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Post by ferretmamaintraining on Jul 18, 2017 19:19:46 GMT -5
Our little girl (12-13 weeks old) keeps biting me. She only play bites my husband but she comps down on me and I don't know why. Today she got 7 time outs in a row, and even while I was carrying her to the sin-bin, she was trying to turn her head to bite me. I can't figure it out. After reading a lot comments (Especially from you, Linda <3) we have stopped scruffing entirely, but if anything she seems worse. What are we (and by we I mean me) doing wrong here??
Something which I am trying very hard to not let effect my training is that I have fibromyalgia, so letting her bite me and put her in time out over and over is extremely painful. I know she is actually biting because it's leaving little teeth marks and I'm not just being overly sensitive, but it's been a half hour since the most recent chomp fest and my arm still feels like it's on fire with needles poking in it. I'm committed to letting her bite me so I can discipline her with the time out,but it's hard..
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Post by Heather on Jul 19, 2017 12:02:46 GMT -5
When using time outs it does appear to get worse before better...she has to draw the line in her mind between cause and effect. As she's just a baby baby....that's going to take a bit.
We're going to break it down a bit. When does she bite you? What are you doing? What is your reaction to this? At her age, this is a game. Because of her age, she's got no bite inhibition, she's got to be taught. I will wait on your answers to these questions before going on...your answers, will depend on what I'm going to tell you
ciao
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Post by ferretmamaintraining on Jul 19, 2017 19:50:10 GMT -5
She does the normal things for her age, but what I don't understand is when we are playing, she is sweet as sugar with my husband but when I do the same things, she bites down. It's certainly isn't as hard as she could possibly bite, but it leaves teeth indents when she's done. She always plays very gentle with him and loves giving him licks, but if I'm sitting next to him she go from licking him to chomping on my hand or wrist. If my hand is up, she specifically wants to go for the space between my thumb and finger, or the other side of my wrist. Is it a dominance thing?? I've tried very hard to just do what my husband does since she seems to like that but so far no luck  |
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Post by ferretmamaintraining on Jul 19, 2017 19:53:21 GMT -5
When she bites, we were scruffing her, but we stopped that about a week ago. Now I just try to hold her firmly but without squishing or squeezing and bring her to time out. She seems so angry, though. When I come to take her out of time out, a lot of the time she'll duck away if I try to hold her to put her back where we were playing, like she's scared of me, but I don't know why..
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Post by msav on Jul 19, 2017 20:21:21 GMT -5
try and think of the differences between you and your husband. smells, strong perfume, even the soap or shampoo scent can trigger the biting. try and think do you smell different.
could it be that she is biting you and your husband the same and your skin is thinner and more delicate.
When we got are little deaf boy Bleu as a kit, he latched down hard on my GF but never did that to me. It turned out that She always prepared the meals and she smelled like the meat. It got to the point that he always latched down on her because she was always the one that fed them, and it was his way of telling her he was hungry.
you can see that there are many things that can make a ferret bite one person and not another person in the same household. figuring it out could be extremely difficult and time consuming.
With Bleu it stopped when he got older.
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on Jul 20, 2017 3:22:15 GMT -5
I never had a baby that was not a biter,
I agree that as they get older they will get better.
You can try changing the situation---like bringing them a bowl of odds and ends and letting them dig in it or some other type of diversion--- but they will be back for you:)))
Don't know if you are feeding raw, but my baby loved chicken wings. I cut off the drummette and gave her the lower half. She whittled them down to about nothing(avoid rubber toys which they dearly love but will cause blockages).
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Post by fluffhead on Jul 21, 2017 20:14:25 GMT -5
When we first got our ferrets they both enjoyed nomming the boyfriend more than me. I'm somewhat used to getting nipped and such so when they nipped me it didn't bug me. The boyfriend was terrified of them and acted like pray around them, which the ferrets found to be A+ entertainment.
I wonder if you jut need to be more consistent?
For example she's allowed to bite the husband, but she's not allowed to bite you? I know that the thing is that she's not allowed to bite hard, but she may not be able to make that distinction.
Also, are you the only one doing the disciplining?
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Post by Heather on Jul 22, 2017 16:38:18 GMT -5
Is there really a difference in bite levels or pain tolerance? My hubby's hands are a bit tougher and can take a harder bite without marking that being said I've been bitten so often I don't notice and don't flinch. He also has a tendency to pull away, which will often get him caught on a canine. I'm wondering if it's indeed a difference between people rather than a difference in how she bites you. One of the things to consider is initially go for the no bite approach. I'm busy working a couple of hobs for this right now. I have toddlers who cannot take a bite or a nip or even just being mouthed, so right now there is a no tolerance policy. Everyone (all humans) must abide. If the ferret lays on teeth then the sin bin is where they go. It's just a thought but differing tolerance levels are very confusing for a ferret
ciao
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