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mixing male and female ferrets

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  • 02-08-2009 5:04pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 97 ✭✭


    i have always kept ferrets and never had any bother with them. Th thing is i have amal and a female now and im not sure if they are playing or fighing when i put them in the pen together and the male is more than twice the size of the female even though they ae both this years litter any advice would be great


Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 29,476 ✭✭✭✭Our man in Havana


    The male may try to bonk the female - if they are related please spay & neuter the pair.

    I have pairs together that breed & a neutered/spayed pair & all get on fine together.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 97 ✭✭ferret man


    they are not related but he grabs her by the neck and trails her round wile she squeals an i think it is putting seroius pain on her as he is only a few months older and he is twice the size of her


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    I introduced a young male to mine last year and he just played with her like she was a toy . He was rough also, he nearly took my thumb off. He tore it to shreds .


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,041 ✭✭✭stevoman


    ferret man wrote: »
    they are not related but he grabs her by the neck and trails her round wile she squeals an i think it is putting seroius pain on her as he is only a few months older and he is twice the size of her
    as far as i am aware they are playing. i also kept ferrets for some time, male and female and in research that i did, a lot of boks said it was quite normal.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 97 ✭✭ferret man


    so is i safe to keep them togther then or not


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 429 ✭✭Jinxi


    Put them in separate cages right adjacent to each other for a few weeks until the novelty of being able to see/smell each other etc wears off. Then let the male into the females cage so it isn't his territory if he feels threatened.


  • Registered Users Posts: 683 ✭✭✭Lexie_Karas


    Are they both neutered? If so then being male of female is pretty much irrelevant in how they'll interact. When introducing any ferrets regardless of gender there is always a risk that they wont get along. And there will usually be a level of rough play as they sort out who's dominant, and scruffing and dragging seems to be a big part of that. This is perfectly normal. The general rule of thumb regarding rough play is to leave them too it unless one of them is screaming, pooing or bleeding. If any of these three happen then its usually gone too far (though I have heard of some ferrets who scream automatically when they start to loose during play, without being hurt). Otherwise they are probably ok. How often do the get to interact with each other? Do they have seperate cages at the moment or are they living together? Is the only interactiong they have this rough play? How is she when he lets go of her neck, does she run and hide from him or is she still happy to be around him?

    Sorry for all the questions but it makes it easy to figure out what's probably going on if we have more info. Also as a side note, if they aren't neutured then its probably a good idea to sort that out sooner rather than later. Unless you're planning on breeding them, in which case you should really look into everything involved in that before you let them mate, its a big committment.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 97 ✭✭ferret man


    none are netured they interact every day and fight 4 a hour or so or when i am around the be in a play pen for 6 hours a day everyday


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