I'm looking for advice again.  I'm fostering two ferrets (bite cases),
P. B. Floyd and Butter.  I know how to handle the biting (they're coming
along ok), and I know how to train them to use the litter box (which they
didn't do before, but are now much better about), but there is one thing
I'm having trouble with.  Any time another ferret (besides Butter) comes
anywhere near Floyd, he screams.  Not the chutter of anger, not little
squeals of terror - screams.  The utter scream you'd think you'd only hear
from a ferret in desperate pain (or perhaps a ferret who's just been
stepped on?).
    Floyd and Butter have always been together, so I assumed they'd have
some notion of how-to-get-along with ferrets.  But this screaming is just
not normal!  I expected brawling, dominance behavior, hissing, chuttering,
and other such noises that are normally made when ferrets get together.  I
expected a long time, even a month or two, spent sorting the dominance
thing out.  But any time my guys get near Floyd, he screams.  Now, my guys
know that screaming isn't a natural reaction, so they get very distressed
and back off - which of course means that none of the dominance stuff has
ever had a chance to be worked out.
    I suppose this is a good tactic for Floyd - he screams, the others back-
off, and thus he never has to worry about losing a dominance battle, since
it never gets fought.  But I'd like to get him to a point where he can get
along with other ferrets - requiring that both he and Butter go together to
a non- ferret home would be a little hard.
    It really isn't a fear thing - almost always the other ferret was just
using a nearby food bowl or water bowl, or had just come over to sniff
Floyd, so Floyd isn't being attacked.  Generally, Floyd screaming is
simultaneous with *him* actively attacking the other ferret.  But, because
he's screaming, my guys don't know what to do or how to react.  They often
just stand there and don't fight back at all, because they think he's
seriously hurt somehow.  You can almost hear them saying, "Huh?  What's
wrong?  I didn't do anything!  Did I?  I was just standing here!"
    If anyone with any advice on this, I'd really appreciate.  I've twice
brought new kits into the household and had long periods where they didn't
get along with the established ferrets - but this is nothing like that at
all.  Its as if Floyd just has no idea about what are normal responses to
other ferrets...  And I can't figure out how to teach him that.
 
-Rochelle
[Posted in FML issue 1296]