By Mike Steele
Fighting for dominance is normal when introducing ferrets. The severity of which can range between almost no fighting to an all-out battle. It’s best to hope for the best, but “prepare” for the worst, which should make anything less than ferret to ferret warfare seem acceptable. It is important to be patient throughout the process. Many times things tend to settle down in 3-14 days however there have been instances where peace is not achieved for 3-5 months, or longer. In general, it appears the longer a ferret has been kept away from others, the longer it takes for them to adapt to the new space and time constraints. Aside from being rewarding, you can take comfort in your ferrets having a playmate readily available to them which can be a great experience for you and your fuzzies!
Many times it is easier to introduce a new ferret, while the “old” ferret is relatively new themselves. When you have an “old” ferret who’s used to being the only one, or a group that has been together for some time, you’ll find it may take them more time to tolerate the new arrival. Also, you may find it best to introduce more than one ferret (two) at a time which can divert attention between the two, allowing for a quicker acceptance.
There are several techniques available to ease with this transition. Remember that no one will work for every ferret, so plan to use a couple of these. During this process always make sure your ferrets know that they are ok, and that they are loved.
• It is extremely important that you make sure the newcomer is disease-free and current on all vaccinations prior to any interaction. Also, you may choose to quarantine the newcomer for one or more weeks to allow everyone to get used to each others smells, noises, and to help eliminate direct fighting altogether.
• When available, and being sure of the health of the ferrets at the breeder, shelter, or other location where you are looking to purchase your new ferret, try taking your “old” ferret along to pick a new ferret. That way they can choose a new friend on their own. A kit can be a good choice but requires more precaution. Because a kit is smaller, if they are played with “too” roughly you may need to cage them separately until the kit grows larger. Remember, a kit that is constantly drug around or played with too roughly may not wish to associate with other ferrets EVER, so extra care is needed to insure the proper impression is made for both of your ferrets.
• Introduce ferrets in neutral locations, even other ferret owner’s homes. Since the location is new for both ferrets, they should spend more time adjusting to the location, allowing for easier acceptance of one another. With these instances, it would also be good to have more than just the two ferrets there, making each other seem far less like rivals, and more like a multitude of friends looking to have fun!
• If you are not comfortable having your new ferrets meet right off the bat, try housing them separately. Doing this, you should have supervised visits often, while let one ferret out at a time. This should allow the new ferret to adjust to their surroundings while sparing the “old” ferrets feelings in regards to them. You can also switch their bedding back and forth, this will your ferrets to become used to one another’s scents and smell.
• Immediately bath your ferrets together so that they smell the same. Bathing your ferrets together may help because misery most often loves company. You could also put vanilla extract on their noses to confuse their smelling as well as Grannick’s Bitter Apple on their necks to discourage biting. Smearing Ferretone on their faces will encourage licking rather than biting.
• Initially hold the ferrets in either arm letting them sniff each other. Gradually, when you feel more comfortable with how they interact, give them more freedom to do so with each other. You should expect fighting, always supervising in case the fighting escallates. When pulling wrestling ferrets apart, should the loser go back for more they’re probably just playing rough. However, if your ferret bites with a darting motion and shakes his opponent roughly or they tear at the skin this suggest they are being more aggressive than normal. If left alone, one ferret can end up with a neck injuries, infection or worse. It is usual when a ferret is being hurt for them to get very loud vocally , often screaming, but this isn’t always the case, so supervision at first is a must.
• When unsolicited aggression occurs, immediately “scruff” the perpetrator with your hand, or better still with your mouth, gently shaking them. Scold them loudly, and up close. This simulates the discipline a mother would give her kits when they aren’t getting along. Next put the perpetrator in their cage for a time-out. Do not hit them, even a tap to the nose, could make your ferret afraid of you. If “scruffing”, scolding, and cage time doesn’t work, your ferret may need a little more time to adjust. Also be sure to find the newcomer and reassure him he is safe and loved.
Got lucky!? Your ferrets groom each other, often around their ears and neck? This is a sign of acceptance, but we’d caution not to leave them unsupervised until you’re positive they’ve accepted one another.
Mike Steele
http://www.ferret.com/index.asp?srccode=EZART1
“Information re-written with permission Ferret FAQ, By Pamela Greene”
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Steele
Great article. Very helpful. We have a female approx 3 yo. She is blind, which I am told is very common. She has always been alone. My daughter has just brought home a 10 week old male. We introduced them to each other through the bars of the cage. The female was very timid, very quiet in my hands and looking away from the male. He just wanted to bite her. Have you got any suggestions as to what we should do.
Hi Kay
I would be worried that your 10 week old boy will be very boisterous when he meets your girl face-to-face and might scare her, especially as she’s been used to being an only ferret 🙁
If they’re in different cages, swap their bedding so that they get used to each other’s smell and if you think they’re ready to be introduced face-to-face, have a bottle of Bitter Apple or a similar spray on hand. If you see that your boy is jumping on the girl and grabbing her by the neck or back, spray the Bitter Apple on those areas.
Always be around if the two of them are together so that you can pick her up if the boy gets too rough.
I know that when two ferrets meet, some will get on immediately while others won’t, so it’s hard to say what will happen with your two. However if your girl does get scared, she’ll squeal and let off stink bombs, so you’ll definitely know she’s not happy 🙁
Years ago I got a 7 week old boy and brought him home, thinking my 3 girls would welcome him with open arms. How wrong was I 😮
The girls were absolutely HORRIBLE to Angus and I had to separate them for several weeks until suddenly, one day, the girls decided to accept him into the family and they all cuddled up together in the chest of drawers!
So, even though it might seem daunting initially, please don’t be discouraged. Keep showering both ferrets with lots of love, make them feel secure and I’m sure they’ll both end up being the best of pals.
Hope that’s been of some help!
Hugs to both your babies from their new friends down under 🙂
Cheers
~Nona
Hi Mike,
I have two ferrets both just turned a year old at the beginning of this month. One female and one male who have always gotten along great and grew up together since they were 8 weeks old. I really wanted another baby so I went to buy another today and ended up getting two. I got home and let them get familiar with the house before waking up the older ferrets. Upon waking the older ones up we supervised the whole time to let them check out the situation. They just sniffed them and followed them around not quite sure what to do. Later on the babies were up and playing and my older male woke up and immediately started showing dominance. We knew what to expect (no blood, no pee, no poop) I read in many places that crying is normal it’s not out of pain, more out of embarrassment. He grabbed the new male (who’s half his size because they’re 2 months old) and drug him by the scruff across the floor while he cried. He flipped him around and was shaking him and when it got to be too much we stopped him and scruffed the older male. The baby was fine and this happened about 4 or 5 times before the younger female stepped in to try and help the younger male and my older male grabbed her too. It seemed normal although very scary considering my baby was crying. I checked him out after and he has a small scrape that kind of looks like he just pinched him too hard when he was shaking him but nothing too serious and definitely isn’t teeth marks. My boyfriend and I automatically were like we need to take them back but I’ve been reading more since then and I really want to try and break this and keep the babies. I found this article and felt hopeful that maybe it’ll pass. I really need some help! I don’t want the babies to hate my older ones and if it’s best for them, I’ll take them back if need be! Thanks in advance!
Hi Alexis
Perhaps you should put the newcomers’ bedding into your old ferrets’ sleep area so that they get used to the smells. That might help to integrate them without your older male picking on the babies.
Another thing is to have a bottle of Bitter Apple spray handy so that if your male is getting rough with the youngsters, you can spray their necks with the Bitter Apple – or another foul tasting liquid – to put him off grabbing them. Another thing you can do – and is one I did with one of my males who got too rough with one of my youngsters – is to grab and shake your male, like he does to the young ones, and say sternly “no biting”. Most ferrets get the idea pretty quickly that they shouldn’t do that but obviously don’t do it too strongly in case you hurt your boy.
Some ferrets are very welcoming to new ferrets while others can be quite horrible. It could take a few days or it could take longer but they will eventually be friends, especially when the babies grow to full size 🙂
Just monitor them when they’re all out and about, make sure that you break up any rough stuff and I’m sure that things will work out and you won’t have to return your babies!
Hugs to all your fuzzballs from their new buddies down under 🙂
Cheers
~Nona
Awesome I’ll definitely try all of those things! However, I let my older ones free roam but since we got the babies today, they’re in the cage and I have food separate outside for the older ones so I can’t do the bedding idea 🙁 is he being too rough? Or is all of that normal? Id hate for my babies to be scared of my older male in the end. How long does it typically last if he’s being this aggressive? Thanks so much for your help!
It doesn’t sound like your male is being too rough from what you described.
Years ago I brought home a 7 week old albino boy (Angus) and introduced him to my 3 girls, thinking the girls would be very motherly and love him. HAH! How wrong was I! They really bit Angus hard on his neck, so hard that he had scabs there 🙁 That was definitely too rough, so I had to separate him at night but during the day I’d watch them and step in if the girls got too nasty. It took several weeks before, all of a sudden, the girls let Angus come into the chest of drawers and cuddle them! No fighting, no stink bombs or squeals … they were one big, happy family!
As I said, I can’t really say how long it’ll take as it really depends on your older ferret’s personality but I honestly believe that it will all work out in time, as long as you’re there as a moderator initially to make sure no one gets hurt.
Some ferret owners keep their ferret groups apart rather than going through the “stress” of introducing them and having to put up with the fights and stink bombs but I’ve never done that. All my ferrets have been free roam since the beginning so newbies are just brought home and introduced to the oldies and I did pretty much what I suggested to you – watched and made sure no one was getting picked on – and although there were a few scuffles, everyone sorted themselves out and ended up cuddling and being best friends.
Don’t be discouraged, just be patient 😀
Hope that’s been of some help!!
Alexis
This is what Angus’ neck looked like when the girls’ bit him often and hard 😮
Attached image:
Okay I was just a worried little ferret mommy lol. That’s a nasty wound he has there 🙁 poor thing. So glad they get along now! Thank you so much for your help! Can’t wait til my male accepts the babies 🙂
Oh Alexis, it’s always good to be paranoid when you have ferrets so please don’t apologise for being worried about your newbies!
