Hello everyone. i know this is an old topic, but if anyone has any new
advice we would sure appreciate it! A few months ago we got a third fuzzy,
Gerty, from a guy who didn't want her anymore; i can't imagine why, since she
is just the SWEATEST little girl and so pretty (sable). We had had our two
other ferrets (Molly and Beckett, as you may remember) for a bit more than a
year and since they, basically, grew up with each other, they *really* love
each other (playing, sleeping, causing trouble together). Now, Beckett has
learned to accept Gerty (she mostly avoids her), but Molly cannot STAND her!
Molly is a bit of a "mama's girl" and, so, we figured she was just jealous and
would get over the new addition, eventually, but things have just gotten worse,
i think.
     We tried not to change Molly's routine, too much. She still sleeps with us
at night, while the other two sleep in their cages and we have tried not to act
too "mushy" with Gerty while Molly is around. We have even let Molly go ahead
and harrass Gerty (which is VERY difficult since Gerty cries and cries when
Molly comes anywhere near her...which, i think, spurs Molly on all the more) so
as not to make things worse. i read, somewhere, that if you don't respect their
need to establish dominance and coddle the "under-ferret" in front of the tough
one, the dominant ferret will just get more angry and will attack the other one
even more. We have also tried putting Bitter Apple on Gerty so that Moll might
loose interest in biting her...no such luck. Oh, and we have also tried just
putting them in the same cage together and leaving them there. They fought for
about 5 min. then went to sleep and everything %seemed% fine; however, when we
let them out again, Molly raced over to Gerty, jumped on her back, and started
fighting, again!!!
     So far, Moll has not caused any serious physical damage to Gerty (no cuts,
or anything), but Gerty just looks sooo sad. She just goes and hides until
Molly goes to sleep and then she comes out to play with us nice humans who
don't pick on her. And, this goes on every day. If Molly *sees* Gerty, Molly
*attacks* Gerty.
     Does anyone have ANY advice for us????
     Gerty thanks you in advance.
     Norma-ann and Ross.
 
[Posted in FML issue 0876]