I've had a pair of ferrets (Conner and Milo) for almost 3 years now who
have gotten along well with each other.  The only problems I've had so far
is that one ferret (Milo) can be a little bossy, and always wants to play
when the other would just prefer to do his own thing.  It hasn't really
been a problem, and I'll just seperate them to give the Conner some peace
sometimes.
 
I'm writing because I have some questions regarding introducing a new
ferret (Blossom) to my gang.  I just adopted a one year old male whose
owner is leaving the country.  He is a very easy going and gentle fert
and even sleeps in my lap (something the others would NEVER do!).
Unfortunately, the introduction of Blossom to Conner and Milo has not gone
so well.  Right now they are staying in seperate cages and they face each
other.  when they are in the same room, Blossom is scared and he hisses and
barks/screams when either Conner or Milo get too close or chase him.  I've
tried giving them all bathes, swapping their bedding, and having them share
treats.  I've let them wrestle so that they can work out any dominance
issues, but it gets pretty rough.
 
Last night I noticed that blossom had a tiny little red spot on the back
of her neck where Milo must have wrestled her too hard.  In the early
"battles" it would appear blossom would be losing as she would run away and
scream, but when I picked up conner and Milo she would run back and leapt
at them and snapped (It seemed like she was really mad, but it was really
cute!).  Milo and Conner are dooking like crazy whenever she is around.
Conner even paws at the ground as if he were a bull preparing to charge.
Lately Blossom seems to be winning the battles as he hold his ground while
the others end up retreating.  When Milo and Blossom are playing in my
tubing, they wag their tails like crazy and chase each other out of the
tube.  Blossom is still small enough turn around in the tube, and he snaps
and lunges at anyone who challenges him in the tube, so he dominates it.
Blossom is holding his own and Conner and Milo are nervous about wrestling
him, but I don't think they resent him, and they are starting to ignore
Blossom, since all he does is hide when they're around.  They just want to
play with the new guy.  So my question is this - how can I get Blossom to
feel a little more relaxed so that everyone can get along?  Should I just
let them work things out on their own and fight it out?  It's only been a
week, but it doesn't seem like all that much progress has occurred.
 
Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
Edmund
[Posted in FML issue 3176]