DagothNereviar
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Am I being too rough on my ferret?
I recently bought a ferret two days ago, and prior to it I read up about them on the internet (I fell in love with one of my friends). However, when I bought the ferret, the pet store owner warned me that "this one was a biter" not a problem, I thought to myself, I've read up about the different ways to trian and stop them, and I feel confident that I'll be able to handle it.
However, after giving it time to settle in, I opened up the cage to clean out the toilet area (which, being on the topic, seems to be anywhere on the bottom floor. He's chose his favourite corner, but I can't put the litterbox there because the ladders are in the way. If I put paper down, he will go there, but once he's gone there, he'll go in the other corners, and sometimes the tray. So I was wondering if I could put anything down (such as dust/odour free woodshavings) on the whole of the bottom floor, or just the side he prefers, instead of having an actual litter tray?)
Anyways, I went on a bit of a ranmble there. So, I opened the cage and let him wonder out and have a look around. As he was sniffing around, he started to go for my feet (which, I know is normal) but then he began to nip/chase them. I promptly said "No!" each time, but as he continued to try and do it, I felt I should try to scruff him to calm him down, and hopefully show myself as the "alpha male". However, when I went to go scruff him, he seems to have no extra skin on the back of his neck (or a lot less then I was expecting) and I couldn't manage to scruff him properly. Plus, as I tried, he squirmed around and began to bite my fingers once again. As this was happening I was walking over to his cage to place him back in, close it, and walk away.
This seems to happen a few times, so I went out on my way to work to try and find some spray to put on my fingers to deter him, and I found something called "Bitter Apple". It says its for dogs, but its all i could find at my local pet shop.
So, later on when I get home from work, cleaning comes around once more and again I open the cage to let him out. I spray some of the Bitter Apple on my hands, in hopes that should he try to bite me, he would be put off. He has a sniff around, and I let him sniff my feet (this time in socks) and I sit still as to not frighten him. He seems interested in them, but leaves them for the time and goes to try and climb on a box (the box he came in, closed, but I use it to put the bag of food in). I finish cleaning his cage, and feel it's time to put him back. I let him know I was there, and attempted to pick him up. However, he began to sniff my fingers and tried to bite them once again (The spray seemed to of worked, as he bit further down my finger this time. But it could of just been because it was closer) so I try to scruff him once more, luckily with success too! "Great!" I thought to myself. I moved him to eye level, and gave a strict and firm "No!". He yawned, as I had read about, and I put him back in his cage as I was done cleaning.
Natuarally, and just to spite me for giving him a telling off, he goes to the toilet within a few minutes. "Shadow!" I groan to myself (sorry, this sounds like a story in a book now, doesnt it? :P) but since i have the stuff I use to clean it out with, I thought I might aswell give it a few minutes for him to calm down. While I was waiting, he did seem to be chewing on the bars. I guessed this was just because he was wanting to be out of his cage again.
Once again, I begin to clean his cage, open up the bottom hatch, and let him slither on out and have a little nosey and a run. As I'm doing this, I give him one of the spare plastic bags (like sandwhich bags, but it wasnt open, which I use to put the dirty mess) in to play with. After a while of sniffing out the room, he finds it and goes wild. Curves his back, and jumps around backwards going crazy. This, if I'm guessing right, is the "Weasel War Dance". I was delighted when I saw him do it, and glad he was having such a fun time! I feel sorry having to keep him caged like he is, and with a few more bits of ferret-proofing, I'd leave the cage door open while I was in the room. However, after a while, he seemed to jump around everytime he touched the bag or any of the tissue, or anything which made a noise, so I was beginning to worry whether it was the war dance, or if he was just scared and agitated. I finish up cleaning, and once again comes the time to pick him up and put him back (As he was beginning to go for my feet once again!) and once again, he wasn't enjoying the idea one bit! He was having so much fun, he could of thought it was part of the game. I tried to scruff him again, to hopefully calm him down once more, but he was too excited/agitated and begin to bite my fingers once again. The bit that worried me was that he also began to "hiss". But i've heard this is also done when it's having fun, or did I hear wrong? I tried the "No!" command with little success, so I picked him up (one hand near his neck, the other under his legs) and put him back in his cage. He once again got very grumpy, and began to try to chew the bars. He's calmed down now (gone for a wee, AGAIN! I think I'll have to leave that for now) and has snuggled up in his bed.
