From:
"Ailigh"
Date: 2008-04-06 13:49:53 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: My ferrets are fighting..help!
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
I am going to throw a wrench in the works here as a behavior person
and say that we need to be careful using inaccurate wolf pack behavior
terms when applying them to a non-social species. The terms dominant
and submissive or alpha are inaccurate when discussing wolves and
especially dogs which are both naturally social species. Ferrets are
not naturally social and it is only through domestication that they
can live in small social groups. That being said, no ferret is being
dominant, they are a non-social species living in a forced social
setting. Think more like a family unit and suddenly a foster child is
introduced. It just takes a while to settle things down until they
figure it all out.
I am all for the put them together and unless there is blood, leave it
alone. I would not swap bedding as it only increases an aggressive
response (think about someone breaking into your home and you don't
know who, but you can just tell = what would you do when you finally
found them?). There is an interesting study to prove an increase in
aggression when we swap begging and try to take it slow.
Ailigh
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:ferrethealth-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:ferrethealth-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ferrethealth-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/