Introducing a baby ferret!

[marvel]

Hey all!

So I ended up deciding against the ferrets with possible health issues, putting Noodle's health above all else.

I waited and ended up finding a 9 week old friend for him who is, in my obviously very biased opinion, perfection.  I've named her Pipsqueak, Pip for short, and she came home last Thursday.

I've done some short introductions between Noodle and Pip, but this is my first time introducing two ferrets and Noodle has been alone for about a year now. He's all in all a very mild mannered guy, takes to new things well, and I think will end up being a fabulous big brother. So I think I'm more the one being paranoid and probably overly cautious, but Pip is of course tiny being only 9 weeks old!

I'm just wondering then if that's the case. All signs seem to point to intros going well. Noodle sniffs her, they wrestle, there is biting but its never drawn blood and Noodle has been good about leaving when he's down with playing (I've made most intros in an area he can climb out of, that she can't since she's so small). But when they wrestle and it looks possibly too rough, I have broken it up a time or two for fear it might escalate -- and that's where I'm wondering if I should be or not?

They are set up in separate the two story cage divided, with Noodle on the bottom because he spends most time free roaming. Today I let Noodle out for his free roaming and he kept going in to try to see her through the bottom of her part, and after some supervised intro/play, I put her away and she was crying for Noodle and only went to sleep when he came into his portion of the cage. So it definitely seems like they both are taking to each other! Obviously not to the point I'd cage them together, but if they can be playing together more and I don't need to be breaking up the wrestling because that's normal/not as rough as I think it is for her tiny self, I don't want to be!

Noodle is ~2.5 lbs and Pip is probably < 1/2 lb for reference.

[unclejoe]

Congrats on the newbie. Kits are so cute and fun.
I'd say keep doing what you're doing. Most ferrets take to new ones pretty quickly, tho we have had a couple exceptions. if you have a chance to put them together in the cage for naps while you can supervise, that's the next step. Encouraging signs. Hope it goes well!

[abbeytheferret6]

yes congrats on your new baby!

I put her away and she was crying for Noodle and only went to sleep when he came into his portion of the cage. So it definitely seems like they both are taking to each other!

How sweet.

[Charlie]

Congrats on the new little ferret, Pip!! If that is her in your picture, she is very cute!! So far sounds good between your 2 ferrets!! How are intros going now? Are they together?

I had brought my sister's ferret home to take care of her while my sister was out of the country a few years ago. I did the same in allowing intros to be short at first and then letting it be a little longer each time. As long there is no poop and pee from either of them then it's good. I did the same at first, like you, and broke up the wrestling a few times not sure if it was too rough or not. My sister's ferret is a drama queen and did a lot of screaming at first. My ferret did play with her gently and didn't bite her like she bite him. lol He would mostly just lay on top of her. haha What I was told was to make sure that the new ferret has a chance to run away if she needs the space and not get cornered by the established ferret. Any time I have visited my sister with my ferret they both get along fine each time we visit. It's like they remember each other.