Post by rene on Mar 10, 2009 19:20:23 GMT -5
Charcoal and I went to see a lady that lives near me who currently shares her home with two female ferrets. She has shared her home with ferrets for years and let me come over so she could trim his nails, clean his ears and play with her babies.
When she saw him she remarked on how big he is, and I thought that was pretty odd. Most ferrets that I have seen are pretty good sized. I would say Charcoal is about the size of a six month old kitten. When we got into her house and I saw hers, I realized that he really is a big boy. I have heard that females are smaller, but hers were about 1/3 the size of Charcoal and they are older.
It was great watching him dance around and play with them, making chuckling noises most of the time. I had warned her that in the past Charcoal had bitten me hard, Not one or twice but several time on different days. He was so sweet while we were there. He did try to bite her wrist once and she grabbed him by the scruff and pushed her finger in his mouth. What amazed me was that he relaxed with her. Laid back and let her scratch his belly. He looked so sweet, not like the painfully aggressive dude , carefully hidden behind a sweet face with a little pink nose and sweet little ears that I know.
She says that he knows that I am afraid of him, and he reacts to it. Well yeah,
it hurt like blue blazes and even after about 6 weeks is still sore. Yes I am bigger than he is , but I wouldn’t hurt him, even if he hurt me, and it seems to make sense to protect myself. Also with all of my different critters, I either attempt to distract them from behavior that I find unacceptable with another behavior or ignore the bad behavior, by not drawing attention to it or them, and reward the good behavior with my time and companionship. If they want down, I let them down, not because I am afraid of them but because it is their play time, and I want them to enjoy it, even if I am not cuddling them.
Still, it is tough to argue with the fact that he was like a different ferret with her, more like what I had always heard about them and the reason that I finally got one. I wonder if this is just a ferret thing. I wasn’t scared of him though until he bit me repeatedly. I will keep experimenting with ways to make both of us happy. I wonder if it was because he was in a new environment and then after he bit me and I started stressing every time he got near my bare skin, the pattern was created. It made me happy to see him so happy that day, playing with his new little ferrets friends and being so relaxed. ;D
When she saw him she remarked on how big he is, and I thought that was pretty odd. Most ferrets that I have seen are pretty good sized. I would say Charcoal is about the size of a six month old kitten. When we got into her house and I saw hers, I realized that he really is a big boy. I have heard that females are smaller, but hers were about 1/3 the size of Charcoal and they are older.
It was great watching him dance around and play with them, making chuckling noises most of the time. I had warned her that in the past Charcoal had bitten me hard, Not one or twice but several time on different days. He was so sweet while we were there. He did try to bite her wrist once and she grabbed him by the scruff and pushed her finger in his mouth. What amazed me was that he relaxed with her. Laid back and let her scratch his belly. He looked so sweet, not like the painfully aggressive dude , carefully hidden behind a sweet face with a little pink nose and sweet little ears that I know.
She says that he knows that I am afraid of him, and he reacts to it. Well yeah,
it hurt like blue blazes and even after about 6 weeks is still sore. Yes I am bigger than he is , but I wouldn’t hurt him, even if he hurt me, and it seems to make sense to protect myself. Also with all of my different critters, I either attempt to distract them from behavior that I find unacceptable with another behavior or ignore the bad behavior, by not drawing attention to it or them, and reward the good behavior with my time and companionship. If they want down, I let them down, not because I am afraid of them but because it is their play time, and I want them to enjoy it, even if I am not cuddling them.Still, it is tough to argue with the fact that he was like a different ferret with her, more like what I had always heard about them and the reason that I finally got one. I wonder if this is just a ferret thing. I wasn’t scared of him though until he bit me repeatedly. I will keep experimenting with ways to make both of us happy. I wonder if it was because he was in a new environment and then after he bit me and I started stressing every time he got near my bare skin, the pattern was created. It made me happy to see him so happy that day, playing with his new little ferrets friends and being so relaxed. ;D
