What to do when she nips?

[whipple]

Right now we say no, and if she bites hard we scruff her until she yawns. If she continues she gets a time-out.

She rarely bites hard, and hardly ever nips even. But for future reference, am I doing anything wrong? Can I do anything better?

[Deleted]

You could try just time outs whenever she bites/nips. Make sure to be consistent. 2-5 minute intervals. Sometimes ferrets won't respond to the scuffing.

[Deleted]

Hope this helps, sometimes ferrets don't know their hurting you, make it clear it hurts, not to yell ow like your passing a kidney stone, but just try not to sound bored or playful, but like, no really, that hurt! Other times their doing it on purpose because their mad at you. other then that all I know is to incurage kissing. Oh, and their is such thing as to much scuffing. And bitter apple requires more responability then a sword.

[Heather]

I use exclusively time outs or leaving off of playing. If she nips or bites when playing and it's because she has become overly excited I find that walking away or time outs are all that's needed. These methods take longer to get results but I use scruffing to give meds and to cut nails. I don't want them to associated being medicated or having their nails trimmed with being bad or naughty
ciao

[Deleted]

Treat her like her mom would:
1. Scruff her
2. Hiss at her
3. Gently drag her on the floor by the scruff. and when you stop the drag, hold her down by the scruff for about 5 -10 seconds

This will be "speaking" to her in her own language: weasel.

-jennifer

[goingpostal]

I do a sharp ouch and ignore, for deafies they get a "finger-wag" and ignore, I've never had much issue with nipping other than with young ferrets and they always grow out of it, mouthing is normal ferret play and I like to wrestle with mine, if they are gentle play continues and they've all learned to be careful with their teeth and my fingers. I've never had success with scruffing, either they act hurt and don't trust you for awhile or they come back 2x worst, my nippiest girl was that way, she'd hang on and draw blood and if you scruffed her you'd better watch out! I'd just put her up every time she nipped hard and she got the idea quick. Except for toes, lol, she still tries for those but not mine so much.

[Deleted]

We have a fierce biter, mostly because she has no idea what hands are...poor girl.

We scruff, hiss, and say no if it's really hard. If she just gets too excited we say no, and walk away.

It's taking a LONG time, so far about a month and just making progress...but it's working. As Heather said, try not to scruff too often if you plan on scruffing for meds and nail clipping (which is basically the only way to do it).

[Sherry]

Since having had fear biters, and revenge biters, I don't even bother with the scruffing anymore. Lucrezia was a revenge biter, time outs were the only thing that worked. And Willow used to scream if you tried scruffing her. Which is why she didn't even see a vet for several months(vet was in total agreement).
For over excitement with playing, all play simply stops right then, and either I walk away, or if I can't for whatever reason, I'll gently shove them away with my foot, saying "No!".

[taratee]

i thought scruffing only worked for like a few months?

[Sherry]

That's now my impression as well. However- we are all told to scruff as a means of discipline because then you are speaking ferret body language. To be honest, I'm not sure which is right, although I don't necessarily think any of it is wrong. It has to be tailored to the individual ferret.

[Heather]

I think some people find the method satisfactory. I believe Katt scruffs the naughty Koda and has been successful with it. There are just some of us (mostly those who do rescue and have ferrets who have been abused) who have decided that the use of scruffing seems to work against us. For all the fuzzes that have been through my house (over 30 at this point), I've only had a couple of kits. Napoleon was my first and only baby baby. If you scruffed him he would just hang there with his little paws crossed across his belly. When you put him down, he would scream this horrible shriek and then attack you. I soon learned it was far easier on everyone to remove him from the situation, or to do the foot shove (this is a gentle move really) and ignore him. He hated being ignored, more than anything. I soon discovered that most ferrets were very similar in response to being ignored. This method takes much longer but I find it more effective for my needs.
ciao

[Deleted]

It's really interesting to hear everyone else's methods. I absolutely hate scruffing but that is what I was told to do by vets. I may try some of these.

=]

[Deleted]

My girl Pixie is like an eternal kit. When scruffed, she'll just dangle, and practically fall asleep sometimes.

Trixie doesn't really have a scruff, so I don't scruff her.

[Deleted]

There are as many approaches as there are owners and ferrets.

If your ferret is doing the normal kit biting, then the scruffing, hissing, dragging usually works well.

fear biting may require a different approach.

Asa a kit, my Tomichi was a real BRAT biter with a strong Alpha drive. This is really bad, but one day I got so disgusted with her constant challenges that I bit her on the ear. That flat out ended her obnoxious challenges for authority. It did not put fear into her at all, she simply required a stronger signal to let her know her place in the pecking order. She is now my best-behaved, most loyal ferret. She listens best of all because she respects that packing order and abides by it. That's her nature.

Kachina, (can we say **P R I N C E S S**) on the other hand, resented the scruffing as a baby. The first time I scruffed her as a kit, she opened her mouth and let out this huge HISS with mouth wide open-LOL! Kachina is very sensitive to discipline and takes firm reprimand poorly. She retaliates by getting upset and a bit nippy (no hard bites). The best way to deal with Kachina is to talk softly to her telling her "no-no " in a very soft and gentle voice. She responds best to very gentle attention.

Those are my 2 extremes, both od which started out with scruffing/hissing/dragging, which is universal ferret behavior that the mom would do for discipline. Even though it' disciplinary action, it doesn't instill fear (when done gently) because it' universally understood among ferrets. For this reason, it's a relatively neutral starting point for disipline. From that point on, you can experiment depending upon how your ferret reacts.

Scruffing is something that should not be avoided. You may need to get immediate control of your ferret, restrain your ferret at the vet's, clip toe nails, give meds, etc,. If scruffing is infrequent and considered to be a "punishment" by your ferret, then anything stressful requiring a scruff will be twice as stressful. I strongly recommend getting your ferrets used to being scruffed when handled such that it's not considered to be a threat/punishment - it's just part of being handled. This will help both you and your ferret deal with the various things that come up in the normal coarse of living.

-jennifer

[Heather]

Hmmm, I guess I should too, explain by not scruffing. I do scruff and my guys learn to be handled in a scruff mode, I just don't use it as a punishment. I use a scruff method to trim nails, to give meds, to sometimes even hold still for medical proceedures (blood draws, and more recently des implants). I just don't use it for discipline
ciao