My new kit, Luna, has been fantastic at learning not to nip my hands - thanks to crate training she almost never does it anymore. But, she's constantly play biting at my feet and clothing, so I'm not entirely sure what to do. Whenever I walk around, she chases after me and pounces on my feet (adorable) and nips at them (not so adorable). And as I continue walking, I think she misinterprets it for playing, and it just gets her more excited. Plus, she'll bite my pant legs and hang on, and when I'm sitting on the sofa and she comes to join me, she'll bite my sleeves and other parts of my clothing.

Are there any suggestions for this? I saw on another thread here that Bitter Apple is good for foot biters, so I plan on getting that, but I'd rather not spray that all over my clothing. Should I also be crating her for biting my feet and clothes? 


Lastly, I think she may be deaf, so I don't think hissing and saying "no" will do anything. She'll be having her first vet visit in a few weeks, so I'll find out for sure if she's deaf or not then.

You didn't say how old she is, but kits are like kittens and puppies in that they play with their mouths.  Almost all of them grow out of it, but you should discourage any biting behavior that you don't like so it doesn't become ingrained.  Our Lola is about a year and a half and she does the foot chasing thing.  It means she wants to play, so I often will get down on the floor with her before she gets to nipping.  Hard to resist, I gotta say.

THE DOOKS OF HAZARD

Thanks for your reply! She's still extremely young - just ten weeks old - so I know that nipping is normal and she doesn't mean it aggressively. As you said, I just want to make sure it doesn't develop into a bad habit that she keeps even when she grows up.

Would continued crate training be the best bet, or do you have any other suggestions?

Toes and legs:

This is what I do.  Watch your ferret's body language.  Once you see him/her coming towards your feet.  Take you're finger and wave it in front of him, at the same time
tell him/her no.   Then immediately turn his/her attention to something else.  What I do is turn them over on their back and tickle their belly.  Then I chase after them and make a game out of it.  "Don't you bit mommie!     This works for us.  

Goal is to turn the behavior to a positive one, not a negative behavior.


I hope this helps. 

at 10 weeks old what has she done that makes you think she's deaf?  she certainly doesn't know her name by now and I've had ferrets much older who never seemed to know their name (I'm pretty sure Joey thinks his name is "Joey NO!" lol) 

if she's a blaze or panda she likely is or will be but you can find out yourself by making noise when you know she's not looking and see if she reacts to it.  If she doesn't - she's likely deaf.

If she is it will in no way affect her life - but it would affect how you train her.

Regarding the foot biting - you're exactly right that when you continue to walk she's like yippeeeeeeee play time!  My Daxy does this but he somehow knows not to bite bare feet - though he cannot resist a foot in a sock lol 

What the others have suggested is what I would try too - also you may want to learn the "Ferret Shuffle"  when you're walking while she's out - you just shuffle your feet instead of stepping to avoid stepping on a ferret you didn't know what under your foot AND to prevent you from falling when you realize there's a ferret in the spot where you're going to put your foot.

Momma to
Joseph Francis Tribiani aka Joey Came to his forever home 9/26/2011
Daxter Chandler Muriel Bing aka Daxy Came to his forever home 7/30/2014

Waiting at the Bridge:
Gabby, Rylee, Maya, Roxy Heart, Goofy and Tig

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