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Feb 19, 2012 21:58:07 GMT -5
Post by Heather on Feb 19, 2012 21:58:07 GMT -5
Do you have any small cage, crate....I don't want to say box. but that would do in a spot I suppose. You'd have to make sure it was deep enough that your wee one couldn't jump out but it would work in a pinch ciao
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Biting
Feb 19, 2012 22:08:09 GMT -5
Post by kpaz on Feb 19, 2012 22:08:09 GMT -5
All my ferrets are Marshall's and if they nipped and it hurt as kits I would squeal and if they didn't stop I would hiss and scruff them. I was really consistent with them and now Ellie and Pippin open their mouths when they're playing with me but never nip or bite, and Goomba nips now and then but it doesn't hurt. If he gets a little crazy I'll hiss and he knows he bit down too hard.
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Feb 20, 2012 2:34:50 GMT -5
Post by slinkytiger on Feb 20, 2012 2:34:50 GMT -5
Wow - deja vous. When we played with our 6-9 week old young ones little play nips were allowed & didn't hurt. THEN the 2 boys grew & put on heaps of weight / length & jaw power - suddenly their play nips REALLY had power & hurt. The little girl remained small so her nips were not so bad. We found a thread in Training Tips Thread called Bite Hold by Hurricanekatt - It has worked really well with our guys. This is the method that we used to train Koda not to bite. We tried time outs and scruffing and after several months we were seeing zero results. Then we came across the Bite-Hold method and tried it out - with great success! Here is how it works... When your ferret nips you, immediately put them into the bite hold (decried below). Hold them until they submit. PLEASE NOTE: submission is different for every ferret - this is where knowing your ferret is important. Ferrets may submit by: yawning, sighing (watch closely and feel with your hand the sighs are sometimes very small and reluctant lmao), lifting their head to expose their chin, looking away from you (i.e. turning their head to the side), licking their lips, or relaxing. Know your ferret as you do not want to hold them any longer than it takes for them to submit. As soon as the ferret submits, release them and return to EXACTLY what you were doing before. If you were hand wrestling, go back to hand wrestling, if you were sitting on the bed ignoring them, go back to sitting on the bed ignoring them. Be sure to place the ferret back in the same spot it was before it bit you. (i.e. if it was on the bed by your feet and bit you, do NOT set the ferret down on the floor, put it back by your feet on the bed). This is VERY important and in my experience, without doing this you will not see the same results. This teaches them that biting is NOT going to get them something. If every time they bite you, you put them down - they learn that biting gets them put down. If every time they bite you you ignore them, they learn that biting you gets them a few min of peace and quiet. By returning to what you were doing before, you are teaching them that biting will Not get you to change your behavior in Any way. Oftentimes this goes on for what seems like forever. I can't count the number of times that we would pin Koda, release him, pin him, release him, pin him, release him, pin him...within 5 minutes! The thing is that you MUST BE CONSISTENT NO MATTER HOW LONG IT TAKES. IT is equally important that any person who is interacting with the ferret does the exact same thing. Be sure to instruct all friends and family members on what to do - and see that they follow through. Many people have tried this and complained that it "doesn't work" because their ferret uses their back legs to claw their arms. There is a simple solution to this - Don't let them! Koda looved to get revenge by clawing us up with those little sharp back claws. You have two hands - use them. One hand hold the ferret in the bite hold, the other holds down the back legs.
To do the bite hold, place one hand over the ferret's chest, with them laying on their back. Your pointer finger goes over their shoulder on one side, and your thumb under their leg on the same side. On the other side your middle finger goes over the shoulder, and your last 2 fingers go under the arm. See pictures below:
This image is reduced by 22%, click it to view full size.
This image is reduced by 22%, click it to view full size.
This image is reduced by 22%, click it to view full size.
