Lenny - First off, the Ohio Director for the IFA is:
Linda Harrah
Box 61, 128 First Street
Buckeye Lake, OH 43008
614/929-3392
She oversee's all the IFA clubs and actions in Ohio. I believe that
there is an IFA club in Cincinnati that has just been started. Give
her a call and ask her about it. All clubs will welcome new members,
but especially new ones!
Ok, now on to your ferrets. I don't have your message in front of me
right now, but I assume that since you just got him recently that he
is a youngster. This will cause him to be EXTRA frisky. I have found
personally, and have heard from plenty of people that the males really
calm down at about 6 months of age. He will probably always be able
to rough the smaller girls up, but I doubt you would find any problems
by just letting them go at it. The only problem I have ever seen is
one that I had recently. I got a young male (he was 6 weeks old when
I got him) that was whole and my 7 month old neutered male (Lestat)
would grab him by the back of the neck and shake him violently. I have
kept them separated (the little guy, Magnus, is now 8 weeks old) and I
think they will be fine as soon as Magnus is big enough to defend
himself. I have had them play a little together now and Lestat is a
lot better with him, but I still will keep them apart until Magnus is
closer in size (just a week or so more!)
[In our case, when Toby was very young, one of our two females
would pick on him. Very violently. In a matter of seconds
Toby would get so frightened that not only did he spray, but
he lost control of his bowels. We kept them separated until
Toby was as big as his oppressor... When Mocha would try it again,
Toby would just turn his head, and Mocha would go flying across
the floor. Mocha used to get very annoyed with Toby so cavalierly
throwing her off. Toby never got particularly upset or annoyed
because he was so big and strong that Mocha couldn't bother
him much. Toby continued to get bigger and stayed pretty frisky,
but he was never mean, was more affectionate than most females
we've seen, and gentler with people - he's the only ferret
that we've had that *never* even put his teeth on humans - our
two females have never drawn blood, but they have nipped. Toby
was a big playful affectionate klutz.
Keep us all up-to-date on your situation! :)
Beau
[Posted in FML 0147]
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