# My ferret has killed his brother -16-18 weeks ... Help! :-(



## Laurenpaigexo

Last night I came home from a normal working day, and to my shock I noticed that one of my ferrets had killed the other one......

I recently homed 2 boy's who were brothers and have never been separated from each other, so were more than used to each others company. They are both 16-18 weeks of age, and share a large hutch in the garden.
They are both fed everyday, watered and cleaned out 3-4 times a week and both have the same amount of human contact and play time in the garden. 

I can not understand why one turned on the other, and why he killed him, does anyone know why this may be? A lot of the research I have been looking at suggests that it may be because one became more dominant than the other, should I have kept them apart?

My concern now is that the remaining ferret will become even more vicious, I am also too frightened to handle him. I am considering re-homing him as I am now not sure that I will be able to care for him as he needs?


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## lostbear

I know nothing of ferrets, but I wanted to respond to commiserate with you - what a terrible, distressing experience this must have been. I can't even begin to imagine how upset you are.

I don't think, however, that you need necessarily fear handling your remaining ferret - any "dominance" issues he had (if that's what it was - as I say, I don't know ferrets) will have been with his brother, not with you as you are a totally different species.

A couple of questions though - were your ferrets neutered? and is there any way an unneutered jill might have caused them to fight with each other (e.g. does your neighbour have one, or do people work ferrets where you live, and a stray jill might be at large?). How long had you had them? and had they shown any aggression towards each other that may have looked like play-fighting?

I'm assuming that there was real carnage (sorry to say this) and that you didn't just find one dead in the cree - if you did, please get the other to a vet straight away. Is the remaining ferret injured at all?

I'm sure someone with more knowledge will be along soon to advise - I just didn't want to read and run when you had had such a shocking experience.


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## Laurenpaigexo

Thank you for you reply!

In response to your questions, no the ferrets have not been neutered yet. When i spoke with the vet's a few weeks ago, I was advised that ferrets can not be neutered until there are 6 months old so we couldn't have had them neutered just yet. As soon as Digby is old enough, have no fear he will be snipped so hopefully he will be less hormonal and aggressive. 

To the best of my knowledge none of my neighbours have ferrets, there are a few cats wondering around but it may be worth looking into this now you have mentioned it.

We have had them since the middle of July, so coming up for 2 months now. In that 2 months they have been handled almost everyday, Chris and I let them wonder around the garden for exercise on a daily basis and they always come in the house. In fact, as soon as we open their hutch they jump out with excitement and run strait towards the front door, they love a good snuggle. During the times that we had them in the house I had never noticed that they were vicious towards each other, I have never had to separate them from one another and really I have honestly never witnessed them fighting. 
I checked them both for bald spots on the back of the neck regularly and I have never found anything at all which is why i can not get my head around this awful situation. If anything Chris and I both noticed they were pretty much inseparable, where one went the other followed?  

Chris checked Digby thoroughly, he has not a scratch, he has one tiny bald patch which I am guessing happened during the fight they had which led to Dougies death. 
In all honestly, Digby had completely torn Dougie to shreds. His spine was visible, his internal organs were also visible so it looks to me like this was not a fight that had gone wrong, this was a meaningful and terrible attack.

I am yet to handle him again, I am just inexperience with ferrets and have never had them as pets before so I am a little nerved by this situation. 

I really appreciate your time, and thoughtfulness. Thank you.


