ferret bite

Question
Hi my names Rachel and i have a question about a ferret and certain food agression today i had went in the fridge and grabbed a cheese stick its in tightly sealed plastic (i had had one the day before and gave him a piece) he sits by the fridge while i get my cheese stick and he takes it from me and runs under my chair i go to grab it and he bites me i take it from him he bites me again when i dont even have it in my hand hes never bit me hard at all before he always plays gentle and is just very sweet but when he had gotten ahold of the cheese stick his personality like changed! i dont know if it was the sound of the plastic or the fact that he likes cheese or both? he loves to try to eat all the food i ever have and im worried he might bite me or one of my family members i had to get rid of my last ferret and trade him in for the one i have now because he pierced my moms nose and that was heart breaking and i dont wanna have to do it again

thank you soo much!

Answer
Hi thanks for your question...I might need more info, but what it sounds like is it's just him protecting his food OR he was surprised by you (this is probably most likely). If he is an only ferret he equates you to being another ferret, either his friend/and or mommy. If he REALLY likes the cheese, and you go to either grab him or it, he may just be trying to defend his "catch". If you were in fact a ferret trying to steal away his treat he would maybe nip at the other ferret, "stay away this is mine". Usually ferrets are pretty laid back when it comes to food, all 3 of mine share two bowls and none of them nip at each other while they try to eat, so maybe he is very excited and worried about you taking away his treat. Even if this is the case he needs to know that biting to protect his food is unacceptable.

He probably doesn't know how hard he bit you and it was an accident, since this has never happened before. Is he a tame adult or is he still a baby who's prone to nipping? I'm assuming he's an adult you've had for a little while and he's been trained that biting hard is a no-no. I think what is most likely is you either startled him/and or he couldn't see you really well, and out of natural instinct he just bit because he didn't know it was you.

Depending on how old he is (under a year qualifies as a baby) you may still need to be on guard and expect him to be hyper and nippy, as you may or may not know, babies bite quite a bit because they are not as calm and hand-tamed yet and also they are teething. So don't just up and get rid of him, I'm pretty sure you mostly just surprised him. Most ferrets react to surprises with their mouth first, especially if you come up behind them or they can't see you (think of a hawk swooping down and how a ferret would react to that).

So given the circumstances I would say not to worry, just try not to grab him unexpectedly without letting him know it's you (let him see you first, talk to him so he hears your voice) I should let you know that all three of my ferrets turn to bite me when I sneak up on them (granted it's not hard, but it's still an instant reaction). So please don't get rid of your guy, just be patient, handle him a lot, let him get used to you and your own behaviors too. (Also he might have thought you wanted to play, ferrets initiate play with one another by grabbing and biting each other's head.)

I might also add that giving him cheese or any other people food is not really a good idea, dairy products can give him diarrhea/digestive problems and other foods have carbs that ferrets have trouble digesting or sugar which messes with their blood sugar level. Try to find a healthy ferret-specific treat for him. I know this is hard to do, especially when he begs, I used to give one of my guys human treats until I learned how bad it really was for them. Anything with sugar in it can cause a ferret to develop Insulinoma, which is kind of like ferret diabetes, except it can be fatal, especially if the ferret has a severe episode where he goes into shock, a coma, and then dies, sometimes in a matter of minutes. So please please don't give him people food anymore, I know he will pout but it's best for him.

Okay, hope I've helped, again don't worry about him being a psycho ferret he was probably just surprised by your sudden grab. Good luck and be patient! He sounds like a sweetie. :)

~sheila