Last year I adopted a two-year-old ferret called Komachi. She's a sweetheart (well, not really :P ) and I love her to bits, but she's been here for a year now and her biting problem has not let up.

She was a rescue ferret -- she was surrendered when she bit her ex owner's friend so hard it went down to the bone. But my family's had ferrets for years of varying levels of nippiness so I had no problem taking her in, or trying to train her. The problem is, it's been a year now and nothing's worked.

If I scruff her and scold her, the moment I put her down she lunges at me again, angrier than before. Rinse and repeat -- days, weeks, months, it doesn't work at all. Bitter apple spray did not work, she just ignored the taste and kept on biting. Time out did not work; she might be a bit quieter coming out but then she'd go back to biting.

After about eight months of this constant back-and-forth on what was literally a daily basis, I got frustrated and started to ignore the biting. And... it worked, to a certain extent. She'd chew away on my hands and I'd ignore her, so she stopped biting my hands. But then she started biting my feet instead! And although ignoring her is the best thing that's worked so far, the foot-biting is way too painful. She's also taken to crawling into my clothes and scratching me.

I let her out every day in the evenings, and often take her out of a cage for a quick cuddle during the day. I play with her every day, though I can only last about 10-20 minutes before the biting gets too much and I let her play by herself for about an hour before I put her back.

In spite of her nippiness I love her dearly -- strangely, she's never drawn blood once, and she actually bites me less than anyone else who tries to touch her. I can hold her for longer before she starts biting me (when I first got her it was like trying to hold a hot potato with teeth). 

Her behaviour makes me think she's doing this for attention. If she sees me, she is after me -- crawling up my leg, sitting in my lap, chomping on me, scratching at the baby gate to get at me if I'm standing outside it. But I give her as much attention as I can and it doesn't seem to be working. Maybe I need to be a lot more intensive?

Help?