if you own a ferret your here! I need advice ( new owner): Introducing ferrets to each other.

» UKferreter - Introducing ferrets to each other.

Basically your gonna have problems!
They will fight and scream and in some cases even injure each other.
Mostly they settle down after a while,although some never do.One particular girl will always stick in my mind for that,she was soft as a brush with people(eventually),but i could never get her to live in peace with other ferrets,she escaped into another pen one day and was severely taught a lesson( including needing stitches and eye damage) from the residents,I kept her apart from that day on.She was a rescue from some low life and was virtually wild when I first got her,it took many weeks and countless lacerations for me before she trusted human hands.Maybe that was part of her troubles with other ferrets who knows?
Ferrets go for the neck to kill there prey,they also carry their young this way,the male also grabs the female by the neck to mate with her(roughly enough to draw blood even),so the neck plays a big part in their lives,hence they go for it when fighting too.
It`s mainly a dominance thing I think,in the wild mustelids live solitary lives and only come together briefly to breed,yet we want them all to live together happily.
Even ferrets in the same pen will drag others around by the neck, again a dominance thing maybe,or maternal instincts(I`ve only seen females do with with any regularity)but I`m not sure.
Neutering/speying helps and SHOULD BE DONE ANYWAY,unless you can breed and give the kitts proper homes every year (females regularily die from infection if their not bred or speyed)and ferrets in breeding condition have to be smelt to be believed..especially the boys!
I`ve integrated new ferrets before, but never without much sreaming and hollering and in-fighting.
Basically if it can be avoided,avoid it,otherwise goodluck.

-- posted by UKferreter