Addison “Sweetie” May

I got a six month old ferret that I called Addy (or Sweetie depending on the day) and she adjusted okay. She would bite or nip at our fingers in the beginning but she soon learned out of it and learned to poop in the corner.

The only problem was when i introduced her to my brothers….
See, Addy doesn’t like men for some reason. She was fine with me and my mother, she’d cuddle in our arms and lick our fingers but get her within five feet of any male and she’d go into destruction mode.

It starts in stages-
Stage 1 is when she’d tense up and stare
Stage 2 is when she’d start jumping around and rolling in circles
and Stage 3 is when she’d take off after them and try and bite them.

My dad, being forty, was so freaked when Addy took up after him! She jumped on him and started eating his fingers and he screamed!

She still doesn’t like men, but my brothers and dad won’t go anywhere near her.

Comments for Addison “Sweetie” May
Jun 17, 2010 Addison “Sweetie” May
by: Anonymous

You know, I had a similar problem with my silvermitt girl but she hated women!!She was fine with my husband and yet she would bite me, and bite me hard. It turned out that the wife of the guy who had her before us didn’t like ferrets and I can only imagine that she used to hit or smack or hurt Delilah.

It took me about 3 months before I got Delilah to trust me. I was a bit nervous about training her, as I hadn’t much experience with ferrets before, but I just made sure she knew she couldn’t bite me (by following the instructions on this website).

I gave her lots of praise and a treat when she stopped biting at my command, and I showered her with lots and lots of love. I stroked her, I praised her and told her what a great girl she was and I even kissed her on the nose, but only after holding her jaws together (gently) LOL! Doing that, I slowly won her trust.

By the end of the 3 months, she was my best friend. She would run up my track pants and top and perch on my shoulder and lick my face. It was so wonderful that it made me cry.

I can only suggest that if Addison is still unhappy with the men in your family, then maybe you could get one of them to try winning her trust and see how that goes. It does take perseverance and you have to keep at it but the reward of having a previously unfriendly ferret being loving towards them is worth all the effort.

I hope it works out for you and the male members of your family because I’m sure if she was abused by a guy in the past, it would be so good to make her understand that not all men are like her previous owner!

Good luck and give Addison a kiss from Delilah 🙂

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