From:
Vicki Montgomery
Date: 2008-01-18 18:40:23 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] so many ferrets
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
I don't think it's luck at all that ferrets bond in groups. Even pack animals will fight during mating season, including human males. Fighting exists in all groups that I know of whether for territory, aggrevation, meanness, food, or group ranking.
Since there are no wild businesses of domesticated European ferrets we can't know for sure if they are pack animals or not. We can try to surmise from their relatives, however, because domestication is not just that people are keeping them captive, but that they have actually made a change in behavior, all we can do is surmise what their behavior would be "in the wild". Their relatives are observed to live both singlely and in groups.
I have the least problems with tiffs with boys. The girls I have sometimes will get along with the boys and not other girls. We have 1 girl now, chocolate sable, who seems to hate white female ferrets. But most often I have absolutely no problem integrating a ferret without any encouragement or correction of attitude. They simply want to be together.
With having seen so many ferrets come in from single ferret homes, and these are young ferrets, older ferrets kept alone for 2-3 years or more do not seem to want anything to do with other ferrets - cats and dogs maybe, but that seems to be IF they have lived with that species previously (positive living). But ferrets who have not been made to live alone for 2 or more years act ecstatic to be in the company of other ferrets. They romp, play, interact and bed down in the same hammock.
So I reject, because of my observations and conversations with other ferreters, that they are sole existers. There is just too much visual evidence to the contrary.
I do wonder, however, from what you have observed if the ability to breed makes a difference. Even pack animals will go off away from their group to have their young, from humans to mice. Horses seem to stay away from the herd until the foal can better move away from an overly curious or angry mare while elephants bring their young to the herd fairly quickly. Dogs, who I believe are still pack animals, will have their young as far away from the others as they can and will attack their best friend if s/he comes to close.
In a free society some things are still - to each his own. For me, I don't see me ever keeping just one of a species. Lonliness is a bad thing - too much lonliness can be fatal.
Vicki
<hillcrestferrets@yahoo.com> wrote:
Just a note - from my understanding, ferrets are not pack animals. They stake out territories and live singly, driving off competition for resources. Whole males are VERY difficult to keep together, if not impossible, at least during the mating season. My females can be even more ferocious about protecting their space from intruders. That includes competition for food as well as for mates.
Humans are quite lucky that we are able to convince them to live in groups, and that neutering them seems to alter their behavior to the point that they willingly live together.
What I've found is that family groups will co-exist with the most harmony - that is several females and a male, or all females, IF they are raised together and kept together. Even then, if I remove one for a length of time (such as breeding or birthing), I sometimes can't get them to live in their old group again - it's as if they became a stranger. Makes it a challenge when I try to re-integrate. IMO, what happens with integrations of unrelated ferrets is that we humans convince them that the new ferret in their hammock is part of their family group, and eventually (hopefully) there is acceptance.
I wouldn't discount the bonding and affection a single ferret can feel for their human owner, nor would I worry overmuch they are missing out on companionship, as long as the humans can give them a lot of time and attention. Groups are nice, but it is not necessarily natural behavior for the ferret - possibly descended from the solitary polecat.
Hope that helps.
ann
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