Ferret with a biting habit!

Ailishcrehan

I took in a ferret that was found in the Phoenix park yesterday. She is young, a bit thin but after a vet check, vets are not concerned. The only thing is she is a biter....she is not afraid of me whatsoever but will bite at any given opportunity. Any tips on how to train her out of this? She is eating well, playing well, using her litter tray, has plenty of space (an entire room, toys, scratching posts, climbing things), am talking to her constantly in a normal voice but when she bites I tell her 'no' in a firm voice, but at this rate, there are far more 'no's' than anything else!

scudzilla

Take her to a therapist, a few sessions a week for a month or so will soon sort it out, there are some great animal behaviourists about, sure other users here will put you in the right direction.

Has it got an injury? Maybe that's the cause of it biting, get it checked out by a vet

Lexie_Karas

Fair play to you for taking her in! Have you any previous experience with ferrets or is this your first time having one? If you're new to it all it can seem like an impossible task to get a nippy ferret to behave but most of the time it doesn't end up being that hard.

If she's young and she doesn't seem afraid of you but is still biting, chances are she was never properly nip trained. Can I ask if she's biting hard... is it a nip, does she scratch the skin or does she draw blood? When she does bite is she letting go quick enough or latching on? It'll be easier to give advice if I know a little more about her behaviour.

She may be trying to play, ferrets play quite rough with each other especially if they're excited. They're skin is tougher than ours and they've plenty of fur to protect it. She may not realise that you get hurt so much easier than her old litter buddies. Try playing with her with a cat teaser stick or even with a towel, it'll keep your hands out of the firing line while helping to burn off some of her energy. For the moment, untill you get to know her a little better and vice versa its no harm to keep hands for calmer interaction and use toys for play. You can focus on teaching her how to play gentley with your hands after she's settled in a little more. I have a little jill that we rescued 6 months ago and she was a dreadful biter to begin with, but it was all attention craving. She's now learning other ways to get our attention and that if she bites she gets ignore for a few minutes. It's taken her a bit of time but she's a snuggley little girl now who spends most of her time curled up on my lap.

One tip that will make handling her a little easier straight off and start teaching her that skin is for licking not for biting is to put a small bit of olive oil on your hand and let her lick it. I've yet to meet a ferret who doesn't like olive oil and they can usually be bribed fairly easily with it! You don't need to give her too much, a drop or two smeared on your skin will keep her interested for a couple of minutes. It might be no harm to give her a drop on the floor to lick up the first time, just so she knows its something tasty in case she's never had it before, once she has a taste for it try it on your hand or fingers.

Ailishcrehan

Thank you for the great advice! I volunteer with an animal rescue group, this will be the 4th ferret I've taken in. I know the basics of their care and could advise people on them as pets etc, have done lots of online research but the internet is too vast and there is too much conflicting information available! I know they are super and I do adore them, but the ferrets I have encountered have been easily handled so I am not sure how to proceed with her.

I don't intend to keep her as I have 6 cats and 5 dogs and a degu so I hope that I can put in the ground work to get her to a point where she is adoptable (again, am not familiar with how rehoming affects ferrets and any potential home would be vetted, home checked and she would be neutered before being rehomed, she was flea'd and wormed today).

She is in a small sitting room with two armcharis, two cat scratching posts, lots of things to climb on, hide in, climb in etc, two litter trays (which she is mostly using bar one pooh right at the door...was that a sign?!). She likes to burrow in to a fleece blanket for snoozes! She has little cat balls and toys and she plays with them, chasing them around the room.

When I go in to her I talk to her and let her know that I am in the room. She comes out, runs over to me and starts sniffing around and playing, climbs on me and starts biting me everywhere. If I touch her, she whips around and nips me, then it gets more frantic to the point where if I move my hand she bites it. She will bite any part of my body that she can...clothes, shoes, skin. When I picked her up today to bring her to the vet for a check up (After many attempts I should mention), she latched on to my engagement ring and wasn't letting go for love nor money.

The vet said she is young and I have to bring her back in a month to be neutered all going well.

dodderangler

If she is young she may still have a chance to stop biting if she's bit more than young she won't stop biting and that may well be the reason as to why she was found possibly abandoned because she bites
There's are ways of doing it
Some people pinch the back of the neck and squeeze to resemble the mother biting them when they misbehave
Another is to put somethin real foul tastin on your hand and when she bites she won't do it again
But best way I've learned is constant contact with her play with her even riskin bites and she will learn that your more a play partner than a threat
Hope it works for you

Lexie_Karas

I wouldn't recommend the scruffing method straight away... it sounds like she is quite excited and sometimes scruffing an over excited ferret can lead to a battle of wills which should really be a last resort! (Not that I'm against scruffing when needed or anything, but sometimes it can be a harder road to go down). Even if she isn't young and is biting she can still be trained out of it. The jill that I took in after Christmas is 3 years old... I still have scars from her first week here. Now she's a happy, snuggley girl who is even learning how to wrestle with my hands with out nipping!

