About my 9 month old ferret giving me mixed signals about the 4 month old newbie?

[Alanna]

I have a male ferret about 9 months old (nitro) and he has been an only ferret since we have gotten him, and that was in april of 2011. We brought home a new baby ferret about 4 months old (Blitz), to give our 9 month old a friend. But my 9 month old (Nitro) has been giving me mixed signals about the new addition. We dont have them caged seperate becuase they got along really well the first day we brought him home. They both snuggle together and seem fine. But my oldest plays a little rough with the newbie, we seperate them when it gets out of hand. but when i say he gives me mixed signals, he doesnt play with us like he used to. He gets tired really fast and gets bored, he has been sleeping more then usual and kind of runs away when we try to play with him. On some occasions when our newbie sleeps and nitro is awake he will play with us like normal. I am not sure what to do, I dont know if we should keep the little newbie and let them adjust or keep nitro as an only ferret? we have had the newbie going on 4 days now. I hope you can help?

 

[Zoe]

I believe ferrets like having other ferrets as companions it means they have something to entertain themselves with when you are away as they need a lot of attention and play time. I would give them more time together, it can take some time to get used to the idea like any new addition to the family.

Another option would be to have them in separate cages next to each other, they wont be able to rough house with each other but will be able to sniff each other through the cage. It sounds like they are doing ok though.