introductions

Question
Hi, i have a 1 yr old hob who is a bag of fun and has now been moved from the house into a big run in the garden. he often gets to come in the house and is a big softy and very loving and playful, i decided to get a little friend for him so bought a jill kit, she is now living in a cage in the house untill she is big enough to be put in with the male.  Last night i decided to let the adult male into the house so they could meet through the bars of her cage but whereas he started dooking continuously and i mean non stop like a machine gun, she started screaming like mad, i put him back into his run but am now worried wondering if they will ever get on, how can i make them friends? and what does there behaviour mean, is it that he is excited that he is dooking like that and she is nervous

Answer
Hi Lisa -

Your hob is indeed very excited and glad to have company, but he could also be expressing dominance and trying to be "the alpha ferret," or it could be all of the above. In any event, what you describe is normal. Your jill, however, seems to be pretty frightened of all of this, which is also normal. She may get used to him, she may not. Try again and supervise carefully. Not all ferrets that get along do so right away, and the sounds they make when they're scared and/or don't get along are pretty unnerving (at least to me).

I wouldn't try more than a few times, though. Constantly putting a smaller female through this torture by a larger male (I would not get a small female as a companion for a large male, personally) is not humane and you may need to keep them permanently separate, which of course defeats the purpose of you getting him a companion in the first place. This is why it's so important to introduce ferrets to each other BEFORE you bring the new one home, if at all possible.

Here are some web links to look at regarding introducing new ferrets to each other:

www.everythingferret.com/ferret_introductions.htm

www.craftycreatures.com/forferretsonly/ask_angela/introducingnewferret.html

www.miamiferret.org/behavior.htm

And a previous time when I answered a very similar question:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Ferrets-2277/Introducing-New-Ferrets-1.htm

One thing I've seen work is to bathe the ferrets together with the same shampoo. Ferrets are very smell-oriented and this neutralizes everybody's odor at the same time. Definitely do this in a bathroom with the door closed and a second person to help you out if things get out of hand. And lots of large towels, too.  :)

Good luck,
DG