So, sorry for the long story, but I was wondering if I was being too rough on the ferret, or was it just that it needed more time? (which, I know it does, but I don't want to spend ages doing it wrong to only hurt and frighten him and make the whole thing worse)
Also, I have the cage set up so:
Top shelf - food bowl
Middle shelf - water bottle, bed, his teddy (its a dog toy with rope for hands, and a fluffy body. Is this ok for him? He wont rip up bits of fluff and swallow them, will he?)
Bottom (which was the wire/mesh thing you get on cages, but i took that out and is now a plastic bottom) - tissue down in his favourite corner, litter box (its more a triangle with a high back)
I was wondering if I should get (as stated previously) some saw dust or wood shavings or such for one side of the bottom floor, where he loves to make his stinky messes, and something on the other side, as im sure the plastic tray isnt too nice for him to walk on. But what should I use?
Also, I was thinking of getting some old carpet and securing it (possibly with hidden cable ties fastened around the cage wires) down to the middle shelf. I was thinking this because he enjoys to sleep outside the bed too, but he's often just sleeping on the wire, so this would be comfier for him. Also, he's very messy with keeping his food in the bowl, and it will always drop straight down to the bottom floor, right near his poo/wee, which is very unhygenic as you can guess. But would that be a good idea? or would he just rip it all up? Plus, im not sure how to keep it clean, especially if I secure it down with cable ties. I guess I could break them every week or so and wash the carpet...
Anyways! I've spoke for far too long! Thank you for listening, and hope you reply  I do love Shadow very much, and when he's snoozing around and yawning he's very cute  And I also enjoyed watching him Weasle War Dance! (if thats what it was)
Thank you all, Karl (Aka DagothNereviar)
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10/4/2008, 8:48 pm
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Elfaerin
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Re: Am I being too rough on my ferret?
Hiya!
As for the litter, I've found ferrets can be fussy little blighters. I use the clay clumping cat litter for all 4 of our boys and that seems to work really well. In Bandit and Trevors indoor cage they have a litter box, in Lawrence and Olivers they don't, but that's only because they tip it over as soon as it's in there. I put litter in the corner of the cage they have chosen and that works fine, you just need to be sure it's cleaned often which you seem to be doing.
When it comes to biting, there's a few different routes you can take. Bitter apple spray never worked for Bandit and Trevor. The sharp NO's did a little but I found that time out training has worked the best.
Trevor was very much a biter when he first came to us. He'd be out playing in the garden then run up, bite, then run away. He seemed very vindictive. When he'd do this, we'd shove him in a travel cage (not his home cage, and when I say shove, I mean put him in there harsher then when you're just putting him to travel, that way the difference is known between travelling somewhere and being bad) and tell him off. He'd stay in there for 5 mins, all the time being able to watch us playing with Bandit. That way he could see that what he'd done was wrong, and if he didn't bite, then his playtime wouldn't stop short.
He's very clever and soon learnt that biting stopped his play time. It even got to a point that he'd bite, then put himself in the travel cage!! It only took him 6 weeks to learn not to bite hard. Both him and Bandit still bite now but now it's more of them placing their teeth on you rather than biting down. After all, it's how they play with other ferrets so why not their human?
We got two new boys a couple of weeks ago, Lawrence is a licker, Oliver more of a biter but already with the time out training he's learning.
You could try and get some ferretone (an oily ferret lick full of vits and mins) and put some on your hand to let him know that it's good and tasty when licked, but he'll get scolded when bad.
How long does your ferrets play time last? That could be another factor. Could be boredom if he's on his own and only gets a short playtime every night.
Also, how old is your ferret and what sex? These too could be other factors effecting the biting.
Never the less, on personal experience I highly recommend the time out training. It's been a tried and tested method for us and the boys so far.
Ferrety frolicks,
E xx
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2/24/2009, 12:47 pm
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shys mum
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Re: Am I being too rough on my ferret?
after reading this i know know how lucky i am shy is my first and only ferret who s a rescue so we dont know anything about her background
but she hasnt ever tryed to bite us or shown any form of nasty or aggressive ness to us
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9/8/2009, 11:26 pm
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