We have 9 ferrets all together and all different ages. The five that are up here at school with us also vary in age. To help answer the your problem, adjusting a new ferret, is quite similar to mine. We have two 4yr. old girls and 2 year old males. The boys are very playful and get along well with the girls. The girls were bought together while the boys were a few months apart. There were some discouraging interactions between the boys but they got over it. When we bought our latest fuzzy we did somethings different then what "the books" say. We took Drambuie (new fuzzy-14wks old) at placed him in our bathroom to get accustomed to the "hang out". Once he started to know his way around we placed him in all the other room. One by one we brought out the rest of the family. The girls didn't care, but the boys were in a tizzle. We just left them to handle their differences. Drambuie just talked back to them and jumped around. Bourbon, who is my baby, was not happy with this new addition. He sulked around and lost a few ounces. It has been a few weeks now and they love each other. The old girls are very active now, and the boys play rough as ever. This won't hurt them. They have very tough skin. There appetites hve increased, hair coats are even more georgeous, and their fit as ever. Just sold muscle. We can hear them hissing and screeching at each other all night. When I check up on them, they look at me like I'm crazy, and continue to play. Also that same night we placed Drambuie in the same cage. I don't keep one in one cage and the others seperate. I've done this with all of our ferrets. All 9 and no problems. They were all bought at different times and from different breeders. This to me is just putting off what we don't like to hear, the screeching and hissing. It sounds worse then It really is. Within an hour their sleeping quitely together. All the noise making and dragging around the home, is just the alpha male letting the new comer that he's boss. Nothing wrong with this, this is natural ferret behavior. If you have any questions or comments feel free to let me know... Andria Ludwig Michigan State University With time your fuzzies will be inseperable. [Posted in FML issue 5093]