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Post by lightningkarma on Nov 22, 2021 16:51:00 GMT -5
I just got a young ferret from my local petco (I know, not a good idea) and he had been there for months because he is a biter. I knew if I didn't take him no one else would. He gets along great with my 1 year old ferrets, but I am having some problems with him…
The pet store wasn't lying- he bites. HARD. And he latches on so that when you lift up your arm or hand or foot, you lift him with you. He has drawn a little blood. I have tried everything google has told me: Ferretone on my hands (bites instead of licks), the time out crate, scruffing, butter apple (doesn't faze him lol). I just don't know what else to do. Neither of my other ferrets had a biting problem ever. I trust them around children. I do not want to return him to the pet store because he will be there the rest of his life because all potential buyers will be told he bites, like I did. Please PLEASE help me! I really want my new baby to be as sweet as my other ferrets.
As a side note, he will not use the litter box. My first ferret came litter trained and when I got my second one, he just picked up on it from the first ferret. My new baby ferret just doesn't seem to get it. This is less of a problem and once I fix the biting I can focus on this issue.
His name is Sora and he is what Marshall's calls "panda colored". I actually think he might be deaf since he doesn't respond to noises and freaks out when you sneak up on him or pick him up from above or behind. Is this possible? Please help me, I do not want to have to return him to the pet store, but for my own safety I may have to if this problem can't be fixed. He is almost a year old and his bites are getting harder.
Forgot to mention Sora went to the vet and got a clean bill of health, so it's not a medical issue.
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Post by Charlie on Nov 22, 2021 21:18:12 GMT -5
Give him time to adjust to his new surroundings, first of all. He could be biting because he is afraid and not use to his new home yet. When I first brought mine home I didn't pick him up for 3 days so he could just get use to his new home. I would watch him or use cat wands to play but never tried to touch him because I really didn't want to be bit. haha Yes, they bite hard!
Give him time outs when he bites, don't scruff as they will just bite harder. When interacting with him, use toys between your hands and his teeth!! Don't give him the opportunity to bite you. It will take time to bite train him so be consistent with it.
Yes, it is quite possible he is deaf so you need to be even more patient with him. When approaching him, you might want to tap on the floor to let him know you are approaching so you don't catch him off guard. It doesn't surprise me he will bite if he is startled. So you will want to figure out how you can alert him you are near to get his attention.
What I did with my ferret to stop biting me was when he would start biting, I would leave him and he had no one to play with. After a few minutes I would go back to play with him and if he started biting again I would leave. It's the same as time outs where he has no one to play with.
It takes time so you have to be patient. They don't learn this in one day.
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Post by sarahk on Nov 23, 2021 10:03:37 GMT -5
My little guy was a biter but as soon as a made a sharp sound like a dog screaming he let go. If deaf that may not work. My son approach him with soaked kibble on a ski glove and praised him. He bites today but very very gentle to play fight. My son said mom you always say the dog does not bite the hand that feeds it so it should work for a ferret as well. If the ferret is deaf maybe a lot of exposure to lots of new things like spoon with food on it wooden or metal.
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vivi
Junior Member
Posts: 226 
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Post by vivi on Nov 23, 2021 15:11:11 GMT -5
We,also, used gloves to hold Luba at the very beggining. Also i offered her treats with the gloves. When i gave her salmon oil with a syringe and she was focus on tbat...i slkwly started to touch her in her fur and pet her.
Surely you should give him time to adopt at new environment...you will see,everything will be ok af last.
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Post by msav on Nov 24, 2021 18:44:22 GMT -5
When I had kits They all had their biting stage, some grew out of it within a week, some it took months. MY Wardie Blue was the really hard biter that took the longest.
How we taught him was every time he came up to us hyper and wanted to play and bit hard we would have a stuffed animal handy. we would stop playing with him and put the stuffed animal in his mouth and walked away. it took him a bit cause he was a wardie but eventually learned that if he wanted to play with us to not bite hard. once he stopped biting hard every so often he would get really riled up and hyper he would stop playing with us and find the stuffed toy and attack it. He ended up being one of my favorite Ferrets and I miss him dearly.
We never scruffed as discipline for biting as it would be construed by him as escalating play aggressiveness and cause him to bite harder. it turned out stopping all play with him was enough punishment.
don't get me wrong some times when we stopped playing with him he would chase us down and bite at our ankles and shoes. Just think of it as a toddler throwing a fit cause you will not play with them.