Read more: holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=training&action=display&thread=3306#ixzz1muBSKYqi
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Feb 21, 2012 0:54:54 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2012 0:54:54 GMT -5
I went through all the wonderful advice and found the method that worked for my fuzzy. After that, he would barely bite, but we both found that that killed the games. Very boring. So it was slowly him figuring out what hurt me and what didn't. He now just matches pressure with how crazy-fun the game is. So it seems that (barring any emotional scars) they will figure out what works if you will do the same. Caveat: Every ferret's personality being different, experienced ferrents please correct me if I have made an incorrect statement.
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Feb 21, 2012 1:22:19 GMT -5
Post by Heather on Feb 21, 2012 1:22:19 GMT -5
You got your ferret to stop biting that's the key. Where and how far and how rough you take "play" thereafter is between you and your ferret. Just remember that they should know that human skin is soft. If you entertain friends, family or small children you have to make a serious choice about never allowing your ferrets to meet them or never having your ferret play biting games. Your fuzz has already learned that he must play by your rules. I have ferrets who do not and never will understand those rules. Kits can be taught (if they're already not damaged). Many rescues have already become hardwired to escalate....once they feel they're no longer in control then it is no longer a game. These ferrets you never want to play these games with. I can play with all my ferrets, but I know their limits and respect that. I cannot play hand games with Fun-Go, or Minion, I would never dream of roughing up Lady "B", though I will tickle Lady Natasha despite the fact that she will bite as hard as she can when provoked. The difference? Fun-Go, Minion, Lady "B" when they bite they they bite to do serious damage and can do so. Their bites go through to the bone, almost every time. Lady Natasha (if you can prevent her from gator-rolling while she has you in her mouth) doesn't have the jaw strength to do anything but break the skin. I find that I would rather not have large cuts and gashes on my hands from my ferrets. It's a personal choice. I make my living with my hands, I cannot afford nerve damage that could possibly happen when a ferret bites so hard that it draws blood ciao
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Mar 12, 2012 21:13:05 GMT -5
Post by vkoslin on Mar 12, 2012 21:13:05 GMT -5
My Munchkin was a very big biter. My boyfriend at the time was prepared to take her back to the store, as a kit, because it was so bad. I was told she had likely been spayed too early and was violent-natured. I love my munchkin, but she knows how to be mean. She is over 4 years old now and although she doesn't bite much out of meanness, if she does, you will have a gash. if you punish her, she aims straight for you. And she always goes for veins (ankles rather than toes, back of my hand versus fingers.) I don't know what to tell you except don't let it ever get beyond what you think is OK. I wish I was able to control munchie better with biting, but I truly believe it's her personality, just as it was Pooh Bear's to cuddle and Jack's to be held and Jasmine's to chasing around. She's endearingly been called the white devil by ex college roommate because her beautiful white fur and precious face is no sign to how mean she can be
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Mar 12, 2012 23:47:39 GMT -5
Post by Heather on Mar 12, 2012 23:47:39 GMT -5
It's funny....I had my son's girlfriend over one afternoon and she was helping me melatonin my wee ones and I was saying this one doesn't bite and this one bites and she informed me that she had devised a system...If it's white it bites I got thinking about it and every one of the DEW's and fancy whites...bite and bite hard. The only white ferret that doesn't bite is Odin and he's supposed to be white he's a 'bino and is gentle as the rest of the brats are nasty. I have to admit my DEW's have a hard look in their eyes that is hard to miss if you know what to look for. Their intent is to hurt and you're right they strike where the most damage can be done. ciao
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Mar 13, 2012 10:03:24 GMT -5
Post by Sherry on Mar 13, 2012 10:03:24 GMT -5
My DEW's have been my worst biters, as well as my most ferret aggressive as well.
