Socializing a waardy

[ashlin]

Hi everyone! Nice to meet you!

A little background to my problem: I have a deaf panda that was gifted to me when she was very little. The vet was actually surprised she was so young when I brought her in. She was alone in the pet store and has been alone with me for about a year. She and I are very bonded.

My girl expresses herself mainly by hissing. She's never aggressive, but lets me know if she experiences any slight annoyance or discomfort by hissing loudly. (She hisses at me when I let her know she can't do something she really wants to do!) She doesn't normally make any other sounds.

I brought home a new baby recently and have been introducing them slowly after a quarantine period. My kit is very energetic. She has a much higher energy level than my waardy (even when she was a kit). But she's very well mannered and has been doing great with bite training.

Kit seems to be very obstinate and is not at all intimidated by my waardy's hissing (which she is doing a lot of). Kit is constantly trying to bite her neck until she squeals. My waardy seems very turned off by the dominance play and usually retreats/starts shaking. Kit has actually picked up the hissing and started doing it back. (Not that my deaf girl can hear it.) Kit follows my waardy everywhere and constantly tries to engage her in play, even when she tries to sleep.

How can I make this transition easier on my waardy? I guess I never realized that I raised such a timid mama's girl until now. Do I just continue to let the kit bully her until they figure it out? My waardy is not interested in play while the kit is around; I've tried getting them both to engage with me at the same time but she is not having it, even with me.

Once in a while I notice a breakthrough where my waardy seems to be engaging in the play, but it only lasts for a few seconds. It's been less than a week, so I know it's still soon. What signs should I be looking for to know when they can be safely caged together at night, if ever?

[Corvidophile]

It’ll take some time, don’t give up yet. As long as there’s no blood, pee, or poop being produced during the unwanted play, I would let it continue at its own course. Maybe pick up the new kit when she starts getting too rough and place her elsewhere to let her know you disapprove. This rough and tumble energy is something many ferrets grow out of. I don’t think I’d time out, just put elsewhere where she has to work to get back to your waardy. This’ll burn off some of the steam. You can start caging them together when they fall asleep together, or do trials where you sit and watch what happens behind closed doors when you have the time to be supervising them for a few hours straight (the time it takes for them to give up on trying to convince you to let them out, throw a tantrum, and go to sleep). If seeing you just outside the cage drives them nuts you can be just outside of view, around the corner or something similar.

[Charlie]

Give it time. When I brought my sister's ferret home for a couple months to ferret sit, I allowed play time for a short time and just lengthened the play time each time. I played with each of them separate at first (because I have a very tight bond with my ferret too) then allowed short play times with them together. He didn't want to play with her much either. She was a nuisance to him, but she was also a drama queen. When he did play with her, which was always gently, he would just lay on her and she was screaming bloody murder. lol She was always the one biting him and going after his neck. Sometimes when my ferret was done playing he would go into his carrier and go to sleep in his hammock or come and lay on my lap and my sister's ferret would try to climb in there with him. He would hiss at her and leave to sleep somewhere else and she would follow. I knew then I could probably have them sleep together but because she wasn't staying long term I didn't want them to bond closely so I always kept them in separate cages. They still get along when we visit each others houses.

You can also switch cages for a few hours for them to get familiar with each other more. Don't rush into caging them together but keep their cages side by side so they see each other and smell each other. Be patient. It will probably take your waardy a little longer because she can't hear your kit. The waardy is new to the kit and she just wants to play all the time, whereas the waardy doesn't want anything to do with the kit. After a while the kit won't be that interested in the waardy because she isn't new to her anymore since she has been there longer. Give the kit other things to play with and explore to keep her attention away from the waardy too. That will give the waardy more time to warm up to her.

[abbeytheferret6]

Hi Ashlin welcome to the forum:)

[ashlin]

Thanks! I'll keep at it. I've started distracting the little one by throwing a ball when she gets too wild and it seems to help. I've introduced a new ferret to one I had alone before, but it was to a very laid back male that accepted the new ferret almost instantly.

[Charlie]

Yes, male ferrets tend to be a little more laid back most times. My ferret is laid back. Females tend to be a little more dramatic. lol My friend who also has ferrets has 7 of them and when she brought in a new ferret each time they tended to all get along except for the last couple of ferrets. The second last one, it was one of the males that didn't like the new ferret. Then with the last ferret she brought in, it was one of the females that didn't like the last ferret. So she has 2 groups now. It's always so hard to tell if they will work out or not. Lots of patients and time to warm up to each other.

Oh yes, and welcome to the forum!!!

[ashlin]

Update:

[unclejoe]

Beautiful! 99% of the time they will figure it out on their own. It's always so touching when they do.
I will add that looking at that color pattern, it's a good bet your panda will be all white in a year or 2. I've had 3 that went that way. Only MIss Prissy kept her eye patches, the other 2 white as snow.

[Charlie]

That's so sweet!! They are already friends!!