Agressive Jill?

[theslave]

No matter how much my little girl eat she is always aggressive when feeding, I have tried NILIF training , and it worked but once I thought she was done and I left her to eat normally after 3 days she was back to normal, as a kit her mother was malnourished so couldn't produce milk, so the kits were left to eat kibble or nothing so they did and when we got them and started them on minced meat she was aggressive and even attacked one of the other kits to get to food (which turned that kit away from food - JOY! 4 weeks of force feeding lactol ) anyway has anybody else got any ideas on what I could do with her? or why she might be like this? she gets 1 cup of meat every day and then what ever bones etc. I take out of that meat and she usually doesn't eat all of it so I don't think its because she is still hungry.

[Forum Administrator]

Feeding time is like stepping into the lions den at my house. Its not uncommon for animals to seem "agressive" during meal time. Honestly, its not that they are agressive, they are just eating food they REALLY like and their natural response is to defend it from other animals. In fact I think it is SAD that kibble fed ferrets DONT like their food enough to go nuts defending it.

My ferrets hiss, screatch, and fight if I put them in the same cage to eat their meat. They never draw blood but MAN is there a squabble over who gets to eat what. This might frighten some people but when you think about it its NOT natural behavior for animals to just sit and eat side by side. Doing that in the wild would lead to starvation. You gotta defend your food or else you dont eat!

I wouldnt worry about it. Its actually quite normal behavior. If you are still worried though you can keep doing the NILIF method.

Also, just so people know, just because a ferret acts "ravenous" during feeding time does NOT meant that raw meat makes them agressive. My ferrets act like pirhannas during feeding time, but as soon as they are done they are sweet little angels. None of my ferrets bite, not even play bite, and I attribute that to them being able to let out their natural behavior (ripping, biting, tearing) on the meat (and not my fingers lol).

[theslave]

Thanks for that - pretty reassuring!

I cant say she is the nicest of the bunch but she is my little girl and isn't that aggressive normally so thought it was strange. And yup! when ever raw food enters the hutch you get horrible screaming and screeches I also think its pretty sad that ferrets don't go mad over kibble. I think its strange that lot of people think feeding ferrets other animals is sick and stupid

[mustelidmusk]

My brats will even get radical over freeze-dried treats! My girls get more worked up than my boys. (Might be coincidence)
-jennifer