From:
"Tressie"
Date: 2008-12-09 12:00:18 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Help: Biting Ferret
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hi Lance,
I received a surrender who was a fear biter 2 weeks ago. She turned 1
year-old last weekend. Her last owner got her from the SPCA. The
original owner had surrendered her to the animal shelter because she was
a biter. Fortunately, I knew the history of this little one and she had
been hit whenever she bit by the original owners. The last owner was
frantic because she was biting all the time, especially attacking her
hands and always drawing blood. She is a veterinary student and treated
her kindly but couldn't deal with the biting.
One of the first things I realized about her was that she was completely
deaf. Neither of her previous owners were aware of this fact. Of
course a sharp "NO", hadn't worked. Being hit only escalated her
biting. The vet student had been attempting clicker training, which of
course would not have worked either.
If you can get some background on how she was disciplined in the past
that would be helpful. Also establish whether she is deaf or even
blind. In either case she needs to be approached in a way that alerts
her to your presence. If you startle her she may respond by biting out
of fear.
The strategy for dealing with the biting depends on why she is biting.
For example, is she in pain, history of abuse, not socialized, trying to
get your attention, etc. Making note of when it happens would help you
to determine why she is doing it.
With my little rescue offering a treat was a trigger. I scruffed her
and she went ballistic and repeatedly bit my hands. I calmly put her
back into her cage so she could calm down and then took her out again
when she had.
So I avoid offering treats and scruffing. I remain calm and gentle with
her at all times. She has bitten me in the leg a couple of times and
each time she did I did not respond. My strategy with her is to gain
her trust and by not responding to the biting I believe it will
extinguish her behaviour. If she were hearing or could be scruffed I
would probably handle it differently. The past week she has been
considerably calmer, comes to me to be picked up and her biting attempts
are slowly diminishing.
A really helpful link that Sukie has recommended in the past on biting
behaviour can be found at:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/1083/probintro.html
<http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/1083/probintro.html>
Tressie
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, Lance Cummins <landrewc@...> wrote:
>
> Hi, I just received a young female ferret about 6 months old and she
has bitten me twice and drawn blood and today bit the wife and almost
punched through her thumb. Does anyone have a magic answer to stop the
biting? Is it because she is so young? At wits end!!
>
> Lance
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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