We study the formation dynamics of a spontaneous ferromagnetic order in single self-assembled Cd1−xMnxTe quantum dots. By measuring time-resolved photoluminescence, we determine the formation times for QDs with Mn ion contents x varying from 0.