I agree with dodderangler that the best way is usually to accept a certain about of biting is going to happen and show her that hands are the best things ever! The key to this is to stay incredibly calm if and when she does bite. Then either a sharp 'NO', a load hiss or a high pitched yelp immediately, detach her if needed, and stop all interaction for a minute and then go back and start playing again. If needed have some where you can sit out of reach of her and even pop your feet up on the chair if needed!

If you find she's able to climb the whole way up you while you're standing have a look at her nails. I find that my guys can only manage to climb up me easily when thier nails are in need of a clipping. A good way to clip nails is to pop the ferret on their back on your lap, put a couple of drops of ferretone or olive oil on their belly and start clipping with a good pair of pet clippers while they are preoccupied! Ferrets nails are white so you can easily see the red quick in it which makes it easy to avoid. Take your time... even if you only get one paw or nail done at a time, eventually she'll end up lying still for all of them.

If she's biting and latching on it can be easy to get a little panicky! A good idea is to have a small bowl of water at reach at all times when you're with her. If she bites and latches usually dipping her back paws into a bit of water will make her release quickly. Be sure to support her with your other hand so she's not left dangling from her teeth. Some people find just tickling thier back paws also works, but I've found it to be a bit hit and miss! The water isn't about punishment, btw, it just usually gives them enough of a surprise to make them let go

The key is consistancy with them. And it can seem at the beginning that you aren't making any progress but believe me it's worth the extra work.

Where are you based? I'm assuming you're in Dublin somewhere? If you really feel like you're struggling with her I would probably be able to pop in and meet her and try to see if I can give any more advice after intereracting with her for a bit. (I can't offer to take her myself, we're still working on our last rescues behaviour problems! She's much better with people but still seems to want to eat our other ferrets!)

Ailishcrehan

So we are going okay...I can put my hand (fingers curled under) up to her and she'll sniff me for a little while. If she bites me, I say 'no' loudly and she stops. She is however, very unsatisfied with the toys and gets very excited when I am with her, frenzied chasing of my feet! She is ridiculously cute though!

Lexie_Karas

Ah she's gorgeous! It sounds like she's bored and desperate for play. She may be used to ferret company so she might be very lonely at the moment. If she's eager to play with you there's a good chance she'll learn the nip training soon enough.

Chasing feet can be an awful nuisence, especially if she's nipping whlie she's doing it. And it can be a dangerous habit for small ferrets, they can be easily hurt by feet when they start that. I use a bitter apple spray as a deterent. I always give my slippers or socks a quick spray before having my jill around me (my lads are grand, they're a little more robust and they tend to leave my feet alone). It's amazing the difference it makes, she only had to get a taste of it once and now she only has to get a sniff of it (or even just see the bottle) and she looses all interest in feet! Anything yucky tasting should work as long as it's safe for them. I try to use it only for feet and ankles, cause I really don't want her taking any interest in peoples legs, where as I use tasty stuff on my hands so she learns to lick and be gentle to hands and fingers.

I'm guessing the rescue have advertised her as found and checked her for a micro chip? Some vets still don't think to check ferrets for micro chips unless you say it to them!

Ailishcrehan

Again, thank you for the advice! We have her advertised ( https://www.facebook.com/pages/Last-Hope-Charity/473505276009904 ) but no, the vet didn't check for a chip, will do that on Monday...I didn't think of it either! Have never heard of that spray - I presume you get it in a pet shop?

Ailishcrehan

Lexie_Karas wrote: »

Where are you based? I'm assuming you're in Dublin somewhere? If you really feel like you're struggling with her I would probably be able to pop in and meet her and try to see if I can give any more advice after intereracting with her for a bit. (I can't offer to take her myself, we're still working on our last rescues behaviour problems! She's much better with people but still seems to want to eat our other ferrets!)

I am not in Dublin, am in Meath (Kells). Thank you for the advice, tis a work in progress but I will get there!

Ailishcrehan

Breakthrough - we have had our first cuddle and NO bites!! Olive oil is working...got a lick! And have tried the 'don't bite me and you get chicken' trick which also seems to work!

Daisy2010

Hi,
Don't know if it's much help but we took in a rescue hamster once who was an awful nipper simply because she wasn't used to being handled. In fact she was very traumatised and would screech and jump lenght of cage just to try bite somebody.
Once she got used to us, being handled and felt comfortable the nipping and terror completely stopped. Didn't take long at all. She was a dotey wee pet.

Fair play to you. Keep up the good work.:)

Ailishcrehan

things are getting better and better!! Quick question for the ferret people...she keeps jumping up on my lap and pawing furiously at my arms as if she is digging...what does that mean?

dodderangler

Ailishcrehan wrote: »

things are getting better and better!! Quick question for the ferret people...she keeps jumping up on my lap and pawing furiously at my arms as if she is digging...what does that mean?

She could be just playin
She may well e a hunting ferret and could be dying to get out again
Hope your not queezy lol
Id say she just playing