what is "OK" or "expected" introducing behavior?

[e.murphy518]

I know that every situation is different, but before I try to introduce my baby chin to anyone else, I want to know what to watch out for. I would love to do the car method, but the carrier I have is large enough for them to stand up in, would that still work?

If not, I think I will go with play time method. Is dominance mounting normal and ok? If so, to what extent and how long can I expect it to go on for? Would I need to wait until they no longer do that? My already bonded pair do that to each other occasionally but it is never a problem.

What sounds are a bad sign? What sounds are normal?

What if they just ignore each other? Does that mean they are fine together or incompatible?

I understand it is very unlikely that he will just immediately get along with another chin, but I want to know what is expected in an intro because I want to be as prepared as possible. Thanks

 

[akane]

If you can set the cages side by side or put one in a fairly large carrier or small cage and put that inside a bigger cage with the other one for awhile it will give you a better idea how they'll interact and let them get used to each other. That's not really an option for us so we've just been putting them in neutral territory together and if it works out putting them in a cage we can supervise. I've pulled the stack of ferret nation cages in to the hallway so I could see it from the bedroom while watching tv before.

If they ignore each other that's probably the best sign. They may still get a bit snippy with each other when you put them in to the smaller space of a cage but usually one will back down every time if it never responded to the challenges in the run area. Some mount, some don't, and whether the other one has a problem with it depends on them. My tov white male ignores the females even when they nip his fur and mount him. He just goes about his day so I only really worry about him getting harassed too much and not about any fights breaking out. The others we've paired have mostly just made annoyed noises at each other and kept separating to run about before meeting again to make annoyed noises.

The only pair that didn't work out was 2 dominant females who squared off. The beige was mounting and spitting while the standard was snapping at her and they almost turned in to a ball of fur which is the ultimate not going to work scenario. We got them separated with only a small wound on the beige's nose. Paired the beige off to a different chin and left the standard to live alone. So long as someone is backing down and they aren't threatening to go in to a fighting ball, losing lots of fur, or drawing blood there's potential there. You just have to make sure the one backing down isn't getting harassed too much or they will snap eventually and you have to keep an eye on them the first day they are caged together. Sometimes just changing something about the cage like the number of hiding spots, ledges, or location of food can fix an in cage disagreement.

 

[e.murphy518]

alright, so mounting can be normal and okay as long as they always break it up and separate? That is something I think I will have a tough time differentiating between: normal dominance mounting and fighting.