I recently discovered my little ferret is deaf, we have a ferret who can hear as well. Anyway when my deaf ferret is playing with my other ferret he hurts her. I've read on websites that it is because he can't hear her screaming. Is there anything I can do? Do they need to be separated or can she handle it herself (She is almost twice the size of him)?

Hi, Emily94!

For right now, I would suggest separating them until more is known about what to do and so that they are both safe.

Thanks!

How do you know he is deaf?

Going over and separating them when she starts cry might help. He may eventually learn to pick up on other clues.

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

How do you know he is deaf?

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My mom made a comment on how she thought he was a rude ferret because he ignored EVERYTHING. She then joked that he was deaf. Trying to prove her wrong I googled "deaf ferret test", it came up with a test where you place 2 ferrets in front of a vacuum, one that can hear, and the other who may not be able to. When there both in front of the vacuum you turn it on. The hearing one will run away but the deaf one will stay behind. Well that's exactly what happened. I also filled a tin can full of pennies and shook it while he wasn't looking he didn't respond, I did it to the one who could hear and she ran away. From these two test I'm assuming he is deaf. Also because if I sneak up on him (not on purpose) when he turns around he screams and runs (Which I also read is common in deaf ferrets because they can't hear you coming and if you walk slowly they can't feel it).

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Originally Posted by Emily94

My mom made a comment on how she thought he was a rude ferret because he ignored EVERYTHING. She then joked that he was deaf. Trying to prove her wrong i googled "deaf ferret test", it came up with a test

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It sounds like you did the right things to figure this out. Nice detective work!

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

It sounds like you did the right things to figure this out. Nice detective work!

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Thank you :)

My dog has become VERY protective of the female (over the past 2 days) and when the male was hurting her last night my dog walked up, picked him up by the scruff and tossed him across the room (I know I should have been watching them better but usually my dog wants nothing to do with them). Since that little incident I've heard zero crying, maybe he learned his lesson? If not I'm going to do the same thing (without the whole tossing thing, maybe I'll just drop him on a pillow:P)

Don't worry I checked the little guy for any signs of injury and there is nothing :)

Ferrets are fairly 'bouncy' creatures. Sounds like puppy decided it was time to step in. hopefully, the lesson sticks.

Emily, I am so sorry, I am laughing so hard right now. I just had a mental picture of you scaring the b'Jesus out of your ferrets. LOL. I know, not funny. Sounds like if you separate them when she squeals they should be okay. Does she still like playing with him?

Sorry I haven't been on lately, Aurora, it's okay to laugh, I did :)

She still plays with him even when they get rough, I'm wondering if maybe ferrets are just noisey when they play?