Hi Steve, you wrote:
 
>My point is that the Bigger one will grab her FACE and DRAG her across the
>room, all she does is scream, she never fights back, and every so often when
>she does, she just opens her mouth and swings her head around, to try and
>bite whatever maybe there.
 
Contrary to popular belief, ferrets can really hurt each other in "play".
If your ferret is screaming (as opposed to chittering or squeaking), she's
probably in genuine distress.  Also, face grabbing is not a "legal" ferret
hold (anything sustained in front of the ears is no good).  It seems that
Bigger is a bit of a goon, and hasn't been socialized in the proper
ferret-ferret etiquette.  That's okay, it's never too late to learn.  Every
time you see her hurt her little sister, pick her up by the scruff of her
neck and lock her in the cage.  Then spend some quality time playing with
the littler one - and make sure Bruiser sees it.  Be prepared for an intial
period of temper from Bruiser (it can be a bit rough on the inside of the
cage, just ignore her) - and keep that up for as long as it takes...
 
Some ferrets are naturally skinny, especially very active little ones (takes
a lot of energy to knock glasses off table, ya know!).  However, if Bigger
really is a goon, she may be preventing the other one from eating in peace.
It doesn't matter how much food you put out, it's a dominance behavior that
some ferrets exhibit (e.g.  one of mine will occasionally sleep with his
head in the food bowl - even though he's never gone hungry since he's lived
with us, and the food bowl is almost never empty!).  I'd suggest that you
place Little in a protected place with her food at least once a day to make
sure she's eating enough.  If you really want to fatten her up, there are
any number of recipes out there for that....
 
Good luck :-)
 
Gwen
[Posted in FML issue 1648]