aggressive ferret?

Question

i just bought two ferrets a few days ago, a girl and a boy. the girl is quite laid back and sweet. but the issue im having is with the boy. i know ferrets nip alot, naturally. but my male ferret keeps biting my fore arms. at first he used to just lick me.but now, if my arms are by him, he grips onto my arm violently, and trys to shake it. like how a dog would. he started doing this randomly yesterday. this is obviously not normal biting, and he keeps hurting me. i've tried to grab his scruff and such. but idk if its working. also i thought about him being abused and trying to defend himself or something, but he was from petco. idk what could have happened to him there. i am just worried about him because i dont want to have to get rid of him. is he just aggressive? and or what should i do?

Answer 1

how old is he? If he is from a pet store, generally they are at least 7 weeks old; what he needs is to be handled...when he bites you and shakes like that, that is aggression that needs to be nipped in the butt now! When he bites like that, when you get away from him, hold him down so he can't move and hold hiim there until you say he can get loose. Also get some Bitter Apple and apply it liberally to your hands, arms, fingers etc and let him bite. Most ferrets will let go real fast. Whatever you do, DON'T hurt him back. He will get worse and worse if you hurt him. There are mixed opinions on whether to wear gloves or not...most times if you wear gloves, they will just bite harder. You might have a vet check his teeth, he might have a dental issue. DO NOT feed him by hand. You might try time out, but what he is trying to do is be the dominant guy in the bunch. We have one who had gotten to be 4.5 months old at the pet store and they were going to euthanize him because he wasn't little or cute anymore and he had developed some bad biting habits. We took him home and it took about 3 weeks of one on one and lots of handling without hurting him before he started coming around. We have had him for a year now and he is the most cuddly ferret you have ever seen.

Are your ferrets caged all the time, or do they get some time out of the cage to be ferrets? They need at least 4 to 6 hours a day roaming and playing. When you let them out, let them play and run around for a while before you start trying to do anything with them, that way they get some of the excess energy vented. You might get a towel or rag and flip it at him and get him to wrestle with it, but do not play with him with your bare hands yet. When you pick him up, make sure you don't give him the opportunity to latch on to you. The funny thing is, the females are usually the nippy ones, not the males.

But seriously, try the Bitter Apple and holding him down, and by all means, if you have to hold him down to immobilize him, wear gloves, just be careful and don't hurt him. Good luck.

You might also try www.ferretuniverse.com and see what they suggest as well.

Answer 2

I had two ferrets back in the early to mid 80's and My male was actually called a black footed ferret and he was mean he would drag the female around the house and he bit my dad and even bit my little brother in the privates and tried to drag my brother off by the private area causing a tear there, I would put him in his cage when he was bad while telling him badboy. I usually let my ferrets run a lot and they would even get out of thier cage but never left the yard, but after a lot of research and experience learned some ferrets are just mean by nature and others are not.

Answer 3

small ferret even older but small ones their teeth are very sharp they are still babys they also don' t relise how hard they are biting to him he is playing with you they play rough with their litter mates when he dose this grab him by the scruff and look him in the eye and tell him no if you need to tap him lightly on his bum bum and let him know what he is doing is not right also make sure you have toys to keep him busy while he is up playing if you are not playing with him when he is up this may be a way he is trying to make you play they love hide and go seek and tag get down their on their level and play tickle their belly and like i said be boss you are their boss and need to set that right now i promise in time this will stop and the niping will be small little nips just to play and won't hurt have fun and enjoy them they are wonderfull little souls

Answer 4

that's primary for ferrets. If Peanut is being picked on then in simple terms determine she isn't getting injured. in case you have self belief that she is fairly having a no longer situation-free time with this, or if she gets injured, then you may desire to to contemplate getting yet another cage and putting apart them. they are in a position to now and back get depressed in case you separate long term cage buddies yet you will in simple terms would desire to work out. possible enable them to play with one yet another a lot, whilst they're supervised. yet Peanut would have a secure place to sleep and loosen up. Lily would lose interest with out her playmate so which you may desire to to place extra toys in her cage to maintain her occupied. and determine you're taking Lily out a lot so she has sufficient stimulation. sturdy success!