Hey everyone, I'm a new user and a new ferret owner.
I just got June about 2 days ago or so and she's way too aggressive its impossible to handle her. My guess is its most probably because of the way she was treated at the pet store(bad handling and little food etc).
At first i just placed my fist by her cage so that she'll smell my hand and get used to it, After sniffing my fist for a bit she ignored it and went around playing in a shirt i gave her.
So i got my fist into her cage but not towards her, like just there so that she knows i mean no harm however she instantly latched onto the pinkie side of my fist and wouldn't let go. I wouldn't mind it if it was just a nip or a normal bite but she drew blood so i got worried, i didn't pull out my hand though. I tried scruffing her with my free hand and she loosened up just enough for me to pull out my hand and then she tried to bite my other hand but i retreated fast enough so she wasn't able to.

We took her to the vet yesterday so that she gets her vaccinations and the instant he tried to get her out of her carrier she latched onto his finger and drew blood too, he had to use gloves for her check up.

But yeah, I need help in teaching her not to bite. I tried the hissing method but it doesn't phase her at all, I tried saying "No" firmly it worked for a bit but then she just ignores me and won't let go. Any tips from you guys on working with aggressive ferrets ? :(

Oh, I want to let her out of her cage too but i'm not sure if it's safe or not, we have a ferret-proof room in our house so i thought maybe i can let her out? Or is it not safe since she's not tame yet?

And another question about her litter(kind off topic i guess?), I got her cat litter that's clump free and 99% dust free but she sneezes when she goes towards it. Is that normal or should i take it away?

June is about 3 months old or so  Thanks in advance <3~

Hi, and welcome to the group.
When she needs to be restrained, use this hold  http://forum.ferret.com/tm.aspx?m=52952
Ferrets seem to  go through a couple biting periods while they are maturing, loosely coinciding with teething.  They almost always grow out of it.  If you are going to discipline for it, you need to be consistent.  We try not to scruff for any reason except cleaning ears, but it has worked for bite training.  For that, we scruff, look in fert's face, say NO! and lightly tap once on the nose.  

I had once extreme case where I scruffed Eddie with MY teeth and dragged him down the hall.  It cured him on the spot.

THE DOOKS OF HAZARD

unclejoe


Hi, and welcome to the group.
When she needs to be restrained, use this hold  http://forum.ferret.com/tm.aspx?m=52952
Ferrets seem to  go through a couple biting periods while they are maturing, loosely coinciding with teething.  They almost always grow out of it.  If you are going to discipline for it, you need to be consistent.  We try not to scruff for any reason except cleaning ears, but it has worked for bite training.  For that, we scruff, look in fert's face, say NO! and lightly tap once on the nose.  

I had once extreme case where I scruffed Eddie with MY teeth and dragged him down the hall.  It cured him on the spot.

Alright i'm going to try that out thank you so much :D Do you think its okay to let her out though? like for us to sit on on one together? I'm really not sure about it :<

Here are some suggestions:
1. Pick the ferret up gently but firmly by the scruff and say "NO" loudly each time the ferret tries to nip.
 
2.  Drag your ferret by the scruff for a short distance on a soft carpet or bed.  Ferrets do this to each other to show dominance.  You are teaching your pet that you are the alpha ferret.
 
3.Do not give up. This ferret needs more attention from you.
 
4.  Some people like to spray their hands with bitter apple extract to discourage nipping.  I find that this stuff upsets my ferret stomachs, causes some funky poop. So I don't use this stuff.
 
5.  Do not quit giving a nipping ferret attention.  They need more attention, not less.
 
6.  Cuddle your ferret and talk constantly in a gentle, soothing voice. 
 
7.  Never play using your hands, always use a toy.
 
Give her some time to explorer and relax in her new home/environment.  She is probably very nervous.
There is lots of new smells, sounds, new people.
 
I like to put my new comers in a room that I block off from the rest of the house.  This my ferret room.  I put down all their toys on the floor for them.  I give them a good hour or so by themself.  Let them run off some energy and explorer their new environment on their terms.
 
