Dear FLM-ers,
 
Stinky has been my ferret for a year and a half now.  She has become the
sweetest cuddliest animal ever.  I am so confident that she won't bite,
that even fairly small children in the street are allowed to play with
her.  Stinky has free access to all of the house and I give her a lot of
attention, but recently I am home less often than before, and decided to
buy her a little companion.  I am sorry that I did not get a ferret from a
home, I know that one should, but I wanted to raise and educate this one
myself.
 
Now I have a problem.  I like the new ferret fine.  Let's call her
Superskunk, because she thinks she can fly like superman.  She has no fear
of heights and jumps on and off things like a flying squirl.  When Stinky
steals something off the table, she will carry it in her beak and carefully
makes her way down some chairs.  But Superskunk will steal food of any size,
drag it to the edge of the table, throw it off and than jump after it.
 
That's not the problem however.  Problem is that Stinky does not like
Superskunk.  They hiss at each other.  I am teaching Super not to bite -
naturally, she's only very young, but now I have to teach Stinky not to
bite Superskunk as well.  The biting is getting less by the day, thank god.
I have only my attention as a teaching method, (since they have constant
supplies of food and the free run of the house), but that seems to be
enough.  The biggest honour among these ferrets is to sit on my lap, or
sleep in my bed.  The biggest punishment is to be put down on the floor of
locked out of the bedroom.  It was enough to stop the biting (touch wood).
 
They now behave better, but I fear that they are just being polite to each
other in my presence, because they realise the bitten ferret wins the
match.  But they still don't like one an other.  How do I enforce this?  I
got Superskunk as a companion for Stinky.  I tried to play games with them,
that they both like, but than they both play with me, not with each other.
 
Stinky is still the only one that comes on cycle rides with me.  She seems
to enjoy these outings even more than before and is better behaved than
she used to be.  She no longer creates difficulty, by wanting to get down,
while we are cycling, but patiently waits for the moment.  She is obviously
happy with the last of her exclusive privileges.  Yet, there shall be a
day, that also Superskunk shall come with us on outings, but by then I
hope, the two shall be friends.
 
Do any of you have experiences with this problem?  How do I get my ferrets
to bond?
 
With a personally typed greeting from Superskunk:
zfr@@@@@ffW67KMTJDTMVC T
 
Patrick Faas
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[Posted in FML issue 3441]