I hope they’ll all get along with each other sooner rather than later but as I said, do monitor the situation until you’re sure they’re all getting along 🙂
I want to get a new ferret but I have one right now but I don’t know if they get along my ferret’s name is oille and I think I need to get another one because her sister died and she’s been alone for 3 years now and I feel bad and I want to get another one but I don’t know how they would react together
Hi Oille’s mother 😀
It is a difficult decision – does Oille look unhappy or is she coping pretty well on her own?
As you know, it’s pretty hard to figure out if your ferret will be happy to have another ferret around or whether she’d hate it.
Do you have a friend who has a ferret? I was thinking that maybe if you know someone, they could bring their ferret over for a visit and it’d give you an idea on whether Oille’s happy to play with it or whether she hisses and gets super angry.
Or you could just get another ferret and if Oille isn’t happy, hope that they’d sort their differences out and become friends in time.
I would think that if she’s been on her own for 3 years now, she might be quite happy with her situation but then she might be really happy to have a friend to dook with 🙂
Big hugs for Oille from her new friends down under!
Cheers
~Nona
I have a two year old male and recently got a one year old female as a rescue. We are on day 2 together and I feel so bad for my male! The female is mean and just full out attacks him.. I’m worried they will never get along!!
Oh Kathleen, I’m so sorry to hear that! It’s always awful when two ferrets don’t get along 🙁
I can only suggest you read all the comments above to see how you can try and fix the problem.
** Get your girl to sleep in your boy’s bedding so that she gets used to the smell.
** Get Bitter Apple spray to put on your boy’s neck or wherever the girl is attacking him.
** Get her to understand the word “NO BITING” by growling and shaking her when she attacks so that she knows she shouldn’t be doing that. Praise her and give her treats when she listens. Unfortunately being a rescue, I guess you don’t know what her past life was like and maybe she was with another male who was mean to her?
I’m sure in time she’ll get along with your boy and they’ll be best buddies! It might take time but I’m sure it’ll happen. Just keep on enforcing good behaviour and don’t get depressed if it doesn’t happen overnight.
Hugs to both your babies from their new friends down under 🙂
Good luck!
Cheers
~Nona
We got our boy about two montha ago (we think he was a month or two old) and he is extremely hyperactive and likes to play rough. Well we just bought a baby girl who is a month old and very sweet (she likea to rough a little). He wants to play with her but I feel like hes being too rough (he hurts us sometimes). Ive tried to let him dominate her for the most part but once he gets ahold of her she screams and we have to intervene. They sleep seperate for the moment and I plan to bathe them together tomorrow. My husband Is currently out to purchase some phooey spray or whatever Its called. Im hoping when she gets bigger it wont be as big of a problem. Any suggestions? Also she has her tattoo and I noticed he doesn’t. What all is that for? I also got papers for her and they seemed to know a good deal about her whereas my male they seemed oblivious. Both came from the same pet store.
Hi Kourtney
I’m sorry to hear that your boy is being so rough with your little girl 🙁 All I can suggest is that you read what I wrote to others about the same problem and hopefully it will all resolve itself in time.
Did the phooey spray work at all? Love the name you gave it – LOL 😀
Re the tattoo in your girl’s ear – if you see two dots then that means she’s from Marshall Farms. I guess that’s why the store knows so much about her and not much about your boy. I honestly don’t know where ferrets without tattoos come from – private breeders or some other ferret farm?
I really hope peace returns to your home soon – it really is so horrible when two ferrets don’t get on 🙁
Hugs to your dynamic duo from their new friends down under 🙂
Cheers
~Nona
So I have two girls who are siblings about 4 months old called noodle and juju and today I took in a rescue (very tame around people) who was at the vets for more than a week and he is completely clean, vaccinated and desexed and a few years older than my two girls (his name is Bueller) when introducing them together they were in an open area and I was calm around them, but he only really targeted noodle and was being fairly rough with her and shaking her by her scruff she kept making little whimpering noises and when I seperated them she was making light hissing noices at him while cuddling into my arm and not wanting to be near him, I don’t want them to be afraid of him, I’ve put him in isolation with his own bed, food and toys and I’ve been swapping their blankets to get them used to each others scent but now I’m a little too nervous to let them be around each other is their any ways I could get them to interact without Bueller being so rough or aggressive towards them?
Hi Jordan
I can only recommend you reading the other comments here and my reply to them.
You’re doing a good thing swapping their bedding but what you could also do is get Bitter Apple, or a similar yucky spray/ointment, and spray it on Noodle’s neck. He’ll most probably recoil at having that taste in his mouth and that might deter him from doing that.
Another thing you could try is to tell him “NO” then grab him and shake him (not hard obviously) and hiss like his mother would have done when he upset her!
If you can get Bueller to equate the word NO with him getting into trouble, it could also make him think twice before grabbing Noodle.
I’ve tried that with my alpha ferret and it took a week or so but he finally cottoned on and stopped being a pain.
Some ferrets understand the word NO quickly, others take a while but if you’re consistent and persistent, then Bueller shouldn’t take long to understand your command.
Oh, and be sure to praise him when he stops at your command and give him a treat … that also works wonders 😀
Just don’t get discouraged … it will all work itself out but some ferrets take longer to make friends than others 😛
Hugs to your terrific trio from their new buddies down under 😀
Cheers
~Nona
Hi, I have a 2 year old (Minnie) albino and she has always been alone since I got her at around 10 – 12 weeks, my partner has bought a Maltese puppy that we pick up in 2 weeks and was wondering the best way to introduce them to eachother. Minnie has only been around her fellow litter mates for about 12 weeks, so no interaction with any other pets. I hope they can get along and play together as I have always wanted to get her a friend 🙂 Thanks
Hi Brayden
I would be cautious when you first introduce your puppy to Minnie – perhaps on the first meeting offer Minnie’s bottom for your puppy to smell so that she understands that Minnie is a friend.
Always be around with the two of them to make sure neither Minnie nor your puppy are picked on by the other. If one of them is playing too rough, separate them and make sure the boisterous one knows it’s not acceptable.
I’ve given some pointers on this page so you might like to read through to get a better idea …
https://www.all-about-ferrets.com/ferrets-and-other-pets.html
Hope it all goes well and Minnie has a great time with her new friend 😀
Cheers
~Nona
Ok thank you very much for your tips I will be sure to try them!
– Brayden & Minnie from Down Under!!
I have had my male ferret for almost a year now, he is approx 5 years old according to the vet and pretty small build. Last night I got a phone call that there were two ferrets that needed a home and it needed to happen soon as there was some kind of problem where they were. I went and got them. A male and female approx. 4 years old. Now my question is where my ferret has been alone for so long (his entire life) and plays pretty rough with the cats, should I even attempt to integrate the new ferrets to him? They are huge compared to him. I have successfully gotten ferrets together before but my main concern is the fact that he has never been with other ferrets and these two have always been together. I have two very large cages so keeping them apart and rotating play time wouldn’t be a problem. I just don’t want to upset anyone to much with all of this.
Hi Krystal
I honestly don’t know how your male will react to the newcomers – I hope he’ll be happy to have friends but some ferrets are very happy to be solitary animals and object to others being introduced to their family.
See how it goes – do all the usual things like letting them smell each other’s bedding, introduce them but keep an eye on how it goes and separate them if they start fighting. Get a bottle of Bitter Apple and spray it on the neck of the ferret which is getting beaten up, if that’s the case.
If it’s all too stressful for you then perhaps it might be easier to just keep them apart and rotate playtime, like you said :/
I have never kept my gang in a cage so when I introduced a newbie to the group, they just had to get on with each other.
Sometimes it was easy, sometimes it was hard but in the end, everyone got on and were sleeping happily in the chest-of-drawers 😀
I hope it all goes well and you have 3 happy little ferrets!!
Hugs to your guys from my guys down under 🙂
Cheers
~Nona
I have a question. I bought a sable from our local pet store. He was 2 moths old when I got him, said he will turn one in December of this year. I have had him for about 6 months now. He has turned into my baby! Today I was given the opportunity to rescue a female. They thought she was around 1yr old. She is a sable also, but said they took her from a family member who hadn’t been feeding or watering her, and left her in a horrible cage, filled with feces. My question is. They said she was vet checked. She’s been spayed, and decented. But they assumed she is around 1. She is quit a bit smaller in size than my male. Who’s still a baby.. Is there a way to tell how old they are.. Or a close guess??? So far, we have introduce them in the floors, and kept a close eye on them, I actually never had ferrets before this, and I figured swapping there blankies would help to smell each other, til I feel they are safe together. So far he has held her down, and nibbles her neck once only. (I felt bad, but I didn’t know if they could… Um.. Hump? Or had that urge, with both being fixed) lol husband said they could he guesses but can’t reproduce obviously. I’m just curious on what her age is, or if males are always a lot bigger even as kits.
Hi Angelia
Certainly with the ferret people I know, they check a ferret’s teeth to try and figure out how old it is.
I found this page with photos which is pretty good at showing what they were describing …
http://holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/62/aging-ferret-teeth
and here’s another site which offers advice about how to tell a ferret’s age …
http://www.kristenmcdonald.com/portfolio/web/ferretfacts/www.ferretfacts.com/howcanitehow.html
You could take a look at your girl’s teeth and see if you can work out roughly how old she is, or maybe as your vet if they can check 🙂
And yes, boys are usually bigger than girls but, of course, you could see a male runt of the litter which might not as big as his brothers! You can see the difference on my page here (just scroll down to “The Physical Ferret – Tech Specs”) …
https://www.all-about-ferrets.com/make-and-models.html
No, sterilised ferrets wouldn’t be able to reproduce and I promise you that if your boy was interested in mating with your girl, he wouldn’t be nibbling her neck! The mating process is really rough and the male drags the female around quite viciously 😮
I hope that’s been of some help to you 🙂
Hugs to your duo from their new friends down under!
Cheers
~Nona
I have a 3 year old female who lost her female cage mate a couple months ago. This last week I got a 3 month old little boy for a companion.
I let them smell and play, whitch went well. I have noticed the little male now hissing and snakebiting the female. She stands still and takes it. He was getting overly aggressive by biting and trying to drag her by the top of her head, still she didnt move.
