I tried e-mailing you directly, but it bounced back.
[Moderator's note: Right... People who post anonymously show up with
that bogus e-mail address -- you can't mail to it, though I will forward
any posts to the poster, upon request, for a short period of time. BIG]
I am guessing Maggie was a lone bandit in your home for at least several
months. I had the same experience. We now our 6 fuzzies living happily in
one huge cage. Peanut was our first to come home at age 7 weeks. He was
the only child for about 6 months, then Rose came home as a 6 month old
rescue. When Rose came home, Peanut was very upset and would drag her
around by the neck to the point we feared he would injure her. He would
make the mostly ungodly noises. After about a month (maybe more), there
was a standoff between the two, they did not sleep or play together.
Peanut would attack Rose if she tried to crawl up into the hammock.
Acceptance and peace did not arrive until fuzzy 3 and 4 (Sweetie and Jack)
came home. For whatever reason, I have no clue, Peanut openly accepted the
two new ferrets, actually bonding very, very quickly with the male silver
mitt. From what I have read, neutered ferrets do not have a gender
preference over cage mates, but Peanut displayed tendancies to the exact
opposite. If you can financially afford to adopt another single or pair,
you might find they will acclimate better as a group. Fuzzies 5 and 6 came
home in October without so much as a single bottle brushed tail!
My suggestion is based strictly on my experience with Peanut and the clan.
Because of her age and size, Maggie will display a dominance over Tyrone,
but her actions might be more out of resentment. Just like kids, make sure
you are overly affectionate with Maggie, picking her up first, give her a
treat first, etc. I'm sure she is feeling a little unloved! Hope some of
this helps!
Good luck,
Jennifer and the 6 Banditos
[Posted in FML issue 2518]
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