ferret sucking on ears

[Dirt Diggler]

We recently bought an addition to our ferret family (now 3) for some reason
this one keeps trying to suck on one of the other ones ears, the new one is
(was) a male and the other two are female. The funny thing is the new ferret
only trys to suck on one of the females ears, not the other one.

Any ideas why he would do this?

[Paula]

Is your new one a young 'un? Or just neutered? If so, an excerpt from
"Ferret News" for you:

<begin quote>
Did You Know That...
Ferrets sometimes bite or suck on each other's ears. While some ferrets
don't mind this behavior, others do. Here's what one of your fellow readers
asked:

One of my sables continues to climb on top of my two albinos (one is
female) and he bites onto an ear and just hangs on. Once in a while one of
the ferrets being bitten will cry out, but not usually. Is this play or
aggression and do you have any suggestions as to what I can do to correct
this behavior?
--Janet

One of the reasons for ear sucking or chewing, especially in young
ferrets, is early weaning. The baby ferret may suck on another ferret's ear
in place of nursing. It's a security/comfort type of behavior that ferrets
usually outgrow.

Another reason for ear sucking or chewing is grooming. You may not always
catch them in the act, but ferrets housed together tend to groom each other.
(That annoying "lick-lick-CHOMP" behavior also has its roots in grooming
behavior -- but that's another topic.) Of course, sometimes the ferret doing
the grooming is a little overzealous, and sometimes the ferret being groomed
just isn't in the mood.

Yet another reason for ear or neck biting is sex hormones -- these can be
naturally occurring in a sexually intact ferret or occurring in a neutered
(or any) ferret who has adrenal disease. If your ferret is neutered, is over
three years old, and begins displaying ear-biting or neck-biting behavior,
you'll want to look closely for other signs of adrenal disease (see
FerretNews #59 & #60 for more on adrenal disease).

<end quote>

--
Paula
with
Wotsit, Dyson, Uhu & Dinky,

remembering Rumpus, Biffa, Bostik, Banzai, Mischief & DC
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Dirt Diggler" <ab...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:JCevj.6889$xq2....@newssvr21.news.prodigy.net...

[Gary]

Paula wrote:
>
> Yet another reason for ear or neck biting is sex hormones --

One other thing about biting ears that I've read, is that when 2 ferrets are
first introduced to each other, the play involves ear or neck biting....it's
in play but is actually a test for dominance.

I've watched my older ferret and the new young one play. The young one
constantly goes for the ears of the older. He's so layed back though that
he lets her do all that. He loves the attention.

Funny too....the other night I picked up the young one (4 months old or so)
and as she was squirming to get loose, I started tugging gently on her
ears. She immediately calmed down for a good 10 minutes and seemed to love
that.

[Dirt Diggler]

Our Boy is about 4 months old now, but he only sucks on one of the other
girls' ears, not both, and for some reason when we got him the one he sucks
on now wont go potty in the litter box, but she eats normal and runs and
plays with the others.

I have three babies, Leo, Piper, and Baby
"Paula" <ferre...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote in message
news:kMgvj.139150$3m6....@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.uk...

[Karl Hungus]

"Dirt Diggler" <ab...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:JCevj.6889$xq2....@newssvr21.news.prodigy.net...

: We recently bought an addition to our ferret family (now 3) for some

Hey, we all have our fetishes. ;^)

[Tammy]

Maybe he was weaned to early.

Tam

"Karl Hungus" <karlh...@comcast.net> wrote in message
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