I have them seperated, but now she is acting differently.. she isnt happy right now..
Hi fellow ferretors! I have a question.. my girl is 3-4ish yrs old and ahe lost her male partner a few months ago. In that time tho she injured herself and my wife nursed her back to health. In that time they bonded rather well (they were not best friends prior) now we decided to get a new boy for her to play with. He is about 6months old and is rather larger then my girl (she was a runt and is a small ferret) the new boy is very playful towards her and dooks when near her but she just squeals, farts (really smelly ones), poops/pees sometimes and hides and refuses to play with him. He will search her out and try to play with her when both r out. If he is out she just hides. When he is away she comes out and plays with us… not sure what to do.. any advice or help would be great please
Hi Andrew!
The good thing is that your boy wants to play with your girl and it’s such a shame that she doesn’t want to accommodate him 🙁
I’ll share some tips I’ve heard about but I personally haven’t tried …
* Give them a bath together
* Give them treats or licks of Ferretone together – or maybe dab some Ferretone on each one’s neck so the ferrets will lick one another
Always supervise their time together and give each one a lot of cuddling, praise and kisses so that they both known they’re loved and your girl realises you’re not transferring your love to the newbie!
Obviously don’t overwhelm your girl with a lot of time with the new fellow – maybe increase the time slowly and see how it goes.
My guys were/are all free roam so when I got a new addition, I just give the ferret’s bottom to each of my guys to sniff then put it down on the floor and monitor the situation.
Most of the time everything goes fine but a couple of times not so good, but with patience and perseverance it always comes good in the end.
This article was written by a vet so it might give you some ideas on integrating your babies …
http://www.ferretfarm.org/faq/NewFerret.html
I’ll ask the members of my forum if they have any ideas and if so, to post their suggestions here.
Wishing you all the very best with your two and I hope that, in time, they’ll both be firm friends!
Hugs to both from their new buddies down under 🙂
Cheers
~Nona
Hi my new ferret we got today is a albino girl and she is 3-4 and when we let our older 6 year old sable mask out and he is so sweet and he is scared of her he has been running away and hiding under our couch when we let him free roam .And when he goes up to sniff her she will bite him and he will squeak and run and hide from her. Why does she bite him?
Hi Onni
Some ferrets welcome new ones with open arms, others don’t 🙁
You need to work on introducing him to her slowly – this is what I wrote to someone earlier …
** Get your girl to sleep in your boy’s bedding so that she gets used to the smell.
** Get Bitter Apple spray to put on your boy’s neck or wherever the girl is attacking him.
** Get her to understand the word “NO BITING” by growling and shaking her when she attacks so that she knows she shouldn’t be doing that. Praise her and give her treats when she listens.
Just keep on enforcing good behaviour and don’t get depressed if it doesn’t happen overnight.
Do read the other comments here – I think I pretty much say the same thing but do what works best for you and your babies.
Whatever you do, don’t give up hope. Sometimes it takes a few days, other times a few weeks, but it will happen that your girl will grow to accept your little man and then they’ll be best buddies!
Hugs to both your babies from their new friends down under 🙂
Cheers
~Nona
I have recently got a boy ferret who is about 2-3 months old and we have introduced him to our other two ferrets, which are girls and he has been biting one of their ears, constantly and now they’re all bloody and he won’t stop biting us either. Today i woke up at three in the morning, hearing my sick ferret squealing and I’m really scared and i don’t want her to feel even more sick and i dont know what to do anymore. I cant leave him alone with them because im afraid he is gonna kill her
Hi Angela
All I can suggest is for you to read my replies to people who’ve asked the same question as I honestly don’t have any other answers 🙁
Please get Bitter Apple or something similar to put on your girls’ ears to stop your boy from biting them.
Keep them separate but also change their bedding around so that they get used to the new smells.
Make him understand the word “NO BITING”. Growl and shake him (not violently, obviously!) when he bites one of your girls and tell him sternly “NO BITING”. When he understands and stops doing that, praise him and give him his favourite treat.
You have to be persistent and consistent and don’t give up. They WILL get on together – it might take a few days or it might take a few weeks but it will happen if you keep doing what you should.
If you don’t have the time or want to spend the effort on teaching your boy how to behave, then perhaps you will have to keep them separate all the time.
Don’t let him be with your sick ferret until he knows the meaning of NO BITING, otherwise the stress will be too much for her.
Good luck!
We have 2 5 month old ferrets, girl litter mates. We just found out thier brother has not been adopted yet. They’ve been with us 2 months. Should we adopt the brother, or has it been too long of a separation? He’s had another litter come and go while waiting for adoption (apparently he was a biter but finally broken of it). We’ve had ferrets before, 2 solo females who bonded no problem but this is our first baby ferret experiance.
Hi Deb
I think it’d be great if you would adopt your girls’ brother but – to be honest – I can’t tell you if they will realise they’re family and be best buddies immediately!
Some ferrets are very welcoming while others need time to adjust to a newcomer but two months is not a long time so I don’t think there should be a problem.
I do hope you can get him as I’m sure he’d be so happy to be part of your family 🙂
Hugs to your babies from their new buddies down under!
Cheers
~Nona
Hi guys! I have a 10 month old female that i’ve had since she was a month old. She is the sweetest ferret i’ve ever met and loves attention and to be around humans. However, me, my boyfriend and my mom are gone everyday working. I worried she was bored because she would lie about and sleep more than usual. She was checked out at the vet and she’s healthy but a bit small for her age. I recently got two ferrets who are twin brother and sister. They are 1 and a half and the boy is much bigger than her while the girl is about her size. The boy doesn’t mind her and she was okay with him at first, while the twin girl was trying to dominate her and kept biting her on her neck. I have kept them separated with minor spurts of supervised interaction and my baby is just so scared of being around her. She has now attributed that fear onto the boy and doesn’t want to be around him either. I worry if I need to get rid of them to keep my little girl happy and healthy. I feel bad because I got the twins from someone who kept them caged on a wire cage for most of the time. They seem to love the humans but the girl just won’t leave my baby alone. I think she’s depressed now and doesn’t look at me after their interaction. I’ve tried to put ferretone on the necks of them and that worked once where the girl licked the baby’s neck but the second time she bit her still. I don’t know what else to do. I’ve bathed them together as well 🙁
Hi Nicole
So sorry to hear about your integration problems.
This is what I wrote to other people who had the same trouble with ferrets not getting on …
** Get your new girl to sleep in your old girl’s bedding so that she gets used to the smell.
** Get Bitter Apple spray to put on your old girl’s neck or wherever the girl is attacking her.
** Get her to understand the word “NO BITING” by growling and shaking her when she attacks so that she knows she shouldn’t be doing that. Praise her and give her treats when she listens.
Just keep on enforcing good behaviour and don’t get depressed if it doesn’t happen overnight.
Do read the other comments here – I think I pretty much say the same thing but do what works best for you and your babies.
Sometimes it does take a while for the ferrets to get along but please don’t lose hope.
Just be consistent and persistent in changing your new girl’s behaviour and always praise her when she listens to you.
Give your old girl lots of love and attention so that she feels more confident and I’m sure things will sort themselves out.
I agree – it would be a terrible shame if you gave up on the twins and found new homes for them, as you seem to be a wonderful ferret owner and they must be thrilled to be living with you!
Good luck, and hugs to your babies from their new friends down under 🙂
Cheers
~Nona
Thank you so much Nona!! I’ll get some bitter apple spray since the ferretone didn’t seem to work. They sleep in each other’s beddings daily, it just sems to be when she is in the presence of my little one that she seems to need to attack her. I think she has started to understand the word no, she just ignores it when she sees my little girl 🙁 i’ll definitely keep trying, I just don’t want her to end up hating me for getting them :(((
Hello,
I’m not sure if you would be able to help me but I thought I would ask anyway since I haven’t found any answers anywhere else. I’ve had a ferret since he was 7 weeks old and is now 3. He has been acting depressed recently. He will be playing but then will get bored of me really quickly and will lay on the ground a stare at nothing for 5 to 10 minutes before walking off to sleep. I know it’s normal for them to stop to rest for a few but this is different. It’s been like this for a few months so I thought he might be lonely and want a friend who can better keep up with him, since I can’t always do to medical problems, so I decided to get him a friend. I rescued a ferret of about the same age and as soon as my original ferret met him it was like love at first sight. The only problem is the new ferret ignores him. They are kind to each other and no fighting has happened but the new ferret basically completely ignores him. Any time my original ferret tries to play with my new ferret he will ignore him or play back for a few seconds before walking away. My original ferret will follow my new one around the entire time they are out of the cage(I’m not exaggerating in the slightest) which is a few hours and the new ferret doesn’t acknowledge him nearly at all. It’s only been a few days but with the constant ignoring my original ferret has started to act depressed once again but even more so. He won’t play with me at all now when I try because he is so preoccupied with trying to get the new ferret to notice and play with him. The new ferret will play with me when I try but it is only for a few minutes before he is distracted and wants to go explore my house. When I do get my new ferret to play my original will immediately become excited and try to play with the new one, once again ignoring me and the toy, but once he starts my new one just runs away. It’s not like a running away out of fear thing. It’s more like a “I have better things to do than this” kind of running away. I’m not sure what to do. I don’t want my originals problems to get worse because he feels rejected and I don’t want to exchange my new ferret for a different one like the adoption place said I could if they don’t get along. I hate giving up animals and out of all the animals I’ve had (which is a lot) I have only given one away because my sister (who lives with me) had a severe allergic reaction when she was around him. My family keeps trying to pressure me into exchanging because the new one isn’t doing what I intended when adopting him but I can’t give him up. He deserves a good home as well and I wont take that away now that he has got one. Anyway, I apologize for this being so long. I look forward to any advice you might give and thank you for your time.
Oh Ember, I am so glad to hear that you won’t give your 2nd ferret back to the rescue. That really is great that you’re keeping him – onya (as we say to congratulate people in Oz)!! 😀
But as far as your 1st ferret goes … I honestly don’t know what to suggest 🙁
Are you sure your 1st ferret isn’t ill? I wonder if he might have the beginnings of insulinoma and that’s why he stops playing and just lies for 5-10 on the ground, staring at nothing. Also, I do believe that healthy animals can smell illnesses on other animals and again, I wonder if that’s why your new boy is ignoring his playmate?
