Timeouts, tantrums, possesed by satan ferret!

[rarnold18]

This started as a reply to another post but then thought about it and didn't like that it felt like I was hijacking someone elses thread!

ok so it seems then that Sophie Ann is just possesed by satan's demon child or something! It's been 8 months since she came here with Velma...Velma has settled down and will bite still but only when she is over stimulated...she's not one to cuddle but now enjoys a good scratch once in awhile. Velma prefers doing her own thing instead of human interaction, fine by me! She eats and is a happy 2 lbs 10 oz from the 12 oz she was when I brought her home! Progress, it's a good thing!

Sophie Ann seems to make biting and charging at us a sport! Put her in time out and like Lucrezia and Fun-Go she comes out biting...out for blood, ignore her, gently slide her away with a well protected foot and walk away and she stalks you until she can reach a part of you that is unprotected, at feeding times (I feed in the cage) she will launch herself out of the cage at you as soon as the door opens! If you try to pick her up she does this exorcist thing with her head so she can grab onto your fingers or latch onto your wrist, even if you try to scruff her she does a death roll like a Gator so she can find flesh! trying to trim her nails is a nightmare! If timeouts aren't working and ignoring her isn't working....what else can I do?? I'll never rehome her, she's with me for life, if she wasn't here with me she'd definitely be bounced around from home to home until she was put to sleep or came to a tragic end... She's relentless and will occasionally leave me alone when they are having their play time out of the cage or while I'm cleaning their cage... as I said before it's almost like it's a fun sport to her!

[sherrylynne]

I wish I had some advice for this one, but I honestly don't know. The only thing I can think of, which I know you are already doing is just keep pushing her away. Hopefully over time, she'll come to realize you will NOT hurt her.
If I remember correctly, it's taken Heather well over a year of having to do that with Fun go before he quit attacking. Sooner or later, it will "click" with her. It's simply a matter of outwaiting her.

[rarnold18]

I love her "spunky-ness" but having to have two people on hand to feed the fuzz gets tiresome...one to distract Sophie Ann and the other to put the food in and fill the water bowls. Trimming nails..well that's anther story! Bi weekly weight-in's are a battle even with the rim of the bowl smeared with ferret crack. It's just tiresome. I admire her persistance but really thought that she would of come around by now!

[sherrylynne]

I well imagine it would be. And not reacting when a ferret is biting that hard is so difficult, because it HURTS! Unfortunately, she's also learned it works to make you jump. Heather should hopefully be on soon, and she *should* have some more advice for you. We were lucky in that Willow started showing signs of coming around in not too long a time. The only thing that worked for her was to basically have the bottle of 'tone in hand all the time. Every time she came near us, she got some. It was the only way to distract her from trying to tear chunks out. But her's was major fear biting. I'm pretty sure Sophie Ann's is as well. Why she's not learned at all yet that she won't be hurt anymore, I don't know. Other than to say it takes some longer than others. Wish I had more

[rarnold18]

I've gone through more bottles of tone in the last 8 months than I had the previous 8 before her and Velma! We started out, every time we reached into the cage they'd get a dab, then it was a couple little pets and a dab, then it was pick up and pet a couple times and put down and get a dab we moved very slowly with Sophie Ann and Velma because we do suspect that they were victims of abuse, we know for sure that they were neglected by their body condition. Thankgoodness for tone though or we wouldn't have any bit of progress with those two! I swear I have tone everywhere! The family room has two, one at each end, 1 at my desk, 1 in the bedroom, and I think there is one in the dining room! Sometimes tone doesn't even work and she'll chomp right down on your finger when you offer it to her!

[Heather]

Hello, was someone calling my name
A Fun-Go B Squiggly...my daemon child Sherrylynne's right...well half right...it took me almost 2 yrs before I could comfortably handle Squiggly, maybe by 18 months When I got Fun-Go, I went one step farther than you....I didn't touch him for a month...probably 2 months. If he attacked we slid him aside and ignored him. During those first couple of months we just ignored him. Didn't touch him, cut his claws, weigh him ... nothing. I opened the door to the cage and stepped back....just let him launch himself out of the cage. We started acknowledging him when he stopped attacking. If he didn't attack, I would make eye contact and talk to him (now he couldn't hear me, he's a deafie) but when we talk softly we also convey softer body language. It was about 2 months when he finally would wander in and watch you and not attack. That's when I first picked him up. I picked him up, kissed the top of his head and put him down...he tried to bite me , so I turned my back on him and walked away. He ran by a little later, I picked him up again, kissed him and put him down....each time he tried to bite me...but he didn't attack me. So we went weeks doing that....maybe even months (truthfully, I still do it to him). We did start working with him, cutting his claws, no weigh ins at that time. We discovered we couldn't touch his head. If you brought your hand over his head he would attack you (that happens even now, I can touch him all over but I'm the only person who can) I did discover by holding him harness style with his back legs draped over either side of my arm and used my index finger to prevent him from snaking his head around I could for the most part stop him from biting me while I hold him. Fun-Go isn't a big boy, but having 3 lbs of ferret doing a death shake on your hand, fingers or foot is very painful (as I'm sure you know). This will be Fun-Go's third summer with us, I got a kiss from him a few months ago. He does this every now and then. He now snuggles when you wake him up out of a sleep box, he loves to be held closely and firmly. He's learning to play (he still gets over stimulated and bites wayyy to hard). Will I ever really trust him...as it is right now...no. He will bite if you make the wrong moves at him. He is aggressive and I don't think I will ever be able to cure him of that. He does very much want to be loved, but like an abused child he doesn't know how to get lovins and he lashes out without reason.
Patience....lots of patience, love and a good supply of bandaids
Good luck
ciao

[acodlin]

I have a girl who's pretty similar to yours. Her name is Church and she stalks me and bites me pretty much on a daily basis, she draws blood just about everytime. I almost have to put her in a bite hold just to pick her up. Now I can distract her with ferretone to do nails.. but for instance, she climbed up in bed with me the other day while I was sleeping and I woke up to her biting my neck. I've got a hickey on my neck, she bit my lip a couple of weeks ago, nailed my inner arm friday.. I have bruises and scratches all from her. Time out doesnt work, if I push her away she gets mad and then she stalks me or lunges back at me. I still keep giving her treats when shes good, give her ferretone and a very quick snuggle everyday. She'll be with me for life, I like to tell my boyfriend that she'll be the ferret that will live 10 years lol. She's not even a year yet and she was dropped off at the local humane society/pound (its a kill shelter) probably because of her biting. She'll either come around or she wont. =/ either way I'll love her.