Frosty & Frodo are friends no longer. Frosty whilst playing hide-n-seek
with Frodo, bit him on the front part of the bottom jaw (enough to make
teeth marks) lots of screaming and pouffing. Frodo now seems terrified of
Frosty and doesn't want to be in the same place as him. They are in a
ferret court, so he can go to another area to sleep but it seems so lonely
for him.

Will he stay terrified of Frosty, who can be a bit rough with his
companions? Should I separate him again or will this make matters worse.?

I will add that Frosty can be rough with the adults too, but they give back
as good as they get and all stay friends.

Gwen

Update to my last email. I have had to separate Frodo from Frosty, have I
done the right thing?. Since my last message, Frosty now beats him up and
bullies him, making him scream and be very scared at every opportunity. Is
it likely that when Frodo is older and can stick up for himself Frosty will
stop being so spiteful, or from experience do you think they will always
hate one another.

Gwen

Another undate. He is now biting me again quite hard, in play I think.

Help

Gwen

..

Be stern and don't give up !

Nanny

"Gwen & John" <gwenjohn@eastkent.freeserve.co.uk> schreef in bericht
news:cd41bd$tkb$1@news5.svr.pol.co.uk...

Was I right to put him back in his own cage.

Gwen

One thing you might try. Put them together only for short supervised
periods. If it appears that one ferret is "winning" too much while
wrestling, join in by wrestling with the "winning" ferret. Make sure
that in the challenge to find out who is king of the hill that you
always win. By challenging the winner, you relieve the "losing" ferret
while letting the "winner" know that he/she is not king by _repeatedly_
"protecting" the other ferrets.

Randy.

You mean because of Frosty or as a time out for biting ?

Nanny

"Gwen & John" <gwenjohn@eastkent.freeserve.co.uk> schreef in bericht
news:cd4874$21r$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk...

No, because of Frosty, and the fact that Frodo seems to be learning to bite
harder, due to rough play with the others. Maybe I should wait until he is
about 5 months or something. I,m so scared of ruining a perfectly good
ferret by making mistakes while he is a baby.

Gwen

I think it has nothing to do with the playing with the others, he's testing
you and will do that for a while. You really have to keep on reprimanding
him. I was too easy on my first ferrets, I shouldn't have started out with
kits, and they turned out to be biters. So when I got Rose I told her off
every time she bit me, though it never really hurt. I just wanted to prevent
her biting me harder and harder. And she's still not allowed to bite, I
always say something about it.

Nanny

"Gwen & John" <gwenjohn@eastkent.freeserve.co.uk> schreef in bericht
news:cd48j7$hfj$1@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk...

bite

I had a pair of sisters that were rescues that I fostered.
For the first 3 years of their life they were caged, no human interaction
and so at first the only way to handle them was with leather gloves.
This is something I would normally say I definitely don't believe in doing,
but with these guys you would have lost a finger...literally.
Well, with time, patience, handling, being firm, using the NO word A LOT
but never being harsh or using any physical retaliation other than pushing
them
away, which sort of said, I don't like the way you are playing so I won't
play with you, they came around. They were finally adopted out a little over
a month ago and the one gal from the rescue who had not seen them since
they first came in could not believe how they would just wander about
poking their noses into things like ferts do, playing, loving a belly rub
and
when you picked them up they would be full of kisses.
So, what I am saying is there is no quick fix, but, there is "almost" no
fert
that cannot be cured of biting. It takes time, patience, and them learning
your body language, that is to say, they want to play but your body language
will tell them what is acceptable and what is not and they will catch on if
they want to play with you. It does sound like a situation that the more
time you spend with them while they are together the better it will be.
The other advice of interfering to demonstrate you are the Alpha is a
good suggestion to keep in mind.
Don't give up, just give it time...take care...