Of course this is just my guess – but if you can, it might be an idea for you to take your 1st ferret to the vet to get him checked out.
Take a look at my page about insulinoma and see if you can find any other symptoms that you might have noticed without knowing what they meant …
https://www.all-about-ferrets.com/insulinoma-in-ferrets.html
Now please don’t panic and think your boy has insulinoma! I could be way off base with my guess but it was the staring at nothing comment you made which made me think it *might* be that.
If it is insulinoma, the vet will put your ferret on medication and that will help to regulate his blood sugar so that he feels better. I would also be interested to know if that will turn the two ferrets into playmates!?!
Sorry I can’t give you concrete instructions on what to do to make them play with each other but I hope what I have said will be helpful!
Hugs to your twosome from their new buddies down under 🙂
Cheers
~Nona
I just rescued a ferret from the police station. They said someone found it in a target store. I also had a ferret for about 3 years now and I had the new ferret caged in my old ferrets cage because the old ferret runs the house. I bathed the new ferret finally today which is like 3 days after I got it and I had the two on my bed and my old ferret walks slowly up to the new ferret and pounces on the new ferrets back and shakes it while making noise. I get to scared to see how far it goes because I love my ferret and don’t want anything happening to her. I don’t want to get rid of the new ferret what can I do? I am going tomorrow to get the bitter apple spray to see if that will work.
Hi Shy
Unfortunately some ferrets can be very territorial and that makes them very unfriendly to newcomers 🙁
Do get the bitter apple and spray it on your new ferret’s neck so that your established ferret gets a bad taste in its mouth. Also, if you catch your ferret pouncing on the newbie, shout “NO BITING”, scruff it and shake it (NOT hard) like a mother ferret would do.
When you see your old ferret stop when you shout “No biting”, make sure you praise it and give it its favourite treat.
Make sure both your ferrets know that you love them so be super generous with your cuddles and kisses to both, so that there’s no jealousy.
If you supervise play time with them, your new ferret will know you’re looking out for it and protecting it and your old ferret will know that if it’s gentle with the newbie, it’ll get lots of praise and treats. Win win 😀
It might take a short time, or it might take a while, but as long as you’re consistent and persistent in making your established ferret know that it mustn’t attack the new ferret, then it will work out and you’ll have two happy little fufus in your family!
Good luck!
Hugs to both your ferrets from their new buddies down under!
Cheers
~Nona
Hey so reading this article makes me feel confident that my boyfriend and I did everything right. However, are new girl won’t sleep anywhere near our male ferret. We got our male ferret about 5 months ago and just recently got a female a few days ago. They immediately got along great! Of course there was some dominant fighting, but nothing that got too rough. But we’d like to get them in the same cage together. We’ve tried before and our new female won’t have it! She likes only her cage. It’d be great to get them In The same cage so it’s less of a cleaning hassle. Any suggestions?
I just got a new ferret, and my 2yr old seems to just want to bite him on his neck and keeps putting his paws on his back.
Hi Marcella
All I can suggest is that you read all the past comments, plus my suggestions, on this page.
The best thing that I can think of is to get something like Bitter Apple to spray on your new ferret’s neck or where your old ferret is biting him so that it leaves a bad taste in its mouth and so will stop doing that.
Another important thing is to teach your ferrets the command : NO BITING!!
Ferrets are very intelligent little things so it shouldn’t take long for your old ferret to know it’s not acceptable to bite his new friend.
Make sure you tell it “NO BITING” in a very loud voice to get its attention, then when it stops, give it a treat and praise it.
I have smacked my ferret’s bottom when he comes to bite my feet but I always shout “NO BITING” when I do that. I do NOT smack hard, more just to push him away.
It took no more than 3 days for him to understand the command and now when he looks like he’s about to pounce on my feet, I shout at him and he just goes away, looking very sorry for himself! Hahahaha 😀
Just make sure you are persistent and consistent in your training and it will happen!
Good luck 😀
Hugs to your two ferrets from their new buddies down under!
Cheers
~Nona
Hey, so I have had my ferret for about a month now, he is deaf by the way, and I’m thinking about adopting another ferret sometime soon. I was wondering if his deafness would make it more difficult to add another ferret to his home, or would if it be even easier, or the same as a normal ferrets who can hear. I have also been worrying a little bit on if I got another ferret, how would I train him not to bite the newcomer? Multiple articles say to tell them NO, but I can’t find any websites that say what to do if your ferret is deaf…
Hi Jaden
As I’ve never had a deaf ferret, I’m not really in a position to give you any advice. However I do have a few links to articles/sites about deaf ferrets on this page …
https://www.all-about-ferrets.com/deafness-in-ferrets.html
You’ll see there are 3 articles by Rebecca Stout, aka Wolfy, and she’s had a lot of experience with deaf ferrets so I would recommend you read what she has to say, as I’m sure her advice will help you with your baby!
Hopefully there will be advice about adding a new ferret to your family too!
Hope this has been of help!
Hugs to your little guy from his new buddies down under 😀
Cheers
~Nona
Hi. I am trying to introduce two 11 week old (one male and one female) ferrets to my 4 year old female ferret Flower. I got her as a 12 week old 3 months later I added another female named Snow who was also 6 months old. They did hiss a lot and wrestle a little but not to the point that I needed to separate. They bonded and loved eachother after only a few days. Unfortunately this past week snow had to be put to sleep due to lung cancer. I have now brought home these 2 babies last night. The babies seem to mostly ignore her and play with eachother and occasionally jump on her too…. all she is interested in is smelling them. Since everyone seemed to be nice i let them all share the same 4 tier cage for a couple hours. They babies took the top hammock together and flower stay at the bottom in hers. After an hour flower went up top to get a good sniff while they slept. After a few minutes she grabbed the male by the neck and pulled him out. By the time I got to them she had let go but he never fought back and just later there. I put her back at the bottom and sealed the levels so she could not get to them. I put them all together again today in a play yard a d she immediately walked to the male and grabbed him by the neck. He again screamed but just let her shake him them grab him and did t move. I had to grab her and pry her mouth open to release him from her. I scolded her and put her back in her cage. About 30 min later I let her back out but put the male away since he was trying to sleep. I put flower in the play yard with the baby female and she immediately walked over and slowly went for her neck but the baby hisses and jumped away. Flower slowly kept following her to get her. Finally she went under the blanket and grabbed her out. I took flower by the scruff and shook her an scolded her.
I have read on here this is normal behavior. My concern is should this be happening immediately when they are around eachother? Do I let her do it and not stop her? The babies do not fight back and just go limp while she does it. The female baby seems smart and new she was going to and kept jumping away. The male is getting attacked while he sleeps and it’s all within minute of putting them together.
We bought the babies so flower didn’t have to be alone. Was this a bad idea?
Hi Laurie
It really is horrible when you’re trying to introduce new ferrets to an established one and it doesn’t accept the newbies 🙁
I had the same problem years ago when I brought home a 7 week old male kit – Angus – and had three older females. I was certain that the motherly instinct would kick in when my girls met the little fellah but boy, was I wrong 😮
Those girls attacked him and kept on biting him on the back of his neck, causing quite a few scabs 🙁
I had to get some foul tasting ointment from my vet and paint it over his neck and also onto his backside, as they were also going for that! They were just so mean and so nasty to that poor little boy.
I think it will all work out but you’ll need to be patient and consistent with teaching Flower not to attack the youngsters.
Please read through the comments above … the main points I would say are …
** Get Bitter Apple spray to put on your newbies’ necks or wherever Flower is attacking them.
** Get her to understand the word “NO BITING” by growling and shaking her when she attacks so that she knows she shouldn’t be doing that. Praise her and give her treats when she listens.
Just keep on enforcing good behaviour and don’t get depressed if it doesn’t happen overnight.
It look several weeks before I got my old girls to stop picking on Angus!
One day they were horrible the next day .. amazing … they acted like they’ve always been the best of buddies! They let Angus come and cuddle them in the chest of drawers, they played with him and there was peace in the house!
So please don’t get rid of the newbies and make sure Flower knows the word “NO BITING” if she attacks either one and please don’t forget to praise her and give her a treat every time she listens to you.
Ferrets are smart little critters and although some ferrets are quicker on the uptake than others, they will learn what you teach them.
Please don’t give up … make sure you’re consistent and persistent in your training, reward Flower when she does what you command and I’m sure you’ll have three happy little ferrets living in your house!
Don’t forget to read through the comments above … I pretty much say the same thing but in different ways 😉
Good luck and please give your gorgeous trio a hug from their new friends down under 😀
Cheers
~Nona
Here’s a photo of poor Angus’ scabby neck …
Attached image:
So i had 3 ferrets 1 entire male and 2 females from the age of 8 weeks they all got on great for a year a few days ago i got another 2 both castrated males that are ages with my 3 they all got on perfect for 3/4 days sleeping together playing together everything was great but today 1 of the new males (storm) is attacking my entire male (Mylo) and keeps biting his ears. They’re really red but no blood poop or pee but he keeps screaming and storm is dooking while doing it. He just won’t give Mylo peace :/ not sure what to do
Hi Holly
I can only suggest that you get some foul tasting ointment (the stuff vets put on animals to stop them from pulling their stitches) from your vet or order a bottle of Bitter Apple and put that on Mylo’s ears. Hopefully the taste will stop Storm from going for his ears.
If you catch Storm going for Mylo’s ears or any other part of him, try scruffing and shaking him (not violently obviously!) while hissing at him like a mama ferret would to her naughty kit. Then tell him firmly “No Biting!”.
Hopefully Storm will be a quick learner and if it happens again, you’ll be able to shout out your instruction and he’ll stop irritating Mylo immediately. When that happens, give him a treat and praise him so it really sinks in that it’s much better to listen to you than annoy Mylo!
Perhaps Storm still has some of those pesky male hormones floating around in him and that’s what’s making him go for Mylo?
I hope that will help keep the peace in your house!
