I thought everything through, and I'm going to go with my gut instincts and work on bonding with her through positive reinforcement. It works well with exotics, rats, spinies, etc, I don't know why I assumed ferrets would be different. I never use punishment with any other pet, not even my son, why was I doing the scruff and drag and time outs with Ni?
It's time to go back to basics and start working to regain her trust through treats and simultaneous handling.. I'll sew up a bonding pouch for her, and use treats while she's in it.
We'll see how it goes.. it's very frustrating, especially since I've always been good at turning aggressive animals around. It's just a lack of experience with ferrets. I've only ever had two others in my life and both were adult rescues when I got them.
You have no idea how excited I am to bring those babies home!
I was thinking.... maybe, though very, very unlikely... I could try to talk my parents into letting me get 2 girls AND 2 boys, since nobody wants boys so far. I'll keep all my fingers crossed... but my parents aren't particularly fond of ratties. (they're crazy!)
Have you thought about flying your rats up? They can go in special cages in the belly of the plane. That way you can keep your precious rats, and they don't have to go through the stress of a long drive.
Just don't fly them into anchorage. Traveling through anchorage to reach another airport should be ok. If needed I could work something out in the Fairbanks airport for you.
We could use the genes, the only rats available up here are petstore rats. I know I've personally wracked up more than $2000 in vet bills this year because of poor mill breeding.
Best of luck!
Hooded used to be legal in Fairbanks, but recently the law was changed to PEW only to match the rest of the state.
PEWs will always be my favorite. Even though I may go on and on about how much I would like some color from Ashia's litter, it is truely amazing to have an entire mischief of PEWs.
There used to be a rattery in Fairbanks, Northern Lights Rattery I believe. They specialized in hooded rats, which were legal here at the time.
I don't think the laws will change any time soon. The state has good reasons for most of its rat laws, even if the whole PEW thing is ridiculous. For every one good owner like us there are far more bad owners which result in rat problems.
I'll keep all my fingers crossed... but my parents aren't particularly fond of ratties. (they're crazy!)