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## lostbear

Laurenpaigexo said:


> Thank you for you reply!
> 
> In response to your questions, no the ferrets have not been neutered yet. When i spoke with the vet's a few weeks ago, I was advised that ferrets can not be neutered until there are 6 months old so we couldn't have had them neutered just yet. As soon as Digby is old enough, have no fear he will be snipped so hopefully he will be less hormonal and aggressive.
> 
> To the best of my knowledge none of my neighbours have ferrets, there are a few cats wondering around but it may be worth looking into this now you have mentioned it.
> 
> We have had them since the middle of July, so coming up for 2 months now. In that 2 months they have been handled almost everyday, Chris and I let them wonder around the garden for exercise on a daily basis and they always come in the house. In fact, as soon as we open their hutch they jump out with excitement and run strait towards the front door, they love a good snuggle. During the times that we had them in the house I had never noticed that they were vicious towards each other, I have never had to separate them from one another and really I have honestly never witnessed them fighting.
> I checked them both for bald spots on the back of the neck regularly and I have never found anything at all which is why i can not get my head around this awful situation. If anything Chris and I both noticed they were pretty much inseparable, where one went the other followed?
> 
> Chris checked Digby thoroughly, he has not a scratch, he has one tiny bald patch which I am guessing happened during the fight they had which led to Dougies death.
> In all honestly, Digby had completely torn Dougie to shreds. His spine was visible, his internal organs were also visible so it looks to me like this was not a fight that had gone wrong, this was a meaningful and terrible attack.
> 
> I am yet to handle him again, I am just inexperience with ferrets and have never had them as pets before so I am a little nerved by this situation.
> 
> I really appreciate your time, and thoughtfulness. Thank you.


I wish I offer more practical advice, I've never encountered anything like this. Perhaps a neutered jill as a companion would be better. Hopefully a ferret person will pick this up and offer advice soon


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## Laurenpaigexo

That's ok, no worries! Your comments are appreciated anyway so thank you 

Maybe a might think about a female companion for him, might be better off.


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## SarahBugz

Didn't want to read and run. I'm new to ferrets and have no experience in this area. I adopted my little girl from a rescue centre so I get a lot of my help and support through them. It must have been awful. I'm so sorry! Unfortunately my little girl has to be a single ferret as she really doesn't like other ferrets.

I'm also a member of a forum especially for ferret owners and there are some really experienced people on there. 

You could try calling a local ferret rescue and asking their thoughts on the situation, especially if you are maybe interested in finding another companion for Digby?


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## Laurenpaigexo

Hi SarahBugz

I have been thinking about it over the last couple of days, maybe Digby is better off being on his own too. There are so many reasons and explanations for what might of happened but the bottom line is I will never actually no. I'm still literally gutted because I feel like maybe there was something I could of done that would of prevented it but there you go!

I have looked at a few ferret forums and I am getting some really good responses. 
I am trying him with more meat now, especially Turkey chunks, he seems to love them a lot. I'm actually feeding him out of my hand now, it's amazing, it has been 2 days now and the progress just from spending some more time and being able to handle him more is amazing, he seems so much more settled. He is still nipping at toes and the odd finger bite but his aggression seems to be a lot less, he is hissing at me less often too which is amazing!!!

I will keep looking at these forums and trying new idea's.... I'm yet to buy him some new toys, something else to keep him stimulated in the day which hopefully will keep him nice and tired so he is more relaxed when we get home from work in the afternoons.

Thank you for your response! I hope your little lady is doing well.


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## teta

Why is the ferret hissing at you?


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## Laurenpaigexo

I have no idea why he was hissing at me. Over the last few days this has stopped.


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## SarahBugz

My little lady is about 3 (They aren't 100% sure as she was an RSPCA stray) and she is still as cheeky as ever and still a bit nippy. She doesn't do it out of aggression, she's just playing. Ferrets do like to play with their teeth. Ferret skin is thicker than ours so it doesn't hurt them when playing. We need to try to teach them not to nip when playing with us. Mine likes to sneak up on you and nip you on the back of the legs when your not looking. She then runs away chuckling to herself and hides under the sofa. She came in to the rescue with a companion who sadly died. The rescue we unable to match her with any other ferrets after this so she'll have to remain a single ferret unfortunately. Surprisingly enough she gets on ok with my cat? Ferrets are generally social animals and love company but you do occasionally get the odd one that has to be kept alone. As long as they have plenty of attention, human interaction and playtime they can have a happy life being a single ferret.


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