Hugs to your bunch of beauties from their new buddies down under 😀
Cheers
~Nona
Hello I just got a 4 month old male (neutered) ferret. i originally wanted two litter mates but he was the last one of the litter and I just fell in love. I still want too though and have planned to get another in the next litter. I’ve only had him for about two weeks. I wonder if I’ll have the same problems though that others have…. them being kits. And will my male even think his cage well established territory in such little time?
Hi Stephany
It’s really difficult to say how your boy will react to having another ferret in the house – some ferrets are very welcoming to newcomers while others aren’t!
I would like to think that if your present boy is still very young then it shouldn’t be a problem when you get another ferret but it really all depends on his personality 🙂
As long as you shower both your ferrets with lots of love so that no one feels left out, then I’m sure everything will go smoothly! Fingers crossed!
Re your question about your boy thinking about his cage being established territory … I honestly don’t know as I never have had my guys in cages. Sorry 🙁 All my babies have been free roam so could sleep where they wanted.
Hope that’s been of some help :/
Hugs to your baby from his new friends down under!
Cheers
~Nona
Hi. I recently lost one of my old ferrets to cancer leaving me 3 aged about 6 one of which is now blind. I have put a deposit on 2 EU jobs which will be ready to leave mum in 3 weeks. I am now getting worried about integrating them them as my other 3 get on so well and have been together forever. I plan to keep babies in a separate cage for a week and handle them loads then put them in the shed where the other 3 sleep in the day whilst the others are in the outside hutch but back in cage at night and 3 back in she’d. That way they’ll all get used to smells. After a few weeks I’ll try and mix babies with each one individually and see what happens. I’ve heard of putting cod liver oil on so they clean each other – what do you think?
Hi Sarah
So sorry to hear of your loss and I can imagine your concern about introducing your newbies to your established babies.
What you say you’re planning to do to integrate them sounds great! Some ferrets are so happy to have new ones in the family while others are just horrible to the newbies, so I can’t imagine what it’d be like once you get your youngsters 🙁
You sound like a very concerned ferret owner and I know you’ll have factored in the thought of your oldies finding the newcomers are too energetic for llthem and might be very unwelcoming.
I hope that doesn’t happen, but if it does, then I think you’ll just have to accept that you have two “businesses” and keep them separate. I hope that won’t be the case but please be prepared for it 🙂
Hope all goes well with the introduction
Hugs to your oldies and to your newbies when they arrive from their new buddies down under 😀
Cheers
~Nona
Thank you. I went to see babies today – now 7 weeks old. They are amazingly calm and the 2 I’m having not nippy at all. I fetch them in 2 weeks after their vet check. My main concern is for my blind one. She is very lively and a happy little soul. Fingers crossed they will all live happily together.
That’s wonderful news, Sarah!
I’m sure all will go beautifully — if you happen to have a photo of the gang, I would love to see it 😀
All the very best
~Nona
I have 3 ferrets currently.My boy (7months) was my first and he was alone for about a month before we brought home a little girl we saw at petco (she was the runt and got beat up by the others) turns out she was super sick and thats why they beat her up…she died 2 months later (DIP flare gracee 2-15-17 to 6-7-17)Ash was pretty depressed about it so end of june we brought home 2 girls from a rescue (a year and a half and three years) he likes them but they were bonded before we got them and they dont sleep with him or anything.(they play together though) i was thinking about getting a kit so he would have his own friend.it. wouldnt be till next summer (he would be about a year and a half) and i would bring him with me to pick out the kit. Any advice?
Oh Emily, so sorry to hear about your little Petco girl dying 🙁 What a horrible experience!
What a good idea taking your boy with you to see who he likes and hopefully the one he picks will still be flavour of the month when you get back home 😀
To be honest I don’t have any advice – you seem to be a great “ferrent” and it sounds like you’re doing all the right things for your babies!
I’m sure things will go fine and that your little man will finally have a good friend to bond with!
Hugs to your little ones from their new friends down under 🙂
Cheers
~Nona
Hi. So im a first time ferret owner. We have had our Noodle for almost 1 year and we are looking to rescue 2 more older ferrets. The thing is our noodle is deaf and so is one of the ferrets we want to rescue. We have introduced them and things were okay for a few minutes but then all of a sudden the 2 deaf ones (our original and the other female) started fighting and sqealing loud. No blood but just very rough and both poofed up. Our current one seems to be very dominant over them both and the other deaf female rescue is also dominant. The male rescue just does his own thing but mine is aggresive towards both rescues. I dont want to make a bad decision in bringing them into our home and having our current girl be aggressive all the time because she was better as a singular. This is the first time i will have more than one at a time so i just want to be making the most informed decision.
I have a 2 yr old female n just found one that was starved she seems to b eating ok I put both together my abby hisses at her they were playing together but they sleep in diff places now they seem depressed so I put the one I found in a diff cage what should I do
Hi Alexandra
It really is upsetting when your ferret is not happy with the newcomers, isn’t it?
I had a case years ago when I brought home a 7 week old albino boy, thinking my 3 girls would be thrilled to mother him. Oh boy, was I wrong! My normally sweet and loving girls turned into the witches of Macbeth and took every opportunity to attack poor Angus 🙁 They went for his neck, they went for his bottom – the girls knew the command “No Biting” but even when I shouted that at them, they took no notice and attacked! I got some foul tasting goop from my vet (to stop animals from pulling their stitches out) and slathered it all over Angus and that put them off a bit, but I still had to be around to help him if one of the girls decided to be sneaky and lie in wait somewhere to get him 😮
I was really depressed by the whole thing but I kept championing Angus and then, after a few weeks, it was like a light switch had been flicked – the girls let Angus come into the chest of drawers and they all cuddled up and were the best of friends forever! Incredible!
Now I haven’t ever had a deaf ferret so I have no idea how you would command Noodle to not bite. I’ve looked online and found a few sites which might be helpful to read, especially the first one …
https://www.reddit.com/r/ferrets/comments/212sty/introducing_two_new_ferrets_to_the_group_help/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ferrets/comments/34qgvn/deaf_ferret_not_bonding_well_with_others/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ferrets/comments/30i5ks/question_about_deaf_ferret_play/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ferrets/comments/68ac65/visual_training_for_deaf_ferret/
So have you shared their bedding so that Noodle can get used to the new smells?
Have you bathed them together?
Instead of putting yukking goop on the newbies’ necks, maybe try something like (organic) coconut oil, so that Noodle licks it off their necks rather than being repelled? Of course if she licks it off their necks, it could mean the next thing she’ll do is bite them 😮
I guess it’s up to you guys. I do know that if you’re prepared to be consistent and persistent in your actions, Noodle will come to accept the newcomers and, like with Angus, one day you’ll come home and find them all snuggled up together and they’ll be BFFs! It might take days, it might take a few weeks, it might even take a couple of months, but it will happen!
If you haven’t got the time or the patience to do that, and you love your newbies, then perhaps it means having two sets of ferrets and letting them out at different times? I have friends who have this arrangement. I personally have never tried it as all my guys are free roam, so they have to get on!
Or … worst case scenario – you don’t want them fighting so you decide Noodle will be an only ferret and you find a good home for your other two!
I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a definite answer to your question but I hope that what I have said, and the links provided, will help you to make an informed decision!
Hugs to all your babies from their new friends down under 😀
Cheers
~Nona
Alexandra — this is the back of Angus’ neck when the 3 Harpies were after him 🙁
Attached image:
Hi Kelly
I would suggest the same thing to you as I have done to others who’ve had this problem!
I can only suggest you read all the comments above to see how you can try and fix the problem.
** Get Abby to sleep in your new ferret’s bedding so that she gets used to the smell and also bathe them together.
If Abby starts to attack the new ferret …
** Get Abby to understand the word “NO BITING” by growling and shaking her when she attacks so that she knows she shouldn’t be doing that. Praise her and give her treats when she listens. I’m sure in time she’ll get along with your new girl and they’ll be best buddies! It might take time but I’m sure it’ll happen. Just keep on enforcing good behaviour and don’t get depressed if it doesn’t happen overnight.
** Get Bitter Apple spray to put on your new girl’s neck or wherever should Abby start biting her!
It’s also important for you to take your new ferret to the vet to be checked out to make sure she hasn’t got any illnesses which she might pass over to Abby, as that would be a disaster.
If you need a ferret vet, hopefully you’ll be able to find one near to you on my Vets list …
https://www.all-about-ferrets.com/ferret-vets.html
It’d be important to make sure both your girls are up-to-date with their vaccinations, etc.
I think it was really good of you to bring that little girl home and feed her. As we say in Australia, ONYA!! (Short for GOOD on ya 😉 )
Do you know if anyone in your neighbourhood has lost a ferret? If someone has, it’d be fantastic if you could reunite her with her owner!
However if she was just thrown out to fend for herself and you feel you can’t keep her, then it’d be great if you could find her a home with caring people like yourself so that she ends up having a happy life!
I hope everything works out between Abby and the newbie as I think you are a very loving ferret owner 😀
Hugs to both your girls!
Cheers
~Nona
Up a here’s my problem I have one male and 2 female That are about one year old they get along great I just picked up a another male that is 4 months old and the same size as my one year old male My original 3 keep trying to Beat up and bite my new mail even separated for about a week and I moved betting from one page to the other as well as their blankets so they can get used to each other smell but yet they still do not except him I feel bad that he has no friends but me and my wife What else can I do
Hi Ira
It really is disappointing when an established group refuses to be accepting of a newcomer, isn’t it?
I had the same problem years ago when I brought home a 7 week old male kit – Angus – and had three older females. I was certain that the motherly instinct would kick in when my girls met the little fellah but boy, was I wrong 😮
You can see from the photo I posted in the comment box on this page how those girls attacked him and kept on biting him on the back of his neck, causing quite a number of scabs to form.
I had to get some foul tasting ointment from my vet and paint it over his neck and also onto his backside, as they were also going for that! They were just so mean and so nasty to that poor little boy 🙁
I think it will all work out but you’ll need to be patient and consistent with teaching your established group not to attack the youngster.
