From:
ferrets1st@ferretshelters.com
Date: 2001-03-03 07:19:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Another Behavior Q~more concerned
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "Kris/Ski" <Ski2135@a...> wrote:
..."screaching" noises, instead of "dooking...they still sleep
together ..., as he is deaf?
In my experience, deaf ferrets are the noisiest. A squabble or even
just playing between two deaf ferrets can sound like someone is being
skinned alive. The sound he makes is not really an indication of a
problem. (A deaf ferret sneeze can bring you up out of a dead sleep
at 3:00AM!)
Since they're sleeping together, you don't have any real enimity
between them. The girls are just waiting for this little/big pest to
grow up. In the meantime, I'd just intervene when it looks like the
girls have had enough. Repeated drags can pull a lot of hair from a
ferret's neck & the ears are pretty tender.
This is something that will be impossible to discipline away as it's
an instinctive behavior rather than a learned behavior. The best you
can hope for is to moderate the behavior. Put him down somewhere
else, distract him with towel-dragging or some other game or toy. He
will eventually alter the behavior himself as he gets older.
Debi Christy
Ferrets First Foster Home