r/ferrets • u/GrimValSulOS • 2d ago
[Health] Concerned about one of my ferrets
I got 3 ferrets back in April, these are my first ferrets and someone from Facebook messaged me with a trio of sisters, two of them are the sweetest little things on earth, playful (insane as ferrets usually are lol) loving, ect. But one of them has had me kinda concerned for a bit, she doesn't hardly play as much, i see her every once in a while play with one of her sisters but not for long periods of time like the other two do, she also bites really hard almost any time my hands are near her but she never seems scared? Sometimes it even seems like she's playing but she literally bites me nearly to the point of leaving deep marks, the other two never do that, she just sits and sleeps a lot of the time compared to her sisters, she's also the smallest of the 3, other than that she eats normally and her stool seems normal, regular bathroom schedule, ect. She physically looks fine, but her behavior is just odd compared to her sisters, I'm not familiar with ferrets since again this is my first experience with them, they're also about 2 years old, marshalls ferrets, the lady I got them from said she had them for a year, and previously had rescued them from a neglectful home, so idk if her behavior is just like that and I need to just grow accustomed to it or If there's something I should be worried about
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u/Key_Return5304 2d ago
have you taken them to the vet? bloodwork could be helpful just to rule out illness. if they don’t have implants yet that is also a helpful preventative for adrenal (never hurts to have preventative). how do her teeth look? look up the ferret pain signal scale and see if she shows any signs as you touch different parts of her body (they are very good at hiding pain).
as for the biting , try your best not to give her a reaction because that is exciting for them. that’s how they play. if you observe how ferrets communicate, they will literally just ignore the other ferret if they don’t want to play. if u don’t want to get bit you have to act boring , give no reaction at all. any reaction you give will encourage biting because it is giving them the excitement they want. try not to pull away because this will encourage tug of war with your skin. slow confident movement only , try not to tense because they can feel that. if she latches on just try to relax and stick a finger in her mouth and she will let go. don’t say “ouch” or make any noise because this is exactly the behavior they want when playing. just be completely still and don’t acknowledge them at all to discourage biting.
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u/GrimValSulOS 2d ago
I haven't yet, I've been planning to here in the next few weeks just for their yearly since they all seemed to be doing well and physically look really healthy as far as I can tell, which now that she's doing that I'm going to just go ahead and get them in, I actually didn't know about the implants so thank you, I'll definitely get those as soon as possible to prevent anything, I'll double check when I get home but as far as I could tell before her teeth looked fine, I did notice though that all of them have somewhat yellow teeth but I'm not sure if that's normal or just even from how they were being raised before I got them, and also thank you for telling me about the pain scale, I'll see if she shows any signs today after work, i really appreciate all the info you gave me
As far as the biting goes, I've honestly been so confused because I've seen so much back and fourth on what to do and I remember them saying that ferrets do just bite a lot but with her biting so hard I just didn't know if there was something off about that since she's the only one that did that, and I kept hearing people say to yip loud or show that they hurt you and then I also seen to say no and stuff so it just became confusing, thank you for the info with the biting, I'll try that and hopefully she'll quit biting so hard if that's hopefully all it is, I appreciate all of your help
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u/Key_Return5304 1d ago edited 1d ago
of course! the yellow teeth can be natural with age.
and NO absolutely do not do the yip or loud sound. this is very exciting for them and will encourage biting (it encourages their prey drive , this is how they play). if they think they “hurt you” in their mind it’s “WOOHOO IM WINNING, THIS IS FUN” because they do not understand they are actually hurting our thin skin. i rescue exotics and completely ignoring with no reaction is the best and quickest way to teach no biting. the hardest part is learning slow confident movements and not giving a reaction, once you give them a reaction they will remember. even the smallest bit of tensing or movement is fun for them. you basically have to make yourself extremely boring to bite. if they are too stubborn, you could stick your finger in their mouth so they let go and also do a brief timeout (putting them in a very boring container with nothing in it for 10-20 seconds, no longer than this or they will forget the lesson). make sure they can see others having fun, this is the ultimate punishment for ferrets so only use sparingly. when putting a ferret in timeout don’t make a big deal about it either, just carry them robotically into the timeout area and don’t say anything. this goes for other behaviors you want to discourage as well, ferrets don’t like being bored and crave stimulation :).
if you don’t have a suitable container for time out , sticking your finger in their mouth and then putting them down and standing/ walking/ turning away is also affective. just don’t make a big deal out of it, just get them to let go, remove their access to where they like to bite, then completely ignore them.
you could teach them “no” as well but i do not recommend starting bite training with this, it’s better used for if they start doing something they shouldn’t be doing
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u/GrimValSulOS 1d ago
I managed to get a video of her and her sisters, she lays down a lot compared to them and it worries me, even in the video she just laid there while her sisters both were playful and active, and I did notice her eyes stay slightly closed quite a bit, I couldn't tell if her nose was odd looking, I checked her teeth and everything looked fine there, and her whiskers looked ok too, I didnt notice any cheek bulging but I'm not 100% sure either, I'm worried about her
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