voice, etc will play a role in her comfort and stress level. These are all things that need to be thought about when trying to figure out why an animal is biting and not tolerating being handled. Could you have accidentally hurt her at one point? Though since she is a baby, I opt more for manners, but if you notice it continuing or being done with others, it does not hurt to rule out an injury... If the behavior was sudden (like you could handle her but now you cannot, I would definitely rule out injury). If you can answer these questions, it will really help me and others help you further. When dealing with anything behavioral, the more info gathered can help determine if this is something that can be worked with on line or if you should be referred to someone in your area who knows ferrets who can work directly with you. I am opting now for something she is picking up from you and please get back to what I have asked - it will help... Answer: It sounds like she may have started to learn if she bites, she gets put down and when she is sick of being held, this is how she lets you know. And she has also not learned proper play manners with humans. Now, does your husband allow rough games? If so, they need to stop as they can teach roughness is OK. I want you to start doing this: When she comes up and bites, just stand up and walk away. Nothing else - she just losed the opportunity to play at that time. Then go back and give her a cahnce to be nice. If she bites again, repeat. When she is good, give her a treat as well as gentle play and holding. When you move her off and let her come back, she may think you are playing. So you will not play at that moment - she has not earned it. Put her down BEFORE she gets that biting stage. Pick her up, hold her gently, stroke her and put her down. Hopefully she will start to equate behaving with eventually getting what she wants. When she gets used to this, see if you can gradually start holding her longer and longer and always put down before she starts nipping. If these do not help, let us know and maybe someone else will have more ideas. I will also do more research into ferret behavior - been a few years since I worked with them... Bit rusty here... LOL |
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