Please read through the comments above … the main points I would say are …
** Get Bitter Apple spray to put on your newbie’s neck or wherever your 3 are attacking him, or maybe put Ferretone on his neck so that if they try to bite him, they’ll end up licking him instead 🙂
** Make sure the old group doesn’t feel left out of your or your wife’s affection. Make sure you give them all lots of fun time, praise and treats so that the the oldies don’t feel jealous or neglected.
** Try giving them all a bath together to see if that helps.
** Supervise playtime for all of them and don’t let your new boy get picked on — get the oldies to understand the word “NO BITING” by growling and shaking them if/when they attack so that they know they shouldn’t be doing that. Praise them and give them treats when they listen.
** Just keep on enforcing good behaviour and don’t get depressed if it doesn’t happen overnight.
It look several weeks before I got my old girls to stop picking on Angus!
One day they were horrible the next day .. amazing … they acted like they’ve always been the best of buddies! They let Angus come and cuddle them in the chest of drawers, they played with him and there was peace in the house!
It will mean you will have to be consistent and persistent with your training, like I said. If you think it’s too much work, or if you and your wife don’t have the time to spend supervising your 4, then you might just have to keep your new boy separate from the others.
I hope that won’t be the case and I wish you good luck in your training.
There is another article about the same subject here – perhaps it will give you more ideas on what to do with your group?!
https://www.all-about-ferrets.com/how-do-i-introduce-a-new-ferret-to-my-established-one.html
Hugs to all your babies from their new friends down under 🙂
Cheers
~Nona
Hi ya I have a rescue male who is castrated and a 21week old girl they love perfect together. I’m thinking of getting a rescue male from work ops ha . But I’m wondering can I have my female the jill jab until she’s old enough to be spayed and him castrated as I’d like them all to live together
Hi Tracey
I’m sure it’d be okay for your girl to get the jill jab until you want to spay her and yes, have the new boy sterilised before introducing him to your present boy. You don’t want the new fellow to get rough with the sterilised one as whole males tend to be rough with other males 🙂
Don’t forget it’ll take about 2 weeks before all his hormones to dissipate 😀
Hope it all goes well with your newbie!
Hugs to your gang from their new friends down under 😉
Cheers
~Nona
Hi, what is the longest I should try intros before giving up? I have 3 bubs, all are fixed, my girl Trixxi, 1.5yrs and boy Dax, 2.5yrs stay together and end November I got Juliet who is 3.5yrs, her partner passed a few short months before I got her. She is very timid and shy with Dax who cuddles with her immediately and she will lay there crying at first not wanting to move while he sleeps, but my girl Trixxi just goes straight for biting her and most times she gets her stomach, I always scruff her and give her a firm no with a light shake but she still does it whenever I have them out at the same time, she even went so far as to one day grab Juliets tongue through the cage bars and tried to rip it off *-* luckily I saw it happen and immediately scruffed Trixxi and got her to let go and Juliet wasn’t hurt too bad. Other than that she has never broken the skin on Juliet when she grabs her but she gives off a bad smell while Juliet cries out and tries to get away. Should I leave them to fight supervised and only pull apart when someone gets injured? I don’t want anyone getting hurt but I also can’t keep Juliet in a separate cage alone. I don’t know what to do.
To top it off, Juliet has some bad nipping habits toward people when she is handled and we don’t have anyone else who would have the patience or understanding to be able to handle her and I’m the only one she doesn’t nip anymore.
Hi Ivanka
It really is hard when ferrets don’t get on and can cause so much stress for everyone 🙁
I would suggest you get some Bitter Apple or something similar and put it on Juliet’s neck and hindquarters so that when Trixxi goes for her, all she gets is a bad taste in her mouth. If you see her lunging for Juliet, yell “TRIXXI, NO BITING”! Scruff her and hiss at her like a mother ferret would if her kit annoys her.
Ferrets are smart animals so it shouldn’t take Trixxi too long to understand the order. When you see her hesitating when you shout the order, praise her and give her a treat which you know she loves. I have done this with a couple of my ferrets and it took about 7-10 days for them to stop attacking the other ferret. But you must be consistent and persistent with this.
Have you also tried swapping bedding so that the girls get used to the different smells? I’m told that works too but I’ve never tried it.
All my guys have been free roam in the house so it was essential for them all to get along with each other. Sometimes it took a while before peace was restored but in the end it was fine.
Try to be around when your babies are out of the cage and keep a close eye on how Trixxi is with Juliet so that you can step in if she does get rough, and try somehow to not let Trixxi get to Juliet when they’re in the cage so that you don’t have to worry.
Read through the other comments to see if you can get any other ideas from them.
I would suggest you keep going with trying to integrate Juliet into your “business” as it will be okay in the long run but how long it will take is impossible for me to say. Some ferrets become friends after a week or so, others take months.
I hope you won’t find it too stressful to carry on and find another home for Juliet – she sounds like a sweetheart, as do your other two!
Good luck!
Cheers
~Nona
Hi,
We have just got a new 8 week old kit that we’re introducing to our 4 year old Ferret that has been on his own for the past 1 1/2 years.
Since introducing, the older ferret always goes for the kit’s neck, making the kit whimper and cry.
The older ferret is dooking a lot around him and seems very excitable but always going for the neck.
As the kit is so young and defenceless, is it a good idea to just leave them to it and break it up when it’s too rough or should we wait till he gets a bit bigger? If we should wait, is it still a good idea to have them around each other for a while longer even with no physical interaction?
Hi James
I’d suggest you get some Bitter Apple or something similar which you can put on your baby’s neck. Hopefully that will stop your older ferret from latching onto its neck!
Have a look at the other comments on this page and you can see my replies – use all the tips I put down and see if they will help to stop the problem.
You can see the photo I put up of my Angus’ neck – he was a kit when I first got him – only 7 weeks old – and I was certain my 3 girls would mother him but no! They went for him so I had to keep them separated until Angus was bigger and then everything was cool.
If the Bitter Apple doesn’t work then perhaps it would be better to keep them separated until your kit is bigger but hopefully the Bitter Apple will fix the problem. Fingers crossed 😀
Hugs to both your babies from their new friends down under 😉
Cheers
~Nona
I rescued a female ferret (piper) who is roughly 8 months old. She adjusted well to her new house so about a month after I got a male (roan) about 2 months old as I do work alot and I didn’t want her to be too lonely. Piper took to him immediately and she loves him but he couldn’t be any less interested in her. They come out to play and they run around for a few minutes then he won’t bother with her anymore. All he seems to want to do is eat and sleep. She’s actually dragged him out of the cage and took him under my bed ( where she hides her toys or other things she likes) she’s tried to drag me under there a few times lol. I’m just worried maybe something is wrong with him? They don’t really fight much or anything they get along relatively well. Sometimes he will hiss at her if she’s being to rough trying to play. He’s pretty uninterested in me too. He really only let’s me love on him a minute or two after waking up then he’s over it. If I try to pet him when he’s in the cage he just bites my fingers or runs away when he’s outside of the cage.
Hi Taylor
It really is a shame when a ferret isn’t interested in being part of the family 🙁
You say you’re worried that there might be something wrong with him so why not take him to your vet to get checked over, so that it eliminates one area in your mind?!
I’ve had a couple of “single” ferret types – they were there when I used to have 6 in the house so lots of company but one in particular, my silversmith boy I called Seamus, wasn’t keen to sleep with the others or even interact much with them! He’d find his own sleeping spot, usually in the sofa, while the others bedded down in my chest of drawers. He didn’t seem very interested in playing with me and preferred doing his own thing!
Unfortunately there is no way of knowing what the personality of the ferret will be when you get one, especially a young one. Most are the welcoming kind, like your Piper, but some are really not keen to be part of the family 🙁
If you take your boy to the vet and he gets a clean bill of health, then I guess you either have to put up with his lack of social graces or maybe find him a home with someone as a single ferret.
Of course, he could change as he gets older. Seamus didn’t but perhaps Roan had a bad childhood before you got him and it might just take him time to hang loose – I honestly don’t know!
Your Piper sounds like an absolute sweetheart and I really hope Roan does finally come good and becomes her good friend ❤️
Wishing you all the very best, and big hugs to Piper and Roan from their new friends down under!
Cheers
~Nona
Hi there! I have a male and female that have recently turned three. I’ve read the many recommendations above on how to introduce them; I appreciate this information very much. We are thinking of getting another ferret since we have enjoyed ours so much. Would you recommend the addition of a male or a female? And, should we consider adding a pair instead of an individual?
Hi Dawn
It really is hard for me to say definitively how your ferrets would react to a new ferret/couple.
When I had my gang, they were all free roam so a new ferret would just be plonked into the group and they tended to accept the newbie without much bother! However a young ferret owner I am friends with, she had different cages for her ferrets as some of hers tended to pick on newbies and she’d have to separate them.
If you just wanted to get one ferret to add to the family then I’m afraid I can’t say if a male or female would be better as it all depends on the new ferret’s personality.
I would think that getting a young pair would be great and if they don’t get on with the oldies at least you’ll have two groups who are happy with each other!
Another thing to think about is can you afford to double the amount you’d spend on vets’ fees? ?♀️ If yes, then I’d definitely say get a pair!
Hope that’s been of some help to you ?
Hugs to your oldies from their new friends down under ?
Cheers
~Nona
My ferret has no signs of sickness or anything like grinding teeth or signs of pain. The ferret in question “Noodle” only interacts in play with the other ferret “marshmallow” who is new now for about 4 days, they get along fine but him being bigger she gets scared and squeals for help during play sometimes and i had to scruff him to make him get off her (gently not roughly). That was the last time he wanted to play with me or my fiance, he plays with marshmallow just fine. We discovered that gently dragging him back to where he was on our bed he will run and then wait for us to pull him back and then run again while making happy noises, he is active alot just not playing with us. Could it be he is bored of us?
Also fiance brought up a point that maybe he plays with her so much he has no energy when we come around since he is a hefty boi (he was pretty obese when we got him about 2 months ago and is getting better, but still a cute little fatty)
He also still seeks our attention, but only so he can be pet
Jacob, I honestly don’t know what to tell you about Noodle! He sounds like he’s happy to be with Marshmallow but also happy to play with you when you interact with him.
