I posted previously about our new baby, Mista, a very large chocolate sable
male.  I neglected to mention I have tried the tactics for introduction to
established ferrets from your very helpful FAQ.  But nothing works!  Mista
is my tenth ferret, and honestly, I've never had this problem before!  There
has always been a group which was a natural fit for the newcomer, and any
newcomers were sleeping in a fuzzy pile within days!  Mista is taking his
rejection well, and is not at all depressed.  In fact, he is retaliating by
taunting Cody, the ferret who seems to hate him the most.  Mista races
around the outside of Cody's cage in endless circles, dooking and leaping,
while Cody races in circles inside his cage, doing his best to bite Mista.
Mista knows he's safe, so his dooks get louder and his leaps get higher.
Actually, they look like they are having fun.  I have three separate groups
of ferrets, and the ones who seem to tolerate him the most are Chuck and
Luke, male BEWs from a private breeder.  Luke is a retired stud with the
biggest eyes I have ever seen on a ferret.  Chuck is his son, and while they
are loving boys, they are also the most destructive of the bunch.  They seem
to have more "shredding" power than my other guys; toys the others played
with for years had to be removed within days of their arrival because they
bit the heads off!  I'm concerned they might hurt Mista unintentionally.
Could the root of the problem be this baby is so much bigger than everybody
else?  If anybody has any tips not mentioned in the FAQ, I'd love to hear
them, either via posting (in case anybody else has this problem) or via
private email.  Thanks!
 
Ferretz Rule, Lynne and Mista ("I like me, Mom likes me, why doesn't anybody
else?)
[Posted in FML issue 2148]