Resident ferret violently bullies new ferret 1mo later

[Libby]

Evening, y'all. I desperately need your help.



Our business currently has 4 ferrets. Esmeralda (5yo female), Jax (3yo male), Fred (1yo male), and Bobby (1yo male). All are healthy and have no disabilities, save for one case of really bad attitude.



In October 2018 we adopted Jax and his brother, Jesse. Jesse passed away in January due to an undiagnosed case of lymphoma (DIP, li'l man). Jax stopped eating, wouldn't play, and got very anxious when we weren't nearby. We adopted Fred from the local shelter and after a few weeks of dominance fighting, Jax accepted Fred, and now they're best buds.



About a month ago, we adopted Esmeralda (Essie) and Bobby as a bonded pair. Jax took to Essie right away, but was dominance fighting with Bobby as we expected he would. We figured it would end after a couple weeks like it did with Fred and they would all be buddies.



Not so.



Jax will attack Bobby every chance he gets and he is so much more violent with Bobby than he ever was with Fred. He'll bite down on his back/neck and put all of his body weight into shaking him around and alligator rolling, and he'll chase Bobby down and do it again if Bobby gets away. Whereas Fred fear-pooped maybe 3 times over 3 weeks of dominance fighting, Bobby would scream and poop nearly every time Jax latched onto him. Hoping it would help Jax acclimate faster, we tried joining the Ferret Nation together after a week, but we would find poop in the cage almost every day. We tried to give it a week, but by that point Bobby's neck was so raw and scabbed from puncture wounds, he would whine every time you came close to his shoulder blades. Bobby's able to fight him off now and hasn't fear pooped in about a week, but Jax will not leave him alone. Bobby won't come out to play without coaxing if Jax is awake and running around. At first sight of him, he'll dart under the couch. If they're sleeping, and I can manage to not wake them up, I can put all four in the same bed, and they'll stay like that until they wake up for playtime (or until Jax strikes again...).



I've tried everything I can think of. Treating together, duck soup together, scent swapping, baths together, playing with them with the same toys, putting them in one half of the cage together... Nothing has worked. I've thought about trying short periods of interaction with a muzzle on (no longer than 15-30 mins in a supervised, climate-safe environment), but that seems extreme...



What else can I do? Please help me. I'm at my wit's end.

[bandit]

OMG, I'm having the exact same problem with my new little guy, Bandit!!
My male ferret Kodiak gets along with him fine, but my two females relentlessly attack him. I've caged the girls and guys separately. The girls cannot play with the new male kit at all. Zoey, my 2 year old female immediately attacks him violently, whereas the 4 year old Bailey will back off a bit if we physically block her from getting to the kit. But if left unsupervised she will attack him as well.
Bandit's been here a month, he's quite a bit bigger then the girls, but he's skiddish when they're out or around him. I'm afraid to let them fight it out for fear of someone getting hurt badly, or killing the other. I've had groups of ferrets for about 28 years, and I've never had this happen before.
I too have no idea what to do.
I'm going to try taking Bandit and one of the girls to the park, see if a neutral territory will make any difference.
Prayers, I hope you can find a solution to this.

[Charlie]

Sometimes, even after everything has been tried and they still don't get along then your only option is to keep them separate. So that would mean separate play times and separate cages. You don't want a stressed out ferret.

[libbylooper]

Apr 5, 2019 21:29:59 GMT -5 Charlie said:

Sometimes, even after everything has been tried and they still don't get along then your only option is to keep them separate. So that would mean separate play times and separate cages. You don't want a stressed out ferret.

That makes me so sad, because they both get along with the other two...

[fuzzylover]

I would suspect adrenal disease. It wouldn't hurt to have him implanted with DES. I rescued two 4 year old sisters (8 now) and the one would violently shake everyone. After implant, no more aggression. The aggressive one showed no signs of adrenal except for the aggression. The other was as bald as could be but sweet as pie.
I hope it works out soon for you!

[bandit]

I took Bandit and Bailey (my four year old female) to the park today. They got along wonderfully. Bailey sniffed, rested her head on Bandit's back of his neck, cuddled and followed one another just fine. No fighting at all.
I'm going to keep doing this as much as possible, and then try to see about what happens on home turf.
I'll try my other female Zoey after I see how things progress between Bandit and Bailey.
It was so nice to see them getting along! Gosh, I hope this works!

[libbylooper]

Apr 6, 2019 13:54:43 GMT -5 fuzzylover said:

I rescued two 4 year old sisters (8 now) and the one would violently shake everyone.

he only goes after Bobby though. He didn't do it at all to Esmeralda, and he doesn't do it to Fred.

[fuzzylover]

My white adrenal was kind of the same way. Went after some violently and others she was best buds with.
After the DES implant the aggression stopped. Even if it isn't adrenal the implant can still be used as a preventative.

[Heather]

There is a point where for the health of your ferrets you stop. Forcing the issue only makes it worse and you can wind up with stress related health issues (ulcers, is the common one) but serious stress issues have been proven to cause all sorts of immune related illnesses. Create two play groups, if some will play with one and some with the other then you have your solution. You can keep trying various situations to get them to accept each other but this is over the top violence. It's like asking a human to get along with everyone. It doesn't happen. Like with everything there are personality clashes. This is a common problem in ferrets. The deal is no poop, no blood no foul. You've got poop every time they meet...that's foul. You've got a ferret actively hunting down and thrashing another, that's foul and continuing the beating even after an escape. This should be over. You can still try a different method every few weeks, but it needs to be over for the health of your little one
ciao