hi all,

i have some concerns and wonder if anyone else has experienced this or
has any suggestions.

my pixie-girl is ~6 years old, is on melatonin implants since last
october for adrenal disease, and is doing great. fat, fully-furred,
feisty, fierce and full of energy; my little tough chick. she belies
her age. she weighs about 2 lbs, and the 2 boys she shares the cage
with, burleigh and shay, are over 3 lbs, and about 1 year and about
3 years. i've had pixie for about 4 years, and got burleigh and shay
last fall. (thanks sarah at ddfl!)

they are all best-buddies on the most part, but occasionally there are
what i've come to call 'hammock wars'. suddenly i'll hear noises in
their cage room and when i go in to check, whichever hammock pixie's
in seems to be 'the very best place in the world to be' to burleigh,
and there will be a fight. squawking, wrestling, biting. she'll then
either vacate the hammock, or he will. moments later, they'll all 3 be
sleeping soundly together in one hammock, like nothing's wrong. there
are 5 hammocks and a sleep sack in their multi-level cage (it's about
4' high and 3' wide. there's no crowding, really).

also when i let them out to play, burleigh will 'bully' pixie, run
along next to her, biting at her neck/shoulders, akin to mating
behavior. she holds her own admirably, but he's, well, he's bigger! i
have to separate them and distract him to leave her alone. while max,
her original buddy was still alive (died in april), burleigh would
'bully' him also when they were out...max was as old as pixie, but
much more delicate and frail. a very sensitive boy, max was.

is burleigh's behavior related to pixie's adrenal disease? might there
be something else going on with burleigh, even at his young age? i'm
concerned if i separate her or him it'll upset and stress them since
they usually get along and are quite social together, so i'd hate to
separate anyone.

any suggestions?

thanks much,

~sherrie, aka daoine o' the ferret queen
pixie, burleigh, and shay
and all those over the bridge...

[Posted in FML 6402]