vicous kitts

[ilovetoshoot12345 0]

i know kits bite alot but does anyone hae any tips of reducing it. I dont mind being bitten by them, but it takes the biscuit when you put food in and they latch on to your fingers instead i know they like to test their teeth so its probably just that.

[The one 8,511]

Only thing you can do is let them bite then gently push your finger into there mouths and dont pull you fingers away

[sue 1]

feed them well before handling them

[Malt 379]

There's loads of different ways to nip train your ferrets. Just google 'ferret nip training.' You'll find loads of sites, often with conflicting advice. My advice would be to read as many of them as you can, then form your own methods from what you find.

 

I can see a good few posts on nip training kits coming up over the next few weeks........

[stubby 175]

how often are you handling them?

and are you leaving dry food in the cage all the time, as already suggested, I have always held each kitt, and offered it my thumb(hurts less than finger) if they bite, keep thumb straight in their mouth, dont let them push or turn there head to the side, so as to bite with the side teeth, keeping thumb straight, push in and down onto back of tongue, this stops the biting straight away, and turns the tables, to them trying to get your thumb out of their mouths, do this a few times daily, they soon learn not to nip

 

they are not going "for you" but if you think about the situation, they have brothers and sisters, all fighting each other for food, its the way ferrets are, your finger is no different than a piece of rabbit, its bite first, ask questions later, if dry food is left in all the time, there less likely to be "really" starving, I tend to chop rabbit into pieces, so each kitt can get a bit, without a tug of war, then simply angle the bowl downwards slightly on putting into the cage, so they can come into contact with meat, before fingers

[lurcher-lass 1]

If you dip the tip of your finger in milk (depending on there age) and let them lick your fingers if the nip give them a gentle flick on the nose.

 

lurcher-lass

[Mark.B 0]

You don't say how many ferrets you have got or what you are feeding them on.If your ferrets are biting you they aren't being fed enough.Try feeding them on flesh say a half grown rabbit then handle them and you will find they won't bite you.If they have got into habit of nipping after feeding them force your fingers into their mouth and they should try to shove your finger away.The best way to tame kits down is lots of handling after feeding.

Regards Mark

[Guest bigredbusa]

i let them latch on to my finger and while they ar biting i squeeze the nose until they let go , handle after feeding as they are less prone to 'kill you' .

[Rolfe 2]

feed them well before handling them

Yes ..........entirely agree with Sue........all kits nip but if you handle them after they have been fed they are far less likely to do so.

They just see your fingers coming into the cage as another food offering at that age.......!

 

Rolfe.

[Kay 3,709]

As already stated what are you feeding & how many kits are there & what age are they ? if there old enough to be seperated from there mother & its a fairly large litter i would split them into 2 smaller groups & feed meat , dont bother handling untill they have had a good feed, smaller groups means you can also observe who is getting what food wise & sort out any smaler ones who may not be getting there share , there more likely to be the snappy ones as there simply hungry.

 

If your finding theres no food left after a sitting then you need to add more it could simply be the fact there hungry

[ilovetoshoot12345 0]

As already stated what are you feeding & how many kits are there & what age are they ? if there old enough to be seperated from there mother & its a fairly large litter i would split them into 2 smaller groups & feed meat , dont bother handling untill they have had a good feed, smaller groups means you can also observe who is getting what food wise & sort out any smaler ones who may not be getting there share , there more likely to be the snappy ones as there simply hungry.

 

If your finding theres no food left after a sitting then you need to add more it could simply be the fact there hungry

 

sorry about that i forgot, They are 5 weeks today and there fed turkey mince becuase there isnt many rabbits on our fields at the moment. I was feeding them chicken thighs but turkey is near enough the same. There are 8 kits

[Kay 3,709]

how many meals a day are you feeding

[wasp 0]

As Stubby said...it works with the little uns but the mums get clever and manage to wriggle at an angle and always bite my wrists :shout:

[ilovetoshoot12345 0]

how often are you handling them?

and are you leaving dry food in the cage all the time, as already suggested, I have always held each kitt, and offered it my thumb(hurts less than finger) if they bite, keep thumb straight in their mouth, dont let them push or turn there head to the side, so as to bite with the side teeth, keeping thumb straight, push in and down onto back of tongue, this stops the biting straight away, and turns the tables, to them trying to get your thumb out of their mouths, do this a few times daily, they soon learn not to nip

 

they are not going "for you" but if you think about the situation, they have brothers and sisters, all fighting each other for food, its the way ferrets are, your finger is no different than a piece of rabbit, its bite first, ask questions later, if dry food is left in all the time, there less likely to be "really" starving, I tend to chop rabbit into pieces, so each kitt can get a bit, without a tug of war, then simply angle the bowl downwards slightly on putting into the cage, so they can come into contact with meat, before fingers

 

Theres dry food "james wellbeloved" in the cage all the time becuase the jill wont eat raw meat for some reason. the kits dont seem to be able to crunch it down. I handle them everyday.

[Kay 3,709]

feed meat 4 times a day mince is ok but there not having to put much effert into eating it as its already broken down , they would have to work harder eating rabbit or any other whole prey & dont seem as satisfied after eating as they do when they have had to work at ripping the flesh of the bones