Hi!

I have 2 little ferrets who were never nip-trained. Eris is the little girl and around 4 months old. Loki is the little boy, and about 6 months old.

My boyfriend and I have read article after article on nip training. Some say confine them when they are bad, others say spray them with apple bitter, a LOT say scruff them and give them a stern "No".

We can't scruff them. They get WILD when they play, and bite, and when you try to scruff them they keep turning around and biting you. The way their neck flexes, I can't get a grip on their scruff when they do this. Other times they just run off happy-playful-ferret style and you can't catch them to scruff anyway.

I read that you should make an ouchie-noise and they would learn it hurts you and stop- I don't know if we're doing it right. Often times they'll just come in for another bite or 3 and then dash off to bite eachother. We hoped to hear them make the noise at eachother, but they only make that "dookdookdook" noise, and while they're sniffing around.

Apple-bitter doesn't have much of an effect. We put it on cords and the like in the room they play in, and they haven't chewed, but they haven't even TRIED so I can't say it was the bitter. We tried putting it on hands hoping they'd associate biting us with a bad taste- it did more harm to the humans I think. God that stuff is awful! When Loki got REAL nasty, we gave him a sprits in the nose- it did't slow him one bit. After tasting it, we don't like the face-spray idea AT ALL. And find that it didn't detere them in the slightest.

I would really LOVE it if there's some kind of Ferret School. They have Puppy School for training the basics to your puppy, so maybe this isn't such a nutty idea? I need to be given some skills here so we can have a happy forever home experiance.

We do NOT want to get rid of the ferrets. I want to train them properly so we can all have a good time and be happy and healthy. Loki latched onto the oldest child and wouldn't let go on more than one occassion. Thanks to this, the youngest is afraid of them (the oldest is a REAL trooper) and almost sat on one trying to get away. That isn't going to work.

I'm frustrated, and afraid of being bitten (hard) again, and this is really cramping ALL of our fun.

Is there a ferret school? Is there somebody experianced who can help for a small sum?

I'm in Bellevue, but if they can get my ferrets to stop nipping, I'll drive for several hours.

Well, I think you should do all of them....consistently.

Have you ever tried "Fooey"? It is far more bitter than bitter apple. I'd do this, grab and do 2 minutes of quiet kennel time (make the kennel boring), and do the ouch noise.

If the Fooey slows them down, even for a minute, I'd scruff at that point.

I know it is frustrating. Ferrets are persistent, so you have to be just as persistent. Don't give in after a few tries, but keep plugging away at it.

Good luck!

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Well, it's been a little while, and here are some theories we have, and what has happened.

We let them out, alone, in the hallway with a baby-gate until they passed out. 5 hours. When we picked them up from sleeping, they just cuddled us a little and didn't bite.

We have done this a couple times now, and even got them a playpen so we can have them in the living room (which is NOT ferret-proof) with us while we watch TV or play video games. Whenever we get up, we play with them a little. Reach in, take them out, just give them a treat of toy. But not MUCH handling.

When they get tired and actually fall asleep, we then cuddle them, tell them they're good ferrets, and gently take them back to their cage for the night. (they play in the evening when we're home and have plenty of time).

Now they only bite when they're in a particularly nutty mood and playing, or give a light nip when you put them down and they don't WANT down.

The theory we have is that before us, they didn't get ANY out of cage time, so they were over stimulated and nippy- and whenever we tried to handle them probably thought we were going to put them back in the cage.

Now that everybody is trusting eachother more, we're almost ready to try free-range play time again.

I -think- it'll be ok. Maybe now that they know we're the givers of food and playtime they'll LISTEN then we make ouchie noises.

Excellent! This is also true...an understimulated ferret will chomp you in play, though it doesn't feel much like play to you.

I'm glad to hear things are getting better.

---

So are things still going good?
It sounds like your kids just hadn't learned that human skin is more fragile than ferret skin. The different methods for nip training are used for different cases.
Is the ferret biting out of fear? To show dominance (disciplining you)?, or in play?
Those are all very different reasons for biting.
It sounds like yours were biting in play and just didn't realize that it HURTs when they grab you just like they grab each other.

Anyway, I hope that things continue to go well for you.

Cheers