Lonely Ferret

[jhiggins 48]

Ive got a 1 year old albino jill that i bought in the middle of the last season and shes a great worker! I tried to house her with my other two jills but after several attempts and a lot of vicious fights i gave up.

 

The Jill in question lives on her own in a large two stroey hitch at the moment and she is bored stiff. Keeps trashing the cage and spends a good deal of the day biting at the bars of the cage. I thought that this would soon stop but it has carried on for months now. I used to be able to put her in the large run i have with the other two for about 30 mins before they started fighting but now i cant even leave them for 2 mins without her tearing into the other two. She is clearly the agressor.

 

I would like to get another ferret to keep her company in the hope that it will end her boredom,. Ideally i would like a castrated hob to keep her out of season but i dont know weather they would just fight to the death. Any advice as to what to for the best would be much appeciated. I am also worried that the trouble between her and my other two willm mean that i cant work them together??

 

Many thanks

 

Jack

[AlbionLass 2]

Ive got a 1 year old albino jill that i bought in the middle of the last season and shes a great worker! I tried to house her with my other two jills but after several attempts and a lot of vicious fights i gave up.

 

The Jill in question lives on her own in a large two stroey hitch at the moment and she is bored stiff. Keeps trashing the cage and spends a good deal of the day biting at the bars of the cage. I thought that this would soon stop but it has carried on for months now. I used to be able to put her in the large run i have with the other two for about 30 mins before they started fighting but now i cant even leave them for 2 mins without her tearing into the other two. She is clearly the agressor.

 

I would like to get another ferret to keep her company in the hope that it will end her boredom,. Ideally i would like a castrated hob to keep her out of season but i dont know weather they would just fight to the death. Any advice as to what to for the best would be much appeciated. I am also worried that the trouble between her and my other two willm mean that i cant work them together??

 

Many thanks

 

Jack

 

 

Maybe get her spayed or implanted, if you take hormones out of the equation she might be more keen to accept a cage mate.

[Ideation 8,216]

Ferrets are funny mate. Hopefully a hob would put her in her place and form some kind of hierarchy.

 

Not sure about working, they will probably be fine.

 

Having said that between me and my ferreting partner we have something like 12 + ferrets and they all eget on fine apart from two, you can work them ok, but when the run into each other below ground you can hear them running about making a severely displeased chattering. No reson for it, just a clash of personalities.

[The one 8,503]

Mate its a snipped hob your wanting to bring her out of season no a castrated one , can you no borrow a hob to try it in with her and see how it goes before you get one and she wont accept it , and your landed with another ferret .Some ferrets just prefer there own company .You shouldn't have a problem working them together there might be the odd fight in a burrow but nothing major ,the biggest problem is your going to need to carry her in a box herself

[ferret100 47]

I had this problem with a jill of mine. She was seriously vicious to all other ferrets. Took her to meet some 5 weeks old kits on the agreement that if she killed any, I'd pay for them. As I'd hoped, she immediately took to the kits, bought 2 (at 6 weeks old) and she's lived happily with them for years now. Mind you, she would still rip into any other strange ferret, even now.

 

Got 2 kits so they could tire each other out and the jill wouldn't be obsessing on one kit all the time. But that was another 2 ferrets to keep, might not be right for you.

 

If she is aggressive to all other ferrets, she will just fight with a hob too. Just adds more stress to the situation.

 

If you don't want to try her with kits/hob etc, try putting a plastic mirror in her cage, it might work for company(same as it does for birds). Or as daft as it sounds try a fluffy toy, she can carry it about and it might keep her entertained. The more she bites at the bars the more likey her teeth with be damaged. Plus if the wire is galvanised steel and she keeps biting it, she could be at risk of zinc poisoning.

 

Just some ideas, wish you luck with her.

[jhiggins 48]

thanks thats a great idea, a cuddly toy is going in tomoro! I like the idea of kits, i did think of that. Just hope she would take to them. I dont spose it would matter what sex they are?

[ferret100 47]

thanks thats a great idea, a cuddly toy is going in tomoro! I like the idea of kits, i did think of that. Just hope she would take to them. I dont spose it would matter what sex they are?

 

I'd advise jill kits. Hobs kits would quickly outmatch her in size and strength and become very boisterous, she won't be too happy about them trying to take over her postion as 'alpha' and it might lead to them fighting (If yours is anything like my jill, she has to be in charge). My advise would be to find someone with roughly 5-6 week old kits, take your jill to meet them and see what she thinks of them. First thing my jill did was start dooking and cleaning the kits, so I knew rightaway it was going to work.

 

The other thing I think would be important is that you get the kits as soon as they are happily eating dried food/meat. 6 weeks old would be a good age, your jill gets to bond with them when they are young and still dependant on feeling mothered. 8-10 week old kits would be much more independant and your jill mightn't bond very well with them.

 

Just my opinion, hope things work out for you.