>I had wanted to add to my ferret family, but if the three ferrets I have
>will not get along, I don't want to get more who will fight with them.
>Any suggestions on how to get them to get along?
Ha! Welcome to the club Stephanie! I started out with two kids, added
three a few months ago, then added another 6-month-old adoptee (nuclear
reactor is more like it!) just a few weeks ago. The newest little girl,
Shelby, had a real hard time adapting, since she came from a home with no
other ferrets. The first week she was here, she just ran and hid whenever
a ferret or a person came near her. Then when there was any interaction
with another ferret, she hissed, screamed, and tried to hide even more.
I am now happy to report that Shelby and Flower are the best of buddies.
They're so cute together; both dainty little sable sprites. They now sleep
together and play together. They're inseparable. This little alliance has
helped them to cope with the nasty "terrible three" French ferrets, who
seem to have no manners whatsoever. Flower has even toilet-trained Shelby
for me. : )
We took things slowly, trying not to stress anyone more than necessary.
Any fighting that broke out got supervised, and if there was fear of
injury, time out in the cage. Once I got Shelby hooked on raisins, treat
time was something they all shared together. When Flower got evicted from
her little cage to become Shelby's roomate, she pouted for a couple days,
and Shelby just avoided her. It broke my heart the first couple nights,
when I would say goodnight and see poor Flower hanging on to the bars and
looking at me as if to say, "You forgot me, Dad; I wanna go home to MY
cage!" The next trick will be to add Chester to join the girls. He's
always been a bit of a loner, but I think as long as he has his own
hammock, he'll be fine. The final challenge will be total integration with
the French thugs.
I guess the only advice I can give you, Stephanie, is, you know your kids
better than anyone. Watch how they treat each other. If you notice any
progress in them getting along, keep advancing the integration process.
I've asked a couple of times here if anyone has ever known of a ferret
seriously injuring or killing another. I haven't gotten a response yet,
but I'm not willing to take any chances. But I'm very happy that I didn't
give up on my littls girls; they are really happy together.
Michael (Bluejay)
This ain't no upwardly mobile freeway; oh no, this is the road to hell. --
Chris Rea
http://members.tripod.com/~michaeljay
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[Posted in FML issue 2434]
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