Then I will go into the room and sit down on the floor and wait for the little one to come up to me.
 
I hope this  helps gives you some suggestions.  Check out some post in "Training Area"  there are some helpful tips.
 
Keep us posted.
8.  Time out cage -   I like to use a carrier, not their regular cage.

wenmister


Here are some suggestions:
1. Pick the ferret up gently but firmly by the scruff and say "NO" loudly each time the ferret tries to nip.

2.  Drag your ferret by the scruff for a short distance on a soft carpet or bed.  Ferrets do this to each other to show dominance.  You are teaching your pet that you are the alpha ferret.

3.Do not give up. This ferret needs more attention from you.

4.  Some people like to spray their hands with bitter apple extract to discourage nipping.  I find that this stuff upsets my ferret stomachs, causes some funky poop. So I don't use this stuff.

5.  Do not quit giving a nipping ferret attention.  They need more attention, not less.

6.  Cuddle your ferret and talk constantly in a gentle, soothing voice. 

7.  Never play using your hands, always use a toy.

Give her some time to explorer and relax in her new home/environment.  She is probably very nervous.
There is lots of new smells, sounds, new people.

I like to put my new comers in a room that I block off from the rest of the house.  This my ferret room.  I put down all their toys on the floor for them.  I give them a good hour or so by themself.  Let them run off some energy and explorer their new environment on their terms.

Then I will go into the room and sit down on the floor and wait for the little one to come up to me.

I hope this  helps gives you some suggestions.  Check out some post in "Training Area"  there are some helpful tips.

Keep us posted.
8.  Time out cage -   I like to use a carrier, not their regular cage.

Thank you so much, I'll try my best no matter how long it takes and hopefully she understands that we just want to love her <3
She's sleeping right now so i'll probably try these methods out when she wakes up tomorrow morning.

She may calm down a lot once she gets used to her new environment.

THE DOOKS OF HAZARD

Alright guys, I got June out today in hopes that she would learn more about her new environment but she ended up just biting my foot and not letting go. She completely ignored everything else. I tried the "time-out" method and she got angrier and bit me even more when i got her out again. :(

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.

You need to watch your ferret's body language...you need to get to ferret first, before she gets to you. Have a stuff animal in your hand to protective yourself.  When you feel threaten...then use that stuff animal to distract her.  Make a game out of it.


I hope this helps. 

o man, when i got my 3rd ferret Chicha, she was nuts, biting, attacking everything. She was the last ferret there, and some guy had brought her back because she was nuts, aparently his arm was all scratched and cut up. I don't know if how he reacted to her, made her worse or not. BUt anyways, They let her out in the playpen area with me so i could play with her and she just exploded with ferretizing energy, just goin nuts, never seen anything like it, but i fell in love with her, and she was sable, and i really wanted a sable. The lady that took care of the ferrets warned me about her, she had ferrets all her life, and she said this one was a problem LOL. As soon as she saw me pick her up though, she knew I knew what i was doing, she explained how troublesome she was, but this was my third ferret, and I wanted the challenge. Also, I had a feeling she was gonna sit there for a LONG time, if an experienced ferret person had'nt come by. It was almos a sigh of relief from the ferret lady, because she knew the crazy one was going to be with the right owner. Anyways NO regrets, She's still crazy 2 years later, but I was consistent with my nip training, (holy, did i ever get cut up) You have to be consistent and firm, Alos, I found that giving her lots of playtime by herslef to blow off energy really helped ( She didn't get along with the other ferrets either at first.) She sounds just like Chicha, when she was younger. oh PS the clumping kitty litter is not preferred, It causes to many dust particles in the air and makes the ferrets sneezy. Could lead to sinus infection.

Thank you all for the advice, she calmed down a lot since when we first got her. The biting went down but just a tiny bit.

Oh and Crisp20 the litter is non-clumping and 99.9% dust free so yeah o:

Bite training is something that just takes time usually. And about the litter if it is clay then there is not way it is dust free. There really is no dust free litter. Even paper pellets sometimes are dusty. If the problem persists then swicth to paper pellets. Respiratory problems can become serious.