I think you might be worrying a bit too much about him not wanting to play with you! He seems like a lovely boy so perhaps if you want him to play with you, you might offer him a little treat when he’s playing nicely with you? I know it’s a bribe but it might make Noodle prefer to be with you rather than with Marshmallow ?♀️
I’m afraid that’s all I can think of to *perhaps* make a difference ?
Hugs to Noodle and Marshmallow from their two new buddies down under!❤
Cheers
~Nona
Alright ferret whisper..hope you’re ready for this one..
We have 6 ferrets total, started with one like everyone does..he was a baby we purchased from a pet store. We realized he needed a friend so adopted what we were told was another male..well “Jeff” turned out to be a female. It’s ok, they get along great. About 7 months later we were asked to take on another older female that’s deaf..but we were talked into taking her buddy who’s older as well. So there were 4 total. 2 males 2 females, all different ages. No issues. Then we moved across country, they adapted great to the new house. About a year later we adopted another male, much older, senior that has medical issues and going blind..still a very happy business we had. About a month ago we decided to get one more (like we needed another one ?) it’s a baby female. This is when war started. Our first female “Jeff” absolutely hates the new female. I’m not being dramatic when I say that she actively hunts her and full on tries to kill her. It’s scary. New female has had puncture wounds and blood drawn from the older female. We have tried ferret pheromones, introduction on neutral ground, bathing right away, holding them and letting them smell each other in small introductions you name it I’ve looked it up and tried it. Each day Jeff gets worse towards the new female. The baby gets alone great with all of the others, keep in mind that we have 2 other females besides the new one, both of those girls get along great and have never had issues. So why does Jeff want to kill Kit? Why is she just targeting the baby..why was she never aggressive towards the other female or even the new male that we took in after our big move (which wasn’t very long ago..maybe 9 months ago)? Will they ever get along, because right now our happy business is complete chaos because of Jeff. She sees the baby and literally runs towards her and latches onto her neck and violently shakes the baby, she latches on so tight I’ve had to pry her mouth open..which isn’t easy when they’re squirming all over and screaming. We were considering rehoming the baby, but we love her and so does the rest of the business..is there any hope for us?
To add to my question above..our stinkies all have TONS of play time outside their house..probably more than they need..most nights we have 2-3 sleeping in our bed with us ? We have made a point to show our established babies Estrada’s love and attention so they all know we still love them. As stated, we’ve tried ferret pheromones bothe the topical kind and one that u put on their food, we’ve bathed them all together with special shampoo that’s supposed to have a neutralizing smell, and of course we say loudly NO and have even gone as far as gently putting our mouth on the scruff of Jeff and tried to assert dominance to her, and after giving a time out. I haven’t tried bitter apple yet, I will get some right away tomorrow and try it. I’ve been a vet tech for over 25 years, and honestly I feel stupid that I never thought of it myself. Right now we have just been keeping the 2 girls separate and rotating play time which isn’t easy and is heartbreaking to watch them sad in the cage while they watch everyone else out playing. Please note that when Jeff is out of her house she immediately gets puffy..like crazy puffy..and actively searches all over for Kit trying to find her. So honestly Jeff doesn’t even enjoy her play time because she just walks all over trying to find Kit. She’s crazy fixated on finding Kit and attacking her. None of the other stinkies have any issues with her at all, they all get along great
Hi Danielle
Oh dear – I am so sorry to hear that Jeff doesn’t like your little one! I honestly have no idea why this happens, I really don’t ?
Have you read the other comments and my reply to them? And have you seen that photo I posted of poor Angus’ neck?
I swear – I never thought my three girls would act like they did with Angus. I thought that he’d activate their maternal instinct and they’d want to cuddle and look after him, not attack him ?
I practically bathed him in that nasty-tasting goop I got from my vet to put the harpies off biting him but they always managed to find a spot which hadn’t been covered and bit him there! It really was so stressful so I have a lot of empathy with what you’re going through! ?
I would suggest putting Bitter Apple or anything similar on Kit to see if that stops Jeff from biting her.
I see that you’ve already tried giving Jeff ferret phermones. I’ve never tried this as it wasn’t available when I had a problem but I have heard that the Bach Flower remedies for pets are helpful …
http://www.bachflower.com/rescue-remedy-pet/
It seems that chicory is the essence that should be given to possessive pets. Perhaps you could try that and see if it helps?
I had to keep Angus separate from the 3 harpies when he was a kit but when he got bigger, it was like a switch had been flicked! They just welcomed him as if nothing bad had happened in the past! It really was amazing! Yesterday they were the harpies and the following day they all were as sweet as sugar with him! Crazy!!
I wish I could give you some definite advice but all I can suggest is that you read through all the comments and my replies and hopefully everything will work out and Jeff and Kit will be the best of buddies in the near future!
Hugs to all your fuzzbutts from their new buddies down under ❤
Good luck!!
Cheers
~Nona
Hello! I am the owner of a 1 year old male ferret named Bruce. Hes so cute and loveable! Anyways, for the New Year Ive been debating about getting him a furry friend. I dont know if I should though. I don’t mind taking him to Petco to scoop out prospects but, I really cant fathom buying another cage for this potential new ferret. If I were to get one, theyd have to live in the same cage.
Hi Mary
It’s so difficult to know whether Bruce will welcome a newbie like an old friend or whether he’ll have a hissy fit and attack the newcomer ?♀️
He sounds like a sweetheart so I’d like to think that he’d be happy to have a friend to play with but there’s no way to figure that out – you’d have to just see how he reacts with meeting another ferret ?
I wouldn’t worry about buying another cage. I know some ferret owners who have multiple groups of ferrets which they keep separate in cages but all my guys have been free roam so I’d just put the new ferret down and they’d sort themselves out ?
Hugs to Bruce from his new buddies down under ?
Cheers
~Nona
Hi. My son recently moved back home from college with a female ferret that he rehomed from someone who wasn’t talking great care of her. We’re guessing she’s a few years old but not sure of her age. We wonder from time to time if she’d be happy with another ferret so she’s not alone but at the same time, she’s very friendly and seems happy as is. I know they are social animals and like to live with others as a general rule but as she never had that opportunity, I wonder if we should risk rocking the boat or leave well enough alone. Do ferrets happily live solitarily? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Lori
I always think that it’s best to have 2 ferrets so that they can entertain each other when their owners aren’t around!
However … 2 ferrets = twice the cost. Vet bills, food bills, etc. If you are happy to pay for those, then great! If you think it might stretch your bank account, then perhaps stick with one ?
Another thing to think about … it’s really difficult to know how your girl will greet a newcomer. Some ferrets are very happy to welcome newbies into their home but there are other ferrets who will make like so difficult for another ferret ?
I had 3 mature girls and thought Angus, the little kit I got, would be loved by them due to their motherly instincts. HAH!
Poor Angus got so beat up by those harpies that I had to keep them separate for weeks and as all my ferrets are free roam, it was difficult! However once Angus got bigger, they changed overnight and just let him come into the chest of drawers and cuddle them. Peace was restored! ?
If your girl doesn’t like your new addition, then you might have the same reaction as I did, but if you’re prepared to tough it out, it will sort itself out in due time ?
I hope that was of some help to you!
Hugs to your little girl from her new pals down under ❤
Cheers
~Nona
PS – sorry, I meant to wish you and your family a wonderful 2020!! ?
Hello, we got our first ferret last July. He’s approx 1.5 year old. He was a single ferret for a year in his previous home and I read they are communal so we searched for another ferret. In October we brought home another rescue. She is approximately 4ys old but we are at least her 3rd home do not certain on age. We bathed them together, switches bedding, let them sleep in eachothers cages alone but I’m still not comfortable with them sharing a cage. Outside of their cage they get along great. They play and snuggle and there is no fighting. In the cage the female bites the male and will chase him if he tries to get away from her. I have suspicions that the all white female is possibly deaf and not sure if that would play a part. I would love for them to bond completely but I’m running out of ideas.
Hi DJ
To be honest, I don’t understand why your ferrets are so good with each other outside of the cage yet your girl picks on your boy when they are inside the cage together! Have you tried putting some foul tasting ointment on his neck, or wherever she bites him, to get her to stop doing that?
I’m really not the person to ask about behaviour in cages as all my guys are free roam in the house so in the past, when I got a new ferret, they were added to the group and seemed to be welcomed by all. Apart from the time when I got my 7 week old albino boy years ago and the 3 older females (whom I thought would be happy to mother him), picked on him horribly until one day they didn’t! ?
I know quite a few ferret owners who have separate cages for their babies as some don’t get along so I can only suggest you trying Bitter Apple or something similar to put on your boy’s neck or accepting that your girl doesn’t like sharing her cage with anyone and keeping them separate when they sleep! ?♀️
From what you told me, you’re doing everything right about trying to get them to bond and as I said, I don’t know why your girl is doing what she is doing! ?
Hope things sort themselves out soon and I’m sorry I haven’t been able to help much!
Hugs to your babies from their new friends down under ❤
Wishing you all the best
Cheers
~Nona
Hello! I got my first ferret (Peanut) from a good friend of mine when she was leaving for college and couldn’t find a home to foster her. What was suppose to be a few months of fostering turned into 2 years of her being mine! She’s 4 years old and she hasn’t been very playful so I thought that a playmate might be nice for her so, I bought a 3 month old baby (Piper) who’s a bit rambunctious. They’ve already meet face to face and Peanut is very nice to her and always wants to smell her, but whenever Piper tries to play, Peanut immediately runs away and shows disinterest. I know that the age difference between the two of them could be the reason that Peanut is a little less playful than Piper, but do you have any suggestions as to how to make them have a successful bond?
Hi Medina
I’m sorry but I’m not sure what to suggest ?
It’s great that Peanut isn’t picking on Piper – some ferrets are so mean to newbies so you’re lucky in that respect!! Hopefully as time progresses, Peanut will be happy to play with Piper but it’s always hard to work out how a ferret will react as they are all so different!
I do hope it all works out and I’m sorry that I can’t give you any advice to help.
Hugs to your little girls from their furry friends down under ?
