Klondike has been here for 2 1/2 weeks now and is no closer to having a ferret buddy than he was the first day he came. :( He was in solitude for the most part for two weeks - kept in a separate cage, with separate play times than the established group of four - only a few closely supervised, brief encounters with the two ferts I had the highest hope for accepting him. They scruffed, drag, and bit him at every opportunity (him squealing and hollering the whole time - he's a vocal one!). He got a clean bill of health on Friday from the vet, so I've started letting him get acquainted with the same two ferts one-on-one for longer times together - hoping they could work it out. Doesn't seem to be happening. I've swapped bedding, I've put Bitter Apple on his neck (which helps!), but it's so disappointing that not one of them seems willing to be friends. Tonight, I let him out because all the others were in their various places taking naps. One of them woke up and found him. For a few minutes, it was just the two of them, then they ended up on the bed and tunneling under the blankets, where it took one minute flat for the other three to be awake and biting him, too. It was four against one! He was so shaken. He even messed. His poor neck is all scraped and scratched from their teeth, and I think it's tender - he seems uncomfortable when I scruff him to clip nails and such, even though I'm trying to be gentle. The other two ferrets show a lot more aggression toward him. All out attack whenever they get a chance. They even act crazy when he's out of his pen and they're in theirs - bristle brush tails, clawing at the floor or blankets, up and down motion with their head - just plain upset. I had really hoped that he would have a few new buddies by Christmas, but that hope is getting bleaker and bleaker. I know I haven't given it much time, but there seems to be NO progress, and I just hope he won't always have to be a "loner" in a house of five ferrets! His only furry friend is our Pomeranian - they're getting along great! Is there still hope that the established group of four will accept the newcomer? Is part of the problem that he's a kit, rather than an adult (I'm hoping it gets better as he gets older)? Is there something more I could be doing? On another note, I'm afraid our oldest guy, Templeton, has Adrenal. His tail rather quickly became totally bald except for a strip of hair on the top. Almost overnight, I noticed that his entire flank is practically bald, as well - I see a lot of skin. We adopted him two and a half years ago - he's about four and a half now. His coat has never been thick or soft, and now this. I've never been through this before, so I guess I should read all I can about Adrenal so I know what to expect. Needless to say, the last few weeks have been a lot of ups and downs. Part of the reason I was able to resist ferret math for so long is because the group I had got along so well and I hated to risk upsetting that by adding another one. They all seemed to accept each other so well - within a week of bringing in new ones, they were sharing the same cage. Not so this time... is this normal, or have I just been lucky so far? [Posted in FML issue 3265]