A Divided Three :(

[3littleweasels]

First of all I want to say that I am so glad to see a forum up here, I love it!

My name's Christina and I'm new to the site.

We have three wonderful fuzzies, Angel, Baby, and the new addition Ferra. My male/female bonded pair have been accepting of other ferrets we have "fostered" or helped in the past. So when we got Ferra 2 months ago, we thought they'd be thrilled to have a new permanent play mate.

At first the introductions went well. We dealt with the usually pecking order fights and dominance squabbles, but nothing severe. Ferra always has seemed afraid of the other two ferrets and we attributed that to her being young and from a one ferret household. We figured she would come around.

Boy were we wrong! After almost 2 months, they don't seem to be getting along any better! In fact, in some ways it's worse.
No pooping in fright or blood shed, but they clearly don't seem to like each other. We deal with nightly fights, tons of ferret screaming (mostly just for show I think) and two clear groups. The old fuzzies and the new fuzzy. They won't play together except to chase, and I don't think in the good way, and we always find them in two completely different places. I cannot seem to get these guys together. No matter what we do!

I am hoping someone here has some suggestions or even some encouragement. I love my carpet sharks and want nothing more than to see them snuggled up together one day!
Oh and for reference:
Angel-3 1/2 -male
Baby-2 1/2 -female
Ferra- about 6-8 months -female

Thanks in advance!

[ferretgal45]

Welcome Christine.....Good to meet you. I love your user name.

My daughter had the bathing method. She would bathe all of her ferrets so they all smelled the same, and put them on the floor with LOTS of towels to dry off. I've never tried it myself, but it seemed to work for her.

Good luck
June

[staceylamb]

Hi Christine.... how are things going? Did you try the bath thing?
I have also tried putting a little ferretone on each of their necks, making sure they all have their own sleeping places.... hmmmm, you know, sometimes I have some that never
click totally. I'm glad that they aren't fighting, but I do always want them to all be cuddly too! Keep us updated!

[3littleweasels]

Well, I haven't updated this yet, so I figured I should!

Things in the household have slowly become peaceful. We tried baths, etc. and nothing really seemed to work. So we just gave them time. We still have an occasional disagreement between them, but overall they are much better!

They have even taken to all snoozing in their couch together, even though Ferra tends to keep a few feet between her and the others. This is a big improvement and much better than we'd expected!

Our male, Angel, has become a bit of a bully, and has been picking on BOTH the girls, not just Ferra. He's also gained a bit of weight, and is now, obese. We have seen him hogging food, and we think that's contributing to his weight. He's going to the vets on Monday to check his health, since I can't say I have ever seen an obese ferret before. We've been trying to increase his activity, in case his behavior stems from boredom. They seem to really enjoy their digging box!

I think they just needed time to get acquainted and Ferra needed to realize that the others weren't there to hurt her. I think her fear really added to the problems between them. But we're happy to report that our babies are becoming buddies!

[ferretgal45]

That is great to hear Christine.....Keep us updated on Angel's health.

Fuzzy hugs