Cheers
~Nona
So I have two girls about to turn two and I’ve had them about about 3-4 months. I absolutely love them. They are they most well behaved girls. Also they are sisters and are kind of small for 2 year old ferrets. But I just got a boy ferret and we don’t know is age. He seems older then them but not by much. He’s only ever been a one ferret household and he’s had cats and dogs to play with but no ferret. He’s really chunky and huge compared to the girls. At first he was a little aggressive towards the girls( he honestly just seemed like he didn’t know how to play with them)but now I’m dominant girl is just beating him up. He’s definitely calmed down his aggression and started to pick up on how the girls play and run things. He’s so sweet and just wants to be friends. But they will get under the couch where I can’t get them and my dominant girl will just attack him and he will scream and try to run away but he gets tired easy and is clearly losing the fight but she doesn’t stop. The girls have never been aggressive to each other. Or any person. I don’t know how to get them all to get alone.
Hi Ella
It really is hard for owners to have ferrets who aren’t friends and I can imagine how frustrating it must be for you to see your dominant girl being mean to your boy ?
As you might have read, all my guys were free roam so when I got a new ferret, I’d just pop it down on the floor when we got home and let them figure out things themselves. However if there was a spat between two ferrets, I’d get some really yukky tasting goop and smear it over the picked-on ferret’s butt, or neck, or wherever the dominant ferret was biting the other one.
We can’t get Bitter Apple here in Oz but I’d suggest you getting a bottle and putting that wherever your girl is biting your poor. Hopefully the yukky taste will make her think twice about doing it again! I also would suggest that when you see that happening, shout “NO BITING” very loudly, grab her by the scruff and shake her (not hard, but just enough for her to think twice as that is what mother ferrets do to their kits when they’re misbehaving!).
I know from experience that it doesn’t take a ferret long to equate the command “NO BITING” to the shaking and it shouldn’t be too long before your girl knows she’s doing something wrong! But do make sure you’re putting the Bitter Apple on the areas where she’s attacking your poor little man!
I hope that’s been of some help to you and that peace descends in your home soon!! ?
Hugs to your terrific threesome from their new buddies, the dynamic duo, down under ❤️
Good luck!
Cheers
~Nona
Hi, I have two female ferrets both 1yo. Yesterday, we got a male 2 month old and we directly introduced them all and everything want almost too good, so we let them be together. They all sleep together and I have spotted one of the old one groom him a few time. It look like they already accepted him but it seems too good to be true. Should I use some precautions or I can just let them be together.
Hi Malkolm ?
Well, from what you told me I would say you don’t have to take any precautions and yes, just let them be together!
Your girls obviously are the “Mi casa es tu casa” type ferrets so it’s wonderful to know that they were happy to welcome the newbie ?
HOWEVER (dum de dum dum…!) if you see that your girls are picking on your little guy, please get some Bitter Apple to put on his neck or wherever they are biting him. Hopefully the ferrets will go “bleah” when they taste that spray on his body and leave him alone!!
Big hugs for your threesome from my two wolverines down under ❤
Cheers
~Nona
Me and my spouse recently got a 3 month old baby boy and have tried to bring him into our home of 3 other ferrets.(2 males and a female who is the second youngest). We have tried introducing all of them and its been rough to say the least. One of our males enjoys playing with the new baby and they have a blast but our other male seemingly wants to kill the new baby and even tries/ does attack him through the cage bars. Just tonight the baby was attacked and my older ferret got ahold of his ear through the cage bars. (our ferrets are free roam but we currently have the baby in a smaller cage while the others have play time outside of their own cage). I feel lost because there seems to be zero progress with the older boy. The new baby also seems to get along plays with our female aswell (Though she does have some slight aggressive tendencies towards the baby nothing too concerning)
Anyways I would love some help and advice because I feel as if nothing is going right at all ugh 🙁
Also note: our 3 older ferrets all get along and LOVE eachother.
Oh Sammy – I know too well how some ferrets are so happy with newbies while other ones are ready to kill the poor thing. ?♀️
I know it’s so frustrating to have one ferret who just will not take to the newbie but hang in there – I’ve found – with time – they will all be friends and curl up to sleep together as if they’ve been best buddies forever. However it’s impossible to work out how long it’ll take!
Get some Bitter Apple or some other foul tasting ointment and put it on your new boy’s ears, neck, top of the head, and even the backside/tail and see if that will stop your oldie from wanting to attack. Just make sure you supervise your baby’s whereabouts so that you can pick him up quickly if the ointment doesn’t work!
I’ve also tried to help a whole lot of others in the comment section so would ask that you read through them all to see if I give any other suggestions. I had an unfortunate fall last week and I think my brain’s a bit scrambled as I hit my face on the patio hard! I can’t seem to think of any other advice to give you ?
Oh wait … ferret owners say you should let your oldies sleep in the bedding which has the scent of the newbie so that they get used to that smell.
This article might give you more ideas on what to use …
https://holisticferretforum.com/about-ferrets/introducing-new-ferrets/
It can be a pain to be constantly vigilant when they’re all out but with a lot of patience and love (make sure you don’t make your oldie feel resentful of the new boy by scolding him if he attacks – try and tell him softly but firmly that it’s not something you approve!) they will all be best buddies!!
Hope some of that helps!
Big hugs to your new baby from an old fuzzball down under, as well as hugs to all your older beauties ❤
Good luck!
Cheers
~Nona
Hi there, thank you for this article it is one of the best I have found. I had a question about introducing a new little guy to my older ferret. Dwayne (the older ferret) is 3 years old and has always been a single ferret. Lately I’ve had a bit less time to spend playing with him and decided to get another, so that he had a friend. He of course has not accepted him yet, and Dwayne has started eating significantly less, and just doesn’t seem to have interest in the new ferret, but not even me or in our chasing games we used to play. It has only been a little over a week, and I do have a scheduled vet visit. But I wanted to check and see if maybe this is something common? Is he just maybe grumpy with me or I don’t really know what to think but I’m a little worried now that I may have made the wrong move. Dwayne isn’t aggressive with Pepe, (the new ferret) but he has just completely shut down and has no interest and just wants to sleep. If you have any experience with this I would love to hear. Thank you ??
Hi Angelica
I would suggest you give Dwayne a lot of love and cuddles, tell him he’s your number one little man and see if that makes him feel better!
Perhaps get a really crinkly plastic bag and put both the ferrets in there to jazz them up and maybe that will snap him out of his sulk.
Do they sleep together? It’d be good if they did as that might make Dwayne realise that Pepe is his buddy?
In the past, I always had 6 ferrets in my “business” and when one passed away, I would get another one and never had any problems with the group accepting the newbie! As I’ve never had a single ferret then introduced a newbie, I really am not the person to give advice – what I wrote above is just something I would try if I were in your situation. I honestly don’t know if they would work ?
I’m sorry I can’t give you suggestions which have worked with me but I hope that my ideas will help you in some way!!
Hugs to both your boys from their new buddy down under ❤
Cheers
~Nona
we have 2 ferrets (male and female) 4 years old.
We have a new male ferret 2 1/2 years old
both males seem to be indifferent to each other, not playing but not being aggressive
the young male on first day, became aggressive with female biting back of neck, tails flared
next day and from then on (we are on day 8) female is attacking male immediately, tails, poop, etc…. we try ferratone that does not help anymore, we have switched bedding but not helping
we are thinking of giving them a bath and washing all covers ….
any other suggestions
how long do you think this will last, do we introduce them to each other everyday, or do we give them a break?
thanks
Hi Christy
Sorry for taking so long to reply but I lost my boy a few days before getting your comment and so haven’t been feeling particularly happy as I have now hung up my ferret harness ? No more ferrets in our household – it feels really weird having had them for 28 years.
Anyway, about your ferrets … is your female still attacking the male? I’m so sorry to hear that! It’s always awful when ferrets don’t get along ?
I can only suggest you read all the comments written above to see how you can try and fix the problem.
** Get Bitter Apple spray to put on your boy’s neck or wherever the girl is attacking him.
** Get her to understand the word “NO BITING”. If she doesn’t listen, pick her up by the scruff then growl and shake her lightly (not hard) when she attacks so that she knows she shouldn’t be doing that. Praise her and give her treats when she listens.
Sometimes things resolve within a few days but most times it can take a while. Just make sure your girl pays attention when you say “No Biting”!
I hope this will help to restore peace in your household ❤
Kindest regards
~Nona
hi, i got my 3rd ferret in october (male, neutered, atound 2 years old) and started introducing him to my two older boys (neutered, 5 years old). one of the has accepted him however my other one hasnt and it seems like he is getting more violent every time we try again.. also within the first minute of introduction my new ferret is pooping. im not sure what to do now.. also ive noticed that when they are fighting the dominent ferret is scratching around in his fur. any ideas what it means?? thanks.
Hi Lizzie
MaNY apologies for taking so long to answer your question! I’m in the middle of selling this site and I was hoping the buyer would want to answer it but as I watched the days go by, I realised she wasn’t going to! She’s obviously a great ferret lover but she is pretty slow with answering my emails ?
I would like you to read the comments above yours and try out some of the ideas talked about to see if they will help?
One thing which might work is if you get some Bitter Apple or any foul but safe tasting stuff and put it around his neck, ears, back, rump or wherever your older boy is grabbing him. When you see him doing that, shout his name loudly and say NO BITING. grab him by the scruff of his neck and gently shake him saying, NO BITING. The scruffing and shaking is what a mother ferret does if her kit is misbehaving ?
That way your older boy would equate that horrible taste in his mouth to your command and hopefully, if you do it enough times, he’ll understand he mustn’t bite. When the penny drops, make sure you give your older boy lots of hugs, lots of kisses, praise him for being a good boy, and give him lots of treats! Ferrets are very smart little creatures and hopefully it won’t be long before he comes good!
Oh, and I’m afraid I have no idea why your older boy is scratching around in his fur ?♀️
I hope my suggestion helps and again, I am really sorry it took me so long to answer your question!
Hugs to all your babies from the old granny down under ?
Cheers
~Nona
PS Lizzie – I was just taking a look at some of the comments and I saw that I recommended scruffing, shaking AND HISSING, like a mother ferret would! Please make sure you add hissing to when you scruff your boy, if you do ?