tantrums in time out?

[taratee]

i know that time out for ferrets is only really working for the first few minutes due to the attention span but what happens when they start throwing a tantrum and it lasts for half an hour or 45 minutes becauuse i feel like im torturing them by leaving them in time out but i know time out is a good thing for crane i just needed reassurance to know that im not doing this wrong lol so how do you guys deal with tantrums in time out? ignore them even though theyre past normal time out time?

[Heather]

I don't time out for a tantrum. I time out for the "thing" that got them in there. So, they're in there for 3 min...that's it, then they're let out. They can slam around, rattle the cage doors, rip up their blankies, but they get out. If they bite me on the way by...they go back in
ciao

[taratee]

so even if theyre having a tantrum when they should be done you still let them out? doesnt that tell them tantrum = getting out of the cage?

[Heather]

I've had too many furbrats who can tantrum for hours. If they're in there for biting me, that's the infraction. I use a different cage for infractions....if they throw a tantrum in their housing cage....they stay there. Boris is a real brat, he hates a cage and will smash doors, kick litter boxes, throw food bowls around in the cage....so if he was stuffed in the "sin bin" for biting, he would be let out in three minutes. If he's been put to bed and throws a tantrum because he's in the cage, then he stays there.
ciao

[sherrylynne]

Lucrezia was a master at the tantrum for time outs As soon as she went in, she'd start tantruming, grabbing the kennel bars, shaking the whole thing, hissing, etc. While I didn't reach in and pull her out, I'd open the gate, and she'd come charging out, frequently to bite me(she was a revenge biter ), then she went back in. And back out after about 3 minutes, regardless of the tantruming
I almost forgot to mention- when we first got Boris, we knew squat about ferrets We were told by some "ferret" people to leave him in a time out until he calmed down. Even if it took an hour. Never did a thing, and of course, he'd long forgotten about why he was in there to begin with. All it did was make him angrier, and trust us less. He was also a biter, by the way.

[Heather]

Exactly Sherrylynne. I thought that I had the prize for getting some of the worst brats for tantrumming (now is that a word ) The only one that I didn't time out was Fun-Go. He, like your Lucrezia came out as angry as he went in, in fact I think he was angrier. In the end we discovered ignoring him hurt worse. I would slide him away and then ignore him. Sometimes, it meant doing a fancy two step but he usually bit ankles and hands, so as long as you protected those you were good to go. He's the only one that I had to work this way, every other fuzz that I've had to deal with has responded well to the "sin bin"
ciao

[jacksmomma]

Sin Bin Brady spent more time in time-out this weekend than out. I can't stand looking at his pathetic face (he pouts something awful) longer than 3 minutes, so that's how long he stays in the "sin bin" regardless

[Jackie]

My girls don't throw tantrums. They do, however, scratch CONSTANTLY when in time out. After 3 minutes though, they get out anyway. The issue is that the reason they went into time out is... Scracthing.

[sherrylynne]

Yes, but it's scratching at a DIFFERENT place . I actually gave up on time outs for digging/scratching Didn't seem to have any effect after a few weeks anyway!

[Jackie]

Yeah, I'm starting to realize it's not sinking in

I usually just try to limit their access to doors that trigger them to scratch. If they are excessively scratching, I bring them outside and let them dig