Old ferret refuses to accept new (baby) ferrets

[nannah]

Hey, everyone!

I've looked all over this forum for help, but i can't find anything for my particular situation, and I'm getting desperate/impatient. 

Background: I have two older ferrets (5+6), Kinga and Misio. Kinga's the one with the most problems, but Misio is also pretty stubborn. Last month-ish, I adopted two 4-month-old baby ferrets from the shelter, Tad and Cooper.

I put them in isolation for 2 weeks, then let the two groups have some interaction between cages and playpens, etc. I put them into the bathtub to be miserable together, etc. 

But even putting them (one by one) together for like ... 5 minutes is a disaster. when (either of) the babies meet kinga they go to play, and she immediately hisses and screams (and poops :/). sometimes she just backs up into a bag or a box to just hide and scream whenever they come near! I'm ordering sudocrem online because I can't find it anywhere nearby, so I haven't tried that yet, but the "sin bin" method isn't working yet. 

mostly it's misio and kinga running to hide when either of them are out, but the eventually come across each other (of course), and it's just a mess. I feel like I've tried all the suggestions that I can right now, and nothing is working. It's been about a week and a half since I've been trying to integrate them. Will they need to be separated forever??   I mean ... a week and a half isn't long in the whole scheme of things, but absolutely no progress has been made, lmao. 

[Kavinsky]

That seems to me that they're thinking "WHO THE HECK IS THIS!? GET AWAY!..... GET OUT OF MY TERRITORY!" sort of rejection... How do they interact through the 2 playpens?

[caitmonster]

It took about two months of separate playtime for my older female to accept a male I brought home as a kit. Of course by that point he had grown big enough to stand his own, too. I would do walks outside (neutral space) with the both of them from time to time.

Sometimes ferrets just don't ever get along with each other and it's more stress than it's worth to try to force them to work it out. I'd keep them separated for a while longer and give it some time--hopefully it'll work out for you.

[crazylady]

Hi often older ferrets simply refuse to accept youngsters its been there space for too long and dont want to share let the two youngsters play with each other and live together as a pair ( they will bond ) if possible cage them next too your oldsters that way they can smell and sense each other without war breaking out as they grow you may find they finally come to accept them your oldsters are afraid they young ones will knock them to the bottom of the ladder and take over as leaders good luck its all about time and patience
Bev

[Cynde]

Besides territory disputes, you have 2 senior citizens. Who do not want to play silly baby games. Yet alone have the energy. They have other interests.

[abbeytheferret6]

I would not use the sin bin--if your are trying to discourage youngsters from interacting. Playing is their nature right now. I think all is going to turn out well once the older ones get used to them. If the seniors are not attacking them, to me that is a VERY good sign. Some have let the their ferrets sleep on the unwashed blankets of others. Just a little step to help everybody get used to each other(smell).

[Heather]

At the moment....your ferrets have given every indication they do not want to associate. Right now the only fair thing to do is to allow for separate play schedules. The seniors just do not want to bother with kit antics. This is not uncommon. Respect their space. You can try again in a couple of weeks but the line of no poop, no blood stands. You've got a ferret who is fear pooping and hiding. To me those are two significant signs that this isn't going to work at this time
ciao

[nannah]

Thank you everyone for replying!! the shelter actually claimed they were adults, lmao (the vet paperwork doesn't lie though). but I'm okay with babies! It's the older ferrets that ... aren't!

Agh, I guess you're all right. I'm just So not patient ... Dividing the room has gotten me a bit stressed, so I wanted to integrate them before they were ready, I think. I'll just have to wait longer to try. ((and accept the fact that they might never get along)) I'm just hoping they'll SOMEWHAT stand each other at some point, and that I don't need to actually separate them for the rest of their lives.

I'll try some walks in the future, maybe just 2 at a time instead of all of them at once. thank you for the suggestion, caitmonster! And I'm already doing the switching bedding thing, but I'll make sure to do it more and more often so the smells remain fresh. and also, thank you abbeytheferret6! I'll stop using the sin bin for now (haha, it wasn't working anyways!)

[langya]

Hi nannah, how are things going?

I now have a similar problem that my older girl (less than 3 years old) seems dislike the baby (3~4 months) . At first few days the baby was screaming and pooping out of fear(although it didn't seem like a bully in my view, I found a small wound on babay's neck). Few days later there were no more fighting and they can live together. But for playing time, my older one is just ingoring, hiding from and hissing at the baby.For example, if the baby jumped on her she would just lay down and surrender. She will also hissing if the baby is getting closer.

I have seperated them in different cages. But still I find the older girl is kind of unhappy and lazy (she eats normal). She will sniff around but dont wanna play with cat teaser even though she's alone with me. I want some advice so my older girl won's suffer something like metal stress. Thank you.

[rosdez31]

This thread is a little old but for anyone having this problem... I almost gave up on integrating my ferrets but it happened. After making as much progress as I could with introducing them in neutral territory I put them all in a cage that was too small to allow for playtime. This kept them all calm enough to allow for smelling and visiting without wrestling. I did this for longer times over a few days when they started sleeping together I moved all of them into the larger cage and everyone has gotten along since.

[abbeytheferret6]

Glad it worked out for you.

[Sherry]

Be very careful doing something like that. Had I tried that with some of mine, I'd have had dead or seriously injured ferrets.

[abbeytheferret6]

While I am glad things worked out for you, I have to agree with Sherry. I really should have said something too.  After I introduced a new male to my female sable---it was the next day before I noticed that she was holding her paw up while trying to walk. They fought after she chased him down, and she was the loser(a butterfly break). I have kept him separate since then from all my girls. I do not try to integrate. I never seen a ferret do this--- but he would smell where they had been on blankets and dook and try to hunt them down---very interesting behavior.

Butterfly break is a break shaped like a triangle.This is her x-ray.


Also my baby got shook by my older Abbey who I thought would want to play mama. I separated her from Abbey until she was a few months old--- until she could stand up for herself. She received tissue damage and u could hear her chin bump the floor when she walked. I had to keep her in a playpen until she got well. However, my one year old loved her pretty well right off the bat.

[crisyousasymedic]

one of my Ferrets was raised alone for a few years, and spent all her time with ME, when I got another ferret she NEVER accepted him at all. they seemed to sniff through the separate cages and I thought it might be okay to try to let them play, Big MISTAKE,so I let them out on the floor and she totally hissed and grunted like a little monkey and went on a vicious attack pinning him to the floor, he was screaming. I grabbed and scuffed both to get her off. he was bleeding in several spots. after that and the months passed I would put my little Phoebe up to his cage for a sniff and she would hiss and grunt like a monkey right off the bat grabbing a little hunk of hair if she could through the bars. a year or so later I got yet another Ferret, a baby Jill I named Scarlett, her and Phinny got along fine then upon putting Phoebe to their cage she would go on the attack through the cage bars. Needless to say it NEVER worked with my Phoebe. I kept trying as the years went on. NO WAY. When I'd let Phoebe run the house she would circle the cage that they were in and hiss and grunt at them. This Ferret was also a one person pet, she only loved ME, my poor husband would suffer as she would pick the most delicate spot like under the arm and grab on and hang, or bite the top of his foot where it met the ankle. she would stay as close to ME as possible. guess that's what happens when you raise a Ferret alone.