Hi gang,

I have an almost 2 year old male ferret who has recently started
chewing on my 1.5 year old male's left ear. The victim doesn't fight
back, just lays there and whimpers. Other than ending up with a soaking
wet ear, there doesn't appear to be any damage occuring. It is not
constant. I put him in timeout for a while and that tends to stop the
behavior for a few days, but it has recurred several times. I have
called my vet, but not heard anything back yet. My girls are due for
their shots next month, so I plan to trot him along, but I'm just
afraid this might need attention sooner. The girls don't do anything
while the chewing goes one. My youngest (11 months), will actually go
lay on one of the two boys while the ear gets chewed. The victim is
never aggressive, even when my young girl gets riled up and too rough,
so I don't know how another male ferret would react to this "assault".
I haven't seen any signs of sexual behavior in the aggressor, at least
none that I would recognize, since I've never had a "whole" ferret.
Seasonal fur loss and color changes are occuring in all 4 (I live in
south Texas -- it's already spring-like), and the pattern of fur loss
is the same in all 4. Am I wrong in worrying? Is this just a dominance
thing and not a potential sign of adrenal disease? My dominant ferret
has always been my alpha female (the oldest of the 4 ferrets) and other
than the aggressiveness of the youngest ferret when I first got her, I
haven't ever witnessed dominance plays in my ferrets except when there
are treats. (The oldest girl thinks they all belong to her and will
steal them from anyone else unless I keep her separated.)

If it's not a symptom of adrenal disease and is just a behavioral
problem, do you have any tips for discouraging this kind of "play"?
They live in one (very large) cage together and it isn't feasible to
get another. I'm saving for one of those beautiful cages that have the
doors that fully open and have portions that can be completely sealed
if necessary, but I'm not able to get it just yet. I don't want to
break up my pack, but they do fall fairly naturally into peaceful
pairs, so I can if I have to. Like I said, time out works, but he needs
just as much time to play with everybody as the victim does and trying
to balance that out then would make the victim feel like he's in time
out, too.

Well, thanks for reading and shooting me any ideas. Hopefully my vet
will be getting back with me shortly, too.

~Jennie

[Posted in FML 5880]