Hey Ferret,
 
We seem to have a problem on our hands.  We have just been adopted by our
fourth ferret.  We started with two (Morgan & Richenda) and the addition
of the third (Dhugal) went smoothly.  We followed the same guidelines when
introducing the new ferret, Duncan (keeping him away from the others for
a while, supervised play time, you know the drill).  Moran and Richenda
mostly ignore him (explained later) but Dhugal has just grown increasingly
aggressive toward Duncan.
 
When we found Duncan he was in a cage with some very new babies, the rest
of his litter long since gone.  They were in an aquarium style tank so
there wasn't much room for playing.  As a result he doesn't really seem to
understand playing.  Since Morgan and Richenda both love to play and Duncan
was not interested they don't really interact much with him.  The only
one who is interested in him is Dhugal.  He started out with the usual
behaviors of establishing pecking order but it has gradually increased to
the point that now any time we bring Duncan into the room Dhugal is
immediately on top of him, grabbing his neck and shaking him so roughly
that Duncan is literally being lifted from the floor.  We have tried
spraying Bitter Apple on his neck, which is usually a great deterant for
Dhugal but it doesn't even seem to phase him.
 
I am at my wits end!!!  Duncan is currently staying in our bedroom while
the other three are in their room.  We have been taking him into the
ferrets room a couple times a day for about 15 minutes to see if he will
play but nothing happens.  We are finally able to get him to dook and war
dance with us in our bedroom but once in the ferrets room all he does is
hide.
 
A bit more information, the oldest of our ferrets is 8 months (Dhugal) to
the youngest (Duncan) at 11 weeks.  If anyone has any suggestions PLEASE,
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE write me.  I have run out of ideas and the whole
thing makes me want to cry.  Thanks for listening...sorry this ran so long.
 
Loves, hugs & kisses,
Carrie
 
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[Posted in FML issue 2470]