It is widely believed that domestic ferrets are extremely biting creatures. And to wean an animal from this habit is impossible. Ferrets do not bite with anger. Although the strength of their teeth is quite large. If they wanted, they could easily gnaw through the bone. They bite a little bit. Showing thereby that are located to the game.
Nevertheless, these bites are unpleasant, and sometimes painful. So what to do, how to wean a ferret to bite? Or will it be necessary all the time, before you take the animal in your arms, put on thick gauntlets? Well, of course not, you just have to do animal training. We will describe in more detail the techniques and methods of training below.
The animal does not know that such an action is prohibited.
How to wean a ferret from biting, why does he bite? Let’s take a closer look. Under natural conditions, the mother and fellow tribesmen teach the ferret how to bite, with what force and when. At home, this should be done by the mentor, the owner. It is he who is obliged to "explain" to the animal what and how.
In general, chori begin to bite as early as 4 weeks of age. And this is the moment when you need to wean the animal from this bad habit. Otherwise, in the future, the pets will get a taste. Then it will be impossible to rebuild them in their own way.
This explains the fact that if you purchased an animal on a farm, it is extremely aggressive. After all, there is no time to educate there.
Most often, ferrets bite the owner during the game - this is their natural behavior in nature. Other signs of a playful mood: jumping, side attack, jump on 4 limbs, and “grunt”. This action is called "fighting dance" - a demonstration of positive excitement. Try to switch the ferret's attention to something more interesting in this period, then he will not bite you.
How to wean a ferret to bite, if he does it? Try saying loudly no and remove the animal. With this gesture, you will show him that it hurts you and his behavior does not suit you.
If that doesn’t help, move away from the pet, as described later in the article. Hint to him that until he calms down, there will be no games.
Also use a cell or any other thing that restricts its movement. This technique works great if you have more than one ferret, but several. The beast will understand that of all, only he sits in a cage, and since it is “insulting,” he will surely calm down.
Ferret is afraid of new housing
If the animal is removed from the usual environment for him and brought to an unknown housing, where there are some people who are clearly interested in him, the animal is embarrassed, scared, can hide or bite. It does not produce such an action because of malice. The ferret does this to show that he will not allow himself to be offended.
How to wean a ferret if it bites in this situation? In fact, it is in this set of circumstances that nothing needs to be done, just wait a bit. After all, a ferret, seeing that he is loved and looked after, he will calm down and become less aggressive.
The animal is scared of people
If biting is caused by fear of the animal, then getting out of this situation will be the most difficult. Usually this happens in adults who, before getting into your house, were mistreated. A sufficient amount of time must pass for the animal to trust you.
Signs that characterize fear: hissing, sharp screeching, fluffy tail. Never punish such ferrets physically, as this will only worsen the situation. Only by patience and affection you can win the trust of the animal.
First you need to reduce the number of irritants, and it’s better to completely remove them. Take the ferret on the first day to a quiet room with no children. The beast remains in the cage for now. To make him feel calmer, you can cover it with a dense “breathing” cloth or just put a ferret house inside it where he can hide.
The next day, you can release the animal, but limit its space to one room, for now, stay in the role of observer yourself.
And only on the third day, slowly begin to communicate with the ferret, try to gently pat him, play with him. But first, play with the help of toys that will help to avoid animal bites. And only when the ferret gets used to such games, it will be possible to pick him up and play.
The ferret is trying to insist on his
Such a situation is far from uncommon. Very often, animals, getting into a new house, check the owners on how far they can go. In this case, the animal does this precisely by biting. But what about?
How to wean a ferret to bite in this case? We return here to the above. In this case, only training methods will help, about which the article has already been said.
When to start training an animal?
This process should be started as early as possible, better from the moment he came to you as a puppy. Do not wait until the ferret grows up. Otherwise, nothing will come of it. So how to wean a ferret to bite at home?
First, indicate to the animal that you are not satisfied with its methods of communication. At the first bite of a ferret, you need to say loudly “hey” or “ay” and pull your hand away. In this way, you will show the animal that it hurts you and you do not approve of its playing methods. You can shout “no” and clap your hands sharply.
There is one caveat in this matter: when screaming, you can’t switch to shrill sounds. They act on the animal “excitingly” and induce it to “attack”. If these techniques do not help, then you need to get up and defiantly move away. This will hint to your pet that you will not continue the game until he stops biting. Then you have to put the polecat in a cage so that the beast calms down, because while he is “excited”, he will not be able to stop. Terminating a game for a ferret is the most terrible punishment.
The most important thing is consistency
Remember to repeat these steps all the time if the ferret bites. Only under these conditions will you succeed. And your pet will remember that if he bites, the game will definitely stop.
How to wean a domestic ferret to bite, what other measures can be applied? A very effective method is considered using a "delicious" for the animal. Simply put, always when the animal does not bite when playing, reward the pet with something tasty (for example, meat). Just don't overdo it. The slice should be small, otherwise this is not the best way to affect the digestion of the "naughty".
How to wean a ferret from biting his legs?
There are some individuals who prefer to bite not for hands, but for legs. It is extremely difficult to wean them from this bad habit. Commonly used are special sprays, such as "Bitter Lemon", which are sold at pet stores. They are applied in small amounts on the legs before starting to play with the animal.
As soon as the ferret bites you, you need to wash off the spray well. After that, you should smear your feet with others, now sweet (in pet stores special liquid goodies are sold for this purpose). The place where the “tasty” spray is applied should be allowed to lick the animal. So your pet will understand that biting the owner’s legs is completely “tasteless”, it’s better to lick it.
How to wean a ferret to bite? Receptions and emergency measures
For most animals, the above methods will suffice, but there are difficult cases when extreme measures cannot be dispensed with.
With such animal behavior, imitation of the behavior of the mothers of these animals is used. That is, if the polecat bites, it must be lifted by the scruff of the neck and gently shaken. So mom accustoms them to order. Or one more trick - pushing a slightly animal to the surface and dragging it light on it until the ferret calms down.
These are the only extreme measures that you can use. Beating a ferret or clicking on its nose is unacceptable under any circumstances. The only thing that can be achieved in this case is the animal’s dislike and aggression, but we don’t want this.
Opinion of people
Those who encounter a biting ferret say they tried different methods. But in each case, one specific option came up.
Most say ignoring the animal helps, as ferrets simply adore companies. Loneliness for them is a really heavy punishment.
Conclusion
Now it’s clear how to wean a ferret from biting. We hope this information will help you in establishing good relations with such an unusual pet.
Just do not forget that weaning an animal to bite in a couple of days is impossible. Be patient, and then after some time all your labors will be rewarded with interest.