I got bitten again today! Twice!

Can't go a day without getting injured in some way, by some strange animal. Today it was marmosets and ferrets!

Had to exercise the ferrets today, so into the enclosure I went! Did a quick health check, after I found them all snuggled up in a hay stack. Looked like one was being bullied by othe others - bite marks along the back and shoulders, so I isolated that one and left a note on the door as a reminder.

Aaaanyway, had got the harness onto one of the sable mask ferrets. A very wiggly, squirmy ferret, I might add! Got him outside and was exercising him. As we came near to a busy path, my friend picked him up to stop him from getting trampled. She made the mistake of lifting him up to her shoulder, where he got all tangled up in her hair.

Took us at least five minutes to get his claws unhooked from her hair. The claws were very long, as well, as they're due for a trim later in the week. I was holding him still, which was fine, until my friend pulled away, startling him. He managed to hook his claws into the fur lining of her hood and got stuck.

Poor thing was getting more and more panicked by the second while we tried to unhook the claws. Can't blame him, obviously. An animal in pain is bound to cause damage, but I was the one who was in the firing line! I'm not sure what was worse - the razor sharp claws or the teeth. Luckily, he didn't nip me very badly, but he definitely scratched up by hand quite badly. Hurt like hell, and I couldn't let go because he would have torn his claws out!

After that, I had to use antibacterial hand gel. Ouuuuch!

Then went into the marmoset enclosure to say hello. Love those little guys. Apparently, they were in a funny mood and decided they would use my clothes as nesting material! Very sharp little teeth!

do you not know the rules?

It doesn't count unless we have photos!

She never gets photos of the interesting bits!

ella wrote:do you not know the rules?

It doesn't count unless we have photos!

Caryll wrote:She never gets photos of the interesting bits!

I have photos of before and after, but not of the actual event.

but wheres the gory photos!

There weren't any, I'm afraid! Taking photos of injuries is somewhat frowned upon on the animal unit.

It isn't as bad as it looked at the time. The claws were very sharp, so the bleeding looked heavy. Can barely see the marks now though. Still sore, but oh well. Really doesn't bother me.

Sounds like you need to wear welding gauntlets to me

That just reminded me of Terry Nutkin getting his fingers bitten by an otter on TV many years ago, I think he ended up losing one or two

Jenc wrote:Sounds like you need to wear welding gauntlets to me

No chance! Much more difficult to restrain them!

Kathy wrote:That just reminded me of Terry Nutkin getting his fingers bitten by an otter on TV many years ago, I think he ended up losing one or two

Youch. Bet that hurt!

Looks like a very rewarding job, something i would love to do keep it up mate

It's fun, but I'm glad I'm leaving at the end of this week. Very stressful.

If i worked with animals i would be bringing them all home with me, or being done for GBH on the owners

The animals I'm around all belong on the unit, so it's a joint effort to take care of them. No irresponsible owners to deal with, thankfully. And I would love to take some of the home with me!

Eleanor wrote: There weren't any, I'm afraid! Taking photos of injuries is somewhat frowned upon on the animal unit.

It isn't as bad as it looked at the time. The claws were very sharp, so the bleeding looked heavy. Can barely see the marks now though. Still sore, but oh well. Really doesn't bother me.

tut it's not a proper animal unit then!

Rules are it's not a bite without photos! no exceptions!

Hmm, I'd rather it be frowned upon. Animal health comes before minor scratches with humans!

The bite was minor - barely felt it. It was the scratches that got me. And that's a daft rule.

you aren't on reptile forums are you?

It's most definitely the rule as we are blood thirsty don't you no

Nope! No other forums. Not anymore, at least. Used to be an admin on a literary forum. Left a couple of weeks before I joined here.