Hi Again - Bob C asks........... >The question is, does anyone have practical experience with housing multiple >hobs together when they are not in rut? Hey Bob - I have tried for a number of years to get my whole hobs to get along with each other. I prefer to keep my ferrets out all of the time and caged as little as possible. Therefore, it is always "chaos" around here with intact jills all living together along with neutered, young hobs, etc. The jills behave as if they have PMS all of the time and I never know who is "top jill" since this seems to change as their motherhood status changes. But that wasn't your question. Here is basically what I have found. Two young hobs will get along just fine and play with each other endlessly and bite each other fairly hard, leaving marked necks. They will be best buddies and the bane of the gals' existence at times. If one reaches sexual maturity before the other, he will tolerate the still immature hob. When both reach sexual maturity - forget it. They will fight for real and it can be scary and they can really hurt each other. They try to kill each other. I have also found that my mature hobs will almost always tolerate young hobs and "teach them the ropes". Young hobs develop hero crushes on mature hobs and follow them and copy everything they do. The mature hob will teach the youngster until he starts showing signs of maturity and then he will try to kill him. No matter how good a friend they were to one another in the past, once they mature and whether in rut or not -- they know. They will try to kill each other if given the chance. Like the Highlander and he gets ready to strike the neck from another immortal, all hobs motto seems to be "There Can Be Only One". And each seriously plans to be that one. Not long ago, Baron Light Wolf von Lundendorf, a.k.a. "Paws" somehow got out of his locked and clamped down cage when his former idol Black Hawk, now my v- hob was out. I rotate hobs time out during the day and they take turns staying out all night. Anyway, when hobs fight - it is very silent and deadly. I think Paws was upset because Isabeau, a pretty little German black sable, was running around with Hawk. Paws particularly likes her. He plans to be her "only one", but I plan for another German boy to have her.....gee, parents always interfere with young love. I was in another room when I heard odd thumping sounds. I found them in the hall locked in deadly combat. From several experiences of this happening, I know that when they get a hold on another hob, they will not let go - even if you pry them apart they will grab again. What works is sticking the two of them under the cold water faucet. And that is what I did. Quickly picked them both up and ran to the sink. As soon as they let go, I dropped one and held on to the other. Both were bloody. Both, thank God were not seriously hurt. Whether or not there are whole jills in season or not; and whether or not the mature hob is in or out of rut -- they just will not get along with each other once they have matured. However, when a hob is retired and neutered, he magically regains status as a friend and the whole hobs will accept him. Guess it all boils down to testosterone, which is a controlled substance you know. I once asked Dr. Bruce Williams if there was a way to "extract" the testosterone from hobs when they didn't need it, and put it back when we did. He, of course, thought I was joking - but I wasn't. I think that mature hobs only operate on the brain stem, the rest of their brain being comprised of a gelatinous mass of tissue and testosterone. Something like teenage boys, whose brains are testosterone, Quaker motor oil and rock music. Cheers, Meg [Posted in FML issue 2385]