We lost our little girl, Pixie, two weeks ago. This past Friday, I
brought home another little girl, a gorgeous albino who, though very
sweet, isn't getting along with our other three. Our established three
are about 2 years old. The new girl we're iffier about; let's call her
3-ish.

Her last home was a rescue run by a friend of mine, from whom we've
gotten most of our ferrets. Unfortunately, current circumstances for
her make it tough for her to keep a lot of ferrets; she fosters them
out with her established foster homes, and only occasionally takes in a
rescue, which she keeps for a couple of weeks to quarantine and watch
for any signs of illness, and then passes him/her along to one of the
fosters or to someone like me, who just wants another ferret. So...this
little gal came from the rescue that, at the time, consisted of only
her and one other older, lymphomic ferret. Prior to that, we don't
know how much, if any, exposure she had to other ferrets.

There hasn't been any bloodshed in these fights. But when they're in
the cage, occasionally there are squeals and screams that last a couple
of minutes; if it goes on longer, I go check to make sure no one is
hurt. When they're out, there seems to be less friction unless one of
the "establishment" runs across her and they start fighting.

All of them are instigators. I've seen her start the aggression, and
I've seen each of the others do it as well. The screaming/squealing
really bothers me (not just the loudness; I'm concerned that she just
isn't a multi-ferret fert herself. My rescue friend said that she had
similar issues when it was just the two ferrets together, but that they
eventually worked it out and got along.

One big difference between the rescue and my own home is that we cage
the ferrets and let them out regularly; the rescue is free-run, so the
social dynamics are different.

Can y'all give me suggestions on how to integrate these guys? We only
have the one, big cage, so we can't really separate them (I'm willing
to buy the add-on for the current cage; dunno how the husband feels
about it, though).

I know that we haven't even had her a week, and that sometimes these
things take some time, but my husband has already mentioned that if
they all don't adjust "soon", we'll have to take her back to the
rescue. I told him that it can take weeks, possibly months, but he
feels that if they haven't adjusted in the next couple of weeks, we're
going to have to do something.

I'm really upset right now. He's not being mean; he's right that his
isn't fair to any of them. All of them are stressed: Our lost their
matriarch, Pixie, and now have had someone new introduced. She has
been at a rescue for a few months, with only one other ferret, and now
she's been whisked away to a new place that is unfamiliar, with several
ferrets she's never seen before. I don't even like thinking that far
ahead! I know we can give this girl a good home. I think that, with
time and patience, these guys will adjust. I also really like the
balance of having four ferrets.

Help, please. I need some positives!!

Thanks!

~Eri

-- 
*I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it!*

 /\_/\
(>"<)
(")_(").:*¨¨*:.ERI.:*¨¨*:.

[Posted in FML 7086]