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Mar 13, 2012 10:52:00 GMT -5
Post by miamiferret2 on Mar 13, 2012 10:52:00 GMT -5
she is just playing with you. and if it doesn't hurt then she is not trying to hurt you. this is play biting. consider yourself lucky that you don't have a fear biter. they can draw blood and bite down to the bone when they are angry or afraid. my ferret is 1.5 years old (marshall) and he still play bites. i think it is adorable. he starts bucking like a little horse and makes those little hissy noises and dooks and then he latches onto my hand. but he never bites hard unless we get him too riled up and he gets angry with us. the other day he lunged at my face (he was playing in a crinkle bag from the grocery store and i made the dumb mistake of sticking my face in the bag). he lunged at my face and hit my bottom lip so hard with his nose that i cut the inside of my lip on my bottom tooth. we both stopped and looked at eachother like "ouch! that hurt!" ;D
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Mar 15, 2012 11:06:16 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2012 11:06:16 GMT -5
My DEW has been taught not to bite at all, but he is a strong and bouncy ferret, so I'm very glad. I only use towels, blankets, etc to play with him so he won't learn to bite me. Artie doesn't have nearly the strength, but if or when he gets stronger, we are going to amend to towel play too.
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Mar 15, 2012 11:43:31 GMT -5
Post by Heather on Mar 15, 2012 11:43:31 GMT -5
Towels, blankets and crinckle bags....that's how you play with Minion. His jaw strength is horrific and though he's learned alot, when he plays he gets over excited and bites. At least he no longer gator rolls too...but they're deep and often only stop at bone ciao
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Mar 15, 2012 13:19:18 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2012 13:19:18 GMT -5
Rolo used to nip out of fear of being locked up in his cage. He was already 3 months old when I got him though, and had been cooped up in a TINY cage at the petstore without even a hammock so sleep on They gave him a pigloo of all things! Anyway, he never nips or bites anymore, sometimes he will mouth me very gently but thats it. I found "yelping" worked best as well as time outs. I didn't even have to put him anywhere I just said "no" and ignored him and he would get the message.
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Mar 15, 2012 13:28:29 GMT -5
Post by Heather on Mar 15, 2012 13:28:29 GMT -5
Ignore is the natural discipline of the ferret. I've watched the business refuse to play with a bad biter or a worked up ferret. The message is picked up loud and clear, even by the deafies . That's how I taught Fun-Go not to bite. He was never disciplined....ever. He had been abused before he came to me. He was terrified of hands and feet (figure he'd been both hit and kicked) His way of dealing with this was to lash out at everyone and hands and feet in particular. It was difficult in the beginning as he would just run up to you and bite. He wouldn't run away, he would hang on and gator roll. It was very difficult not to flinch when he came dancing into the room. Shoes are never worn in my house, so he would normally go for your feet. I got to be very quick with the two step ;D Sometimes I miss the "old" Fun-Go because I'm aware that some of his change in behaviour is because he's so sick and he knows that I will take care of him. He has learned that he loves having his belly rubbed (there's a lot of belly, pred is a horrible drug ) and having chin scritches. He will lay in my arms with his feet in the air and his head thrown back so I will rub his chin and his throat. ciao
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2012 16:25:59 GMT -5
My DEW only bit when he was a kit and food was involved. Once he realized he had plenty of food and, noone would take it he chilled into the sweetest puddle of mush.
Loki my BRM (now mostly white peppered with black) bit calves/ankles bad when I got her. She stopped biting me fast with timeouts and no's
Jay wouldn't timeout only NO and of course ferrets don't learn that way. I got Jay to watch out for her more and pay attention to her triggers.
Bare feet Wearing shorts Ignoring her High pitches squeaky toys Getting beat up by a boy...and so on.
Putting a finger in front of her face helps she looks and backs away. Loki bites are pretty rare but I don't trust her around friends.
Sent from my SCH-M828C using ProBoards
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Mar 26, 2012 20:31:20 GMT -5
Post by vkoslin on Mar 26, 2012 20:31:20 GMT -5
Yep...the DEW observation is spot-on. Munchkin, although seems to change shades of white (in some pics it ALMOST looks like she has a gray tint, but never really has), is a DEW. She's just...mean. Granted, she's precious, bouncy, FAT, mostly deaf and loves to play and dook, I can NOT go barefoot around her and the second she gets ahold of my hand, she goes straight for my wrist veins or knuckles. No discipline has ever been effective for her. In fact, if you retaliate at all (hiss back, tell her "no", say OWWW loudly, scruff her, anything), she comes back with a vengeance.
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