2 rescued brothers biting

Question
hello cindy, we have 3 jills who we rescued 2 years ago,
they was biters and are disabled,back legs are a problem for
them, but we have turned them round into loveable little
rogues, we have just rescued 2 8month old hobs that are not
neutered..they was free to a good home with hutch, after a
call we was told 1 was a biter which wasnt a problem as we
turned our gurls round...the story we was told about them i
wont even go into as i really dont believe any of it but my
feelings are... lack of handling,lack of playtime,wrong diet
etc etc thats just my feeling... ok so we got them a week
ago and changed there green water, removed there 4 handfulls
of sawdust and replaced with paper and a litter tray, and
also introduced a bed and left them alone as it was
evening... the next day we went out and they was excited to
see us,had been eating and drinking and even used litter
tray, the first problem we noticed was that one is very food
dominant meaning one is underweight, i feel this is because
there has been a food shortage in there young lives, to
combat this they wont go short on food or water,introduced
duck soup,kibble,chicken,all nice meaty titbits in the hope
that in time they will realise food is plentiful, i have
also taken the underweight one out and fed seperately to
make sure hes eating ok...and to bulk him up....the  first
time i picked them up to put them in the play shed they
nipped me but wasnt bad at all, however once in the playpen
*a 7 foot x 7 foot shed * thtey wasnt interested in playing
or the new surroundings,wasnt interested in nice
titbits,only in trying to run out the door and as i was in
the way they bit and bit me hard,being new to us i just put
them back in there hutch and called it a day, i tried again
the next day, and this time i picked them up and no biting
at all, but as soon as i put in playpen they turned into
wild savages, and today i nearlly had to head to
hospital,even just for a tetanus as i was dripping blood and
swollen/bruised.....my questions are, would i be better
giving them one on one time in the playpen?  my feeling is
there frightened, and when together are double trouble,
maybe one on one time will help them learn we are not bad
people and hands are nice....also with feeding if i feed
seperated i know the underweight one is eating well, but if
i feed both together i can maybe help cure there food
dominance....allin all i think they have had a very poor
start in life and i want to give them a good life, also
should i have them neutered? i know it may help with  
agression and sometime down the line when they are behaved
would like to try and introduce them to our 3 rescued jills,
but thats way down the line as i dont want them taking a
step back as they no longer bite and love to play the
clowns..soory if i have gone on but i would rather ask to
see if im doing right or not, oh and tonight after the bite
i did scruff and drag gently on the floor,  he came back for
more, i repeated,  he looked at me and pondered and came
back again and nipped hard i repeated then he lunged and
locked on hard....they will learn im more stubborn then them
and i dont mind a little blood , thankyou for your time
cindy and many thanks for any help you can give me, all the
best  steve  

Answer
Hello Steve,

Thank you for giving these guys a good home as it sounds like they had a tough start in life!  It sounds like you are doing everything right and helps that you have experience (and success) with biters in the past.  

The food dominance may never go away since it is a past traumatic experience.  You may end up having to separate them except for playtime if food continues to be an issue.  Hopefully with time they will begin to see they will never be without food again, although these experiences tend to leave lifelong impressions.

Neutering your two boys will definitely help a lot.  Testosterone is linked to aggression, and castrating them now will help make your training and socialization a bit easier in the months to come.  The sooner this gets done, the better especially with breeding season due to start soon.  I am not sure where you are from, but if you live in the northern hemisphere, your boys will go into season as the days begin to lengthen around January.  They will become even more aggressive and probably make it impossible to work with them during that time.  If you get them  neutered now, you will avoid the surges of testosterone that coincide with the breeding season.    

The most important thing to determine is whether they are biting out of fear of you or just a lack of socialization.  It is counter-productive to punish a ferret that is nipping out of terror since it can make the fear worse and enhance the trauma.  On the other hand, ferrets that have not been socialized (and are not afraid) need to learn the limits as to what is appropriate.  My guess is a lack of socialization is the problem with these two boys since they do not appear to be fearful.  Make sure you stick with the training, and be stubborn!  They will learn that you will not back down.  As far as the playpen, see if there is a difference if you let them out separately.  If there is less bloodshed that way stick with it.  The most important thing with rehabilitating ferrets is to recognize when a tactic is working and when to move on to a new method.  If something works, stick with it.  The key is to cater the rehabilitation to the needs to those ferrets, and what works for one of those boys may not work for the other!

If you have any other questions, do not hesitate to ask.  Good luck with them!

-Cindy P.