So many ferrets fighting!
No, I personally don't believe in throwing them together and letting
them work it out. That can be quite stressfull for the pick-ee, and
the pick-er can do some major damage.
Keep cages side-by-side so they can get used to each other. Switch
blankets and towels so they get used to each other's smell.
Control their together time: hold 1 in one hand, the other in the other
hand and let them sniff each other. This way, YOU have control. If the
pick-er gets too rough, you pull them away from each other.
This is not an over-night thing. You may have to work at this for
several weeks. Patience on your part is essential.
Eventually, you can release them and let them explore each other - it may
only be 3 minutes before there's a fight - break it up, split them up,
try again later. Hopefully, each time you do this, it will take longer
for spats - keep breaking them up when it's too rough - eventually, you
should (hopefully) find that you won't have to break them up anymore.
I recently tried to get a kit from last year's litter and one from the
year before together. The older kit (well, I guess she's not a kit
anymore is she!) was a real witch (BJ). Cecil loves everybody. He
wanted to sleep w/his Mom and brother, but sister didn't want him around.
Even tho she is less than half his size, she would lunge after him and
grab his neck and get really mean. He's a lover - he doesn't know how to
respond to this and would get beat up all the time. This was an extreme
situation for me - nothing worked. Finally, I held her down so she
couldn't bite him - he sniffed her all over, licked her face, and rolled
around. When she realized he was a really nice ferret, she stopped
fighting w/him - now they are best buddies, they sleep together all the
time, and everybody's happy!
There is the occasional ferret that this won't work with - some ferrets
will NEVER be friends - but it sounds too early to give up yet -
sometimes it takes as long as a month!
Debbie Riccio
WNYFLFA
[Posted in FML issue 1182]
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