ferrets meeting ferrets (both male)

Question
Amy-
I have a older ferret named Orli and just purchased a 6 week old ferret that is a male.
The intro went alright for the first ten minutes with Orli on a harness but after that Orli was getting up in the little ones face. Everytime i let the two of them run they both try and use each other as chew toys. what can i do to be confident that they both won't hurt themselves?

Answer
hello Alyson,
Thanks for your question.I am going on the assumption that both male ferrets are neutered: If the original ferret is much older than the new one, I would keep them separate until the little one gets big enough to hold his own during play. I would honestly suggest keeping them separate anyway for at least two weeks just in case the baby has anything contagious like ECE he could pass on to the older one.
Once you decide to house them together, wash down the cage, the hammocks food bowls... everything. And both ferrets get a bath. This way they start on neutral ground.
In the beginning, you may see a lot of really rough, almost violent "fighting". This is play for ferrets and perfectly normal. They may bite each other, drag one another around by the scruff of the neck, hiss, mounting and pretty much sound like they are killing one another. They are establishing a pecking order and deciding who is boss. If they both want to be boss, the fighting can go on for weeks or even months. If one is allowing the other to drag them around, this is a sign of submission--they're pretty much saying "I give up". Or both of them may not care either way who is boss and may get along right away with no displays of dominance whatsoever. If there is any blood drawn, separate them immediately.Separate them and try again another day. Most of the time, ferrets get along fine, and it is not unusual for the older male to "scruff" the younger male, and hold him down and groom him. My male ferrets always did this with the "newbies".

But again, the baby ferret is only 6 weeks, which is still an infant. For the first couple of weeks, I would house them in separate cages so that when they are loose, they can see and smell each other, but not have direct contact, and vise versa.  I would provide lots of one on one attention to each ferret over the first several days during separate playtimes, and then open a door so that the newbie can come out of his cage while the other male ferret is out. As long as he feels like he can get away if needed, it won't take long for him to get brave and investigate the male ferret.And let the older male see, smell and gently interact with the baby. And give you older male lots of attetion during these interactions, to prevent jealous rivalry.

Here is a VERY good web page that will also provide great help.

http://www.everythingferret.com/ferret_introductions.htm

good luck, and congrats on your new baby.
amy