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Post by lightningkarma on Nov 24, 2021 22:30:57 GMT -5
Thank you so much everyone for your advice! The vet did a hearing test on Sora and he IS deaf. Things started to make sense because he would bite if you "snuck up" on him, picked him up from above or otherwise startled him without being in his line of sight. He is much better now that I've learned this, and I always make sure he sees what I'm doing so I don't startle him. He still likes to bite my toes and ankles while I wander around, but I've been using a combination of time outs and simply leaving him, and he's not perfect, but getting better. Lots of treats and salmon oil in between! My two other boys love to play with him and sleep with him, but Sora makes very loud noises. Not pain or anything, just loud excited noises. I think he doesn't realize how loud he's being (obviously), but my other ferrets are a little put off by it and will stop playing and kind of stare at Sora while he's jumping around yelling trying to get them to play. Will they get used to his loud sounds?
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Post by silentdook on Nov 25, 2021 10:17:20 GMT -5
my other ferrets are a little put off by it and will stop playing and kind of stare at Sora while he's jumping around yelling trying to get them to play. Will they get used to his loud sounds? They will in time. You're doing great! The poor baby has just been misunderstood and scared. A good plan is to train him to come to you with a flashing light (obviously not at his face), using treats, as this could save his life in an emergency, or if he gets out. |
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Post by eclipso on Nov 25, 2021 19:42:41 GMT -5
You can also use bitter apple spray and apply it to where he usually bites. It tastes bad for them, so they'll get used to not biting you.
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Post by Charlie on Nov 25, 2021 23:02:44 GMT -5
That is great news that he is improving and not biting as much. Tapping on the floor will help get his attention as he can feel the vibrations from the floor or if you are reaching into his cage you can tap on the cage so he knows you are there. Yes, Sora doesn't know how loud he is because he can't hear himself. You will find he will make noises at odd times too. He may even hiss at the other ferrets and they might think he is annoyed when he just wants to play. Deaf ferrets make the wrong noises that mean certain things to other ferrets who can hear. lol
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Post by griffyn on Nov 26, 2021 12:41:51 GMT -5
Mine started peeing in the litter box once I made sure all corners of the cage had cloth/blankets covering them. Not sure why it worked but it did. I don’t think they like to make their “bedding” gross and dirty. But the second all corners were covered with sheets/cloth/blankets they stopped peeing/pooping there and would go straight to the litter box. Worked for me at least
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Post by unclejoe on Nov 26, 2021 19:28:52 GMT -5
I've only had a couple problem ferrets out of 30 that didn't take to the box pretty quickly. One of them would move the box and poop behind it, so I clamped it to the bars. The other one just didn't care.
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on Nov 28, 2021 6:30:32 GMT -5
My 1.5 yr old girl that I adopted who was trained at other home would potty here and there on my carpet with potty pans all about my living room and dining room. One day she crawled up into a litter pan that had some pooh in it from another ferret and wow after that she was fantastic at potties. This took a few weeks. I guess she finally knew this was her home now and settled in -----or whatever:) I was beginning to feel hopeless about the matter.
Now some ferrets will sniff what is in the litter pan and if they do not like it will go beside it.
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Post by pablos27 on Nov 29, 2021 17:39:27 GMT -5
One of my boys, Spioh (RIP), was a serious bitter. He had a bite like a shark or hyena. For first couple of weeks my hands were covered in plasters as he would frequently draw blood when biting. Srcuffing him was pointless as he wouldn't let go and he would bite even harder. Time out in the cage wasn't for him either as he would try to destroy the cage. The best way to teach him not to bite was a combination of a few different techniques: 1. to ignore him when he bites and go to play/cuddle the other ferret 2. to make noises signalising that it hurts 3. to prize him when he is not biting you 4. to bond with him as much as possible (play, cuddle, talk - anything to show that you pay attention to him) After couple of weeks not only he wasn't biting hard but he became the sweetest ferret - he would follow me everywhere, sleep on my lap and cuddle all the time. My other ferret, Bayka, is a very intelligent girl and she has learned very quick not to bite (making noise or saying 'no' was enough for her to know what is too much). My newest ferret, Misiek, is a rescue ferret and he generally doesn't bite. The only situation when he tries to bite is clipping his nails and brushing but even then he doesn't bite as hard as Spioh did and gentle scruffing works perfectly on him. When it comes to litter training you can try a few things: - when he wakes up place him in the litter box and hopefully he will use it straight away - place litter boxes/puppy pads in all strategic points if possible - when you clean the litter box place his old poo in fresh litter so there is a scent and hopefully he will use it as a toilet not as his bed or digging box - say 'no' when he is trying to poop outside the litter box and prize him if he does it correctly Fingers crossed it will help  |
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