Hi again everyone,
 
Introducing new ferrets to each other is always fun.  I aquired each of my
three six months apart from each other, and each went through a "breaking
in" period.  My first one, Mo the big male, didn't have other ferrets to
play with and was horribly lonely (he used to roll around on the floor with
a little stuffed tiger, and curl up around it to sleep).  So we got Winnie,
a little female.  We had no idea what was going to happen when we put them
together - I held Mo's tail and my SO held Winnie's, and we let them move
toward each other.  Mo was thrilled, he immediately grabbed Winnie by the
back of the neck, and dragged her to his pile of favorite toys.  Of course,
she wasn't too thrilled by this.  Anyway, we let them go for a while (their
play was remarkably non-violent, mostly just jumping on each other), and
then put Mo in his cage and Winnie into a box beside the cage.  Up until
that point, I had never heard a ferret cry, but when we seperated them, both
ferrets started up, crying and scratching and carrying on.  So we put them
together, and they were asleep in no time flat.  They've never had any
problems with each other.
 
Mo spent a lot of his first years sick, and when he was feeling badly, he
wouldn't play with Winnie.  Winnie would take it out on the furniture.
Anyway, when we saw little Lulu in the squalid little hole she was
lanquishing in, we decided to kill two birds with one stone - get the poor
little fuzzball out of there and get Winnie a playmate.  This time, we let
Mo and Winnie at her immediately, and just sat back and watched.  Lulu bit
Mo's back leg once too often in that first meeting, and he responded by
scruffing her and sitting on her until she cried so piteously that I pulled
him off of her.  It took about a week, but the ferrets eventually figured
out the rules of encounter.
 
We have had ferret visitor over the years, and I have never
encountered any that couldn't get along with my three. I think it's because
Mo is so much larger than every other ferret that has come through - the
others learn to behave quickly.  Or maybe I have just been lucky.
Considering how violent ferret play is, I shudder to think what ferrets who
genuinely didn't like each other would do.  As long as they aren't hurting
each other, I wouldn't be too concerned about the fact that they carry on.
 
Later!
 
Gwen, Mo, Winnie, and Lulu
 
Mo: "ZZZzzzz..."
Winnie: "Let's play!"
Mo: "ZZZZzzzz..."
Winnie: "WHINE! LET"S PLAY" licklicklicklicklicklicklicklick
Mo: "ZZZzzzz...."
Winnie: ***CHOMP***
Mo: "ZZZZzzzzz...."
Winnie: "ZZZzzzz...."
[Posted in FML issue 1497]