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Adopted a new ferret with two others at home

21 10:52:59

Question
Hi, I have two ferrets one is a boy, Taco, and the other a girl, Cookie. I have had them for about a year, and they get along great. But recently a friend had to get rid of their ferret so I took it. She is a 5 yr. old named Princess. Taco and Cookie are fixed, but Princess is not. When I tried to introduce them Taco and Princess got along great, but Princess bit Cookie right away, and after that Cookie ran away and hid for about 20 minutes until we put her back in her own cage. It seemed like Cookie went into shock or was traumatized. So I was wondering what happened, and if I should try to reintroduce them or just give Princess to someone else? Also if I should try to reintroduce them how should I do it? Thanks for reading this.

Answer
First, make sure Princess gets fixed or she will have serious medical issues if she isn't mated.  Once the quarantine period is over and everyone is fixed and healthy the best thing to do is just put them in an open play space together.  There may be fighting and some minor issues, but Cookie will figure out to be interested in Princess or she will stat out of the way until she feels better about it.  Once they have all met like this, keep them together. We find that keeping them near each other but not together can make introductions worse.