I am writing because I am desperate to see that my husband and I can keep all of our ferrets and not have to bear the pain of giving our new baby away. We had three ferrets (Goober/male, Turbo/male, and Angel/female) until we added another (Zeke/male) a little over a week ago. For the first 24 hours we had the new boy, all the ferrets were fine with each other. After immediately bringing Zeke to the vet from the pet store, we brought him home to meet his new family and they all seemed to take to him. They played with each other, all of them dooking excitedly, and all slept together in the same cage. The following day, while Zeke and Turbo (~1.5 years old) were playing, Turbo got Zeke by the scruff of his neck and started to drag him on the carpet. Zeke immediately started squealing/screaming like he was hurt by something falling on him or something similar, so I intervened. That night everything seemed fine so we put them all to bed but we were woken up to the same screaming noise when Turbo was either scruffing Zeke in the cage or trying to cuddle up to sleep with him, so needless to say we immediately bought another cage. At first we thought that Turbo had just got too rough with Zeke and that this would go away, but a couple more days passed and Turbo kept trying to scruff Zeke, with the same reaction coming from the baby. NOW, our oldest ferret Goober (~4 years old), either tried to play with Zeke or immediately went after him in the same way, resulting in the SAME squeals and screams. Zeke is still sleeping in his own cage by himself but have included some bedding materials taken from the other cage for him to get used to their smells. So far it appears the Angel is the only one who has not rough-housed or aggressed towards Zeke, so we plan to try to have them sleep together in the next couple days or so, but the thing is that because Zeke is getting targeted by the two other ferrets, whenever he sees Angel coming, he automatically starts to whimper, hiss, or run away so we’re not even sure if this will work. For the same reason, I’ve been hesitant to try putting Ferretone on each other’s backs to see if they’ll groom each other, which seems to be a suggestion I’ve seen quite a bit. I think we have made some progress when it comes to Turbo and Zeke, however this seems to depend on whether or not Zeke was targeted by Goober earlier that day. If not, and under very close supervision, Zeke will whimper/squeal AT Turbo (kinda like how others might hiss instead), without Turbo even touching him. When they do make physical contact, it’s a little bit closer to rough-housing and Zeke does not run away from Turbo when he breaks free. HOWEVER, if Goober had previously targeted him earlier in the day, Zeke will run away from Turbo and if successfully scruffed, he will sometimes poop. My personal feeling is that Zeke is warming up to Turbo and will be fine with him in a little while - IF Goober will stop terrorizing him. Now, with Goober, there doesn’t seem to be any “play” element to what he is doing. He will go up to Zeke and go right for the scruff of his neck and thrash around like an overexcited ferret would, but it definitely does not seem to be in a positive way - AT ALL! I have scruffed Goober, firmly told him “NO,” set him back down, and no matter how many times I do it there doesn’t seem to be any change. I would say pretty much EVERY time Goober targets Zeke, Zeke poops and for a good minute or so after being picked up, he’ll be whimpering in my arms like he’s afraid Goober will still be able to get him. This is where I need everyone’s help - how can I get Goober to STOP blatantly attacking Zeke??? Scruffing and telling him “NO” multiple times doesn’t seem to be working. Earlier today I broke out the Apple Bitters stuff and immediately after Goober attacked Zeke and sprayed some on my finger and grazed it over his lips so that he got the nasty taste and smell. I thought after the first time that maybe this would work, but Goober seized a chance to strike again when I was making dinner. Again I did the same thing and Goober has retired to his “outside the cage” sleeping spot. Can anyone please give some helpful suggestions to try to get this to stop?? I’m already very much loving on Zeke because he’s such an affectionate ferret (i.e. kisses, falling asleep in my arms, etc.) but I am fearing that we may have to give Zeke away - for his own sanity and safety! Unfortunately my husband and I are young and can only afford our one bedroom apartment, and the only ferret we have “treat bag trained” is Goober, so realistically HE’s the only one we can have in our bedroom, leaving not a lot of separate spaces for the ferrets to play together. We’ll keep Zeke in a separate cage from Goober for as long as it takes, but if we’re home and awake, the ferrets have always been allowed out of their cage, so we don’t want to deprive them of that happiness. Please please please, share your own experiences, tips, etc. for how to address this situation so that we don’t have to get rid of our adorable baby Zeke. Please either message me here or at tcmitche@buffalo.edu -Tim

Hello and Welcome to the forum! Sometimes when you bring a new ferret home they will get along fine no problem. Others they have to establish the pecking order you might say. The older ferrets may be trying to put him in his place. I had the same problem when we got our second ferret. My first ferret Bandit acted like he hated and wanted to kill Smokey. I called someone and they gave me some suggestions. One was to switch bedding so they could get used to each others smells. There used to be a product called "Bitter Apple" and I would spray that on the back of Smokey's neck to try and stop Bandit from going "after " him. I would closely supervise play time. I even gave them both a bath so they would smell the same. Also I put the cages next to each other so they could see each other. Just not close enough for them to grab through the bars.  Sometimes it takes a while for them to get along. Bandit and Smokey became fast friends and cagemates and you'd never have known they had had a problem. But it did take a little time. Bandit I think was also a little jealous of the new baby. He was only about a year old when we got Smokey and had been the only ferret. Give it some time and be patient. Not only is your new baby getting used to a new environment but the others need to get used to him. Usually the saying is, no poop, no pee, no blood they are just establishing dominance. I always separate when it's to rough but remember ferrets do tend to play rough. Usually you can tell the difference. I'm sure little Zeke is kind of intimidated right now and the others realize it too. Also want to mention that like people, not all ferrets will get along. Since yours did at first I would be patient and give it a chance. It took about two months and Bandit and Smokey were able to be together.

 
Fuzzbutts Rule!

Hi! I recently got a baby ferret as well, and after almost four weeks I just felt comfortable putting them in the same cage. I think the key is to start very slowly and know that it can take time. Try taking them to a neutral place that none of them have ever been, like a room they've never been in, etc. Hopefully they will be too intrigued by the new smells to want to pick a fight, but limit it for maybe 10 or 15min at a time. Right at first my older ferret (Max) did show some dominant scruffing and dragging, but I would just break it up if it got too rough and limit the time together. I would put a ferret collar on the little one (Possum) with bitter apple spray rubbed on it and the older one wouldn't bite his neck. That seemed to help a lot. I put the cages next to each other, and also switched some bedding items back and forth. Once it seemed they were getting along pretty well outside the cage, I thoroughly cleaned the big cage, and all the bedding, rearranged the cage, and bathed both ferrets together so that all smells would be neutral. So far, it has gone well. But it did take time, almost a month. It also allowed time for Possum to grow a bit, in case he needed to defend himself.