Biting ferret

[Kay 3,709]

Appreciate the comments guys (note the use of a non-sexist term)! I will try again with some welding gauntlets, felt like stretching the little blighter tonight, but accept I am still new to him.

He is very aggressive with his brother, continually grabbing him by the neck and dragging him around, thought he was going to kill him earlier today, but having read posts on this site, resisted the temptation to separate them. I have not feed them rabbit he is james wellbeloved ferret food.

I used to show Rotts (over 20yrs ago) and currently have an Akita (12yrs old) so I have been used to being nipped by puppies, but this little hissing ball really did mean it, I could feel the little so and so chomping against the bone, so no doubt I am going to be a little wary tomorrow..... but as you all seem to say persistance will pay off, lets hope so..........

 

I would seperate the pair before you find a dead ferret, it sounds like its hormonal , hence the general aggression

[wigan 0]

like everyones already said just keep handling it with gloves on until it gets used to you

 

we had a polecat that we got off a guy that had never handled it and just threw its food in the cage he had it in

 

the guy wouldnt even touch it we had to get it out of the cage with gloves on as it was attacking us like something possessed , we got it home and let it loose in the back yard to let it have a bit of a runaround after being cramped up in a small cage , the lad picked it up with gloves on and was just looking at it when it went wild and launched itself at him and sank its teeth into his chin ( boy did he scream lol he was only about 11 then ) i got it off him and thought that would of put him off ferrets for life

 

this was one vicious polecat and i was going to get rid of it but the lad perswaded me to keep it

 

he named it buster and handled it day and night with a pair of welders gloves on for hours at a time until it stoped going to bite when he went to pick it up eventually taking the gloves off and putting drops of ferretone on his knuckles and letting the ferret lick it off

 

it also got on well with the other ferret he had

 

it was so tame after a while it used to lick his lips he even took it out on the harness and lead for walks

 

turned out to be a very good worker , we had it for about 12 months but some theiving scumbag nicked it why he was at school

[Sterry 0]

I am not supprised people end up biters when the animals being subject to nose flicking , etc & having mustard in its mouth , there still young animals & do respond to kindness not brute force

 

my ferrets are as dosile as anything, merely used the mustard once or twice and soon got the message, im not taking away from the fact that handling is the best way to climatise ferrets to yourself, its a case of prevention rather than cure. i agree nose flicking would only make things worse and i've seen people's whos ferrets are scared to get picked up, making it time consuming and annoying when they wanted to get the ferret out, they just darted back down when they saw them.

[Kay 3,709]

I am not supprised people end up biters when the animals being subject to nose flicking , etc & having mustard in its mouth , there still young animals & do respond to kindness not brute force

 

my ferrets are as dosile as anything, merely used the mustard once or twice and soon got the message, im not taking away from the fact that handling is the best way to climatise ferrets to yourself, its a case of prevention rather than cure. i agree nose flicking would only make things worse and i've seen people's whos ferrets are scared to get picked up, making it time consuming and annoying when they wanted to get the ferret out, they just darted back down when they saw them.

 

It ends up becoming a vicious circle , the ferrets bite, the handler is reluctent to handle because of the biting, then it gets to the stage where there not feeding enough because of opening the door of the cage so the ferret becomes hungry & so on

 

I am pretty sure the origonal posters ferret is just hormonal , the animal will settle in time but if it behaves this way 6 months out of 12 then maybe the other option is to castrate , thats his decision though

[Temujin 0]

I am not supprised people end up biters when the animals being subject to nose flicking , etc & having mustard in its mouth , there still young animals & do respond to kindness not brute force

 

my ferrets are as dosile as anything, merely used the mustard once or twice and soon got the message, im not taking away from the fact that handling is the best way to climatise ferrets to yourself, its a case of prevention rather than cure. i agree nose flicking would only make things worse and i've seen people's whos ferrets are scared to get picked up, making it time consuming and annoying when they wanted to get the ferret out, they just darted back down when they saw them.

 

It ends up becoming a vicious circle , the ferrets bite, the handler is reluctent to handle because of the biting, then it gets to the stage where there not feeding enough because of opening the door of the cage so the ferret becomes hungry & so on

 

I am pretty sure the origonal posters ferret is just hormonal , the animal will settle in time but if it behaves this way 6 months out of 12 then maybe the other option is to castrate , thats his decision though

 

Hi Kay, Will castration actually stop the aggression, quite often with dogs once they have got into bad habits castration doe'snt really help, but as you can tell from this plea for help my knowledge of ferrets leaves more than a little to be desired, so I open to suggestions. I think I am going to put a harmess on him tomorrow and take him for a good stroll hopefully if he's totally knackered I will be able to handle him easier (works with dogs).

thanks

[Kay 3,709]

He is only a young ferret so i wouldnt castrate only as a last resort, see how he goes over the next few months or so, the way he is biting you & hanging on is what he would do to a jill, i had several hobs who were very ordinary ferrets when not in season but once the hormones were all over the place they would bite, & hang on , total change in personality

 

Theres lots of people reporting there ferrets are in season right now a little early than the norm but thats the way it is, are there testicles visable or do they drop down & go back up as sometimes can happen early on

[stealthy1 3,964]

Think you should give the ferrets a break, they are only seven months old, give up with the mustard and slapping about, jus walk up to the cage, put your hand against the mesh and let them get used to your scent, pick one up and put it on top of the cage, leave the other in the cage, let it wander around the roof of the cage, while its doing this you just stroke it and try to get as much of your scent on it as possible, put that ferret back in the cage and get the other one out, if the one you pick out of the cage bites you, just put it back and pick up the other again, when you have enough scent on both they will eccept you a lot faster, when you put the first ferret back you'll see the other sniff around it, when you've had both out you will see them sniff around each other, they will carry your scent for a couple of hours, that gives them more time to get used to you, leave the gloves off and just handle them as much as you can.

[scotsman5 0]

a get yourself a pair of welding gloves and take the ferret and handle him every day as much as possible, not using gloves is diffidently better but man those little guys can bite and after a good few bites you might get nervous, which is a big mistake. so hang in there itll be well worth when they begin to hunt for you.

[Temujin 0]

I've used gloves today, the aggressive one was fine for a while then just casually rolled over and went for it again, bloody glad I had the gloves on!! bottom teeth still went through but only little pin holes this time, he seems to have a bit of pitbulls cuz he just kept at it, tried pushing back into him, did'nt really seem to make any difference he just hissed and went for me again, other one is not a problem, took him for a walk on a harness and if he was going to have me it would have been when putting the harness on, he just mouthed me once and was fine, seemed terrified of the grass, I don't think he has ever been outside of a cage / run before. Lady I got them from shows them and has 28!! Did'nt get to the stage of the harness with the other one, try again tomorrow.

Thanks again to everybody for their suggestions, but I ain't picking him up without gloves for a while yet!!!

[shamrock67 21]

Hi Guys

can anyone offer some advice regarding a biting ferret, I recently bought two seven month old hobs (brothers), I was assured they had been regularly handled, one seems fine and I have handled with only a little mouthing (no more than you would expect from a young puppy), the other is a right mother , every time I pick him up he bites and I mean he chomps!! each time drawing blood, I've tried the 'hold him by the scruff and hiss' , hold him by the scruff and say no' , 'tap his nose whilst mouthing and say no' routine, but tonight he has decided to try and kill my wrist, really chomped me, claret everywhere.... any advice would be appreciated or do I accept the 'mother' is not going to learn and what should I do?

thank you in anticipation.................

[shamrock67 21]

Hi Guys

can anyone offer some advice regarding a biting ferret, I recently bought two seven month old hobs (brothers), I was assured they had been regularly handled, one seems fine and I have handled with only a little mouthing (no more than you would expect from a young puppy), the other is a right mother , every time I pick him up he bites and I mean he chomps!! each time drawing blood, I've tried the 'hold him by the scruff and hiss' , hold him by the scruff and say no' , 'tap his nose whilst mouthing and say no' routine, but tonight he has decided to try and kill my wrist, really chomped me, claret everywhere.... any advice would be appreciated or do I accept the 'mother' is not going to learn and what should I do?

thank you in anticipation.................

[shamrock67 21]

Hi Guys

can anyone offer some advice regarding a biting ferret, I recently bought two seven month old hobs (brothers), I was assured they had been regularly handled, one seems fine and I have handled with only a little mouthing (no more than you would expect from a young puppy), the other is a right mother , every time I pick him up he bites and I mean he chomps!! each time drawing blood, I've tried the 'hold him by the scruff and hiss' , hold him by the scruff and say no' , 'tap his nose whilst mouthing and say no' routine, but tonight he has decided to try and kill my wrist, really chomped me, claret everywhere.... any advice would be appreciated or do I accept the 'mother' is not going to learn and what should I do?

thank you in anticipation.................

[Malt 379]

if you are feeding it rabbits ect dont because they will start to go for you thinking that you are food and handle them at least 30 mins a day with gloves on.

Eh? What should we feed them on if not rabbit then?

[doddsy1970 9]

if you are feeding it rabbits ect dont because they will start to go for you thinking that you are food and handle them at least 30 mins a day with gloves on.

Eh? What should we feed them on if not rabbit then?

 

I was thinking the same thing.

 

I personally think that handling them is the only way to get them to trust you but without gloves on. I can understand why people wear gloves but for me id rather feel the ferrets in my hands. That way you can feel if they are going to kick off so to speak and they can feel you stroking them. To be honest how can you feel a tiny jill if you are wearing welding gloves?

[Brimmer 220]

Gloves are just a temp measure Doddsy, until they get used to being picked up. You can certainly feel a wired jill without gloves!