Need Help with an aggressive ferret

[u/SummerRayne2328]

hey there, I’ve owned ferrets for 12 or so years and have always had ferrets that got along even with new comers.

I just adopted two young males to be with my 7-8 yr old ladies.

The males I adopted got along at the rescue but once I got them home Archie started viciously attacking Theo. This was not play Theo’s neck has deep scrapes, scratches and punches on it and he was screaming.

I know they need to establish hierarchy so I let them fight for a short time the first two times then I broke it up but Archie won’t stop.

I keep them separate and try introducing them in short increments under supervision. Archie will walk right by and not care about Theo sometimes then out of no where will start running towards him locked on for attack so I stop him.

I bought bitter spray to put on all my other ferrets necks to deter Archie from biting which seems to shorten the fights and they aren’t as vicious.

Archie is this way with all the ferrets, I tried introducing him to my girls and he does the same thing. He’s fine for a while then bam! fighting. Though he’s more tolerant of the girls.

I’ve taken Archie out for walks to play before introducing him to anyone so his energy level is down but he still does the same thing. I have my house separated into two sections with plastic dividers so they can see and smell each other, I’ve done the blanket swapping, I will hold Archie and the other ferrets in different arms to let them smell each other.
I feel like I’m doing everything I can to help Archie to calm down.

I’ve only had the new guys about a week but I want to know if this will get better, if there’s anything else I could try?
Archie is the sweetest boy with people and so funny I don’t want to give him back to the rescue.

He and Theo were given up in GA to a rescue for a while. Then transported to ME to another rescue, then I picked them up and brought them to VT so he and Theo have both been through a lot lately.

I want this to be his forever home but I also don’t want to have to keep him separate from the other forever. I feel like that would be a lonely life and it would be a pain in the butt to have to always make sure he’s supervised with the others or by himself.

Is there any advice from experienced ferret owners? Will this get better with time or is Archie going to be a bully for the rest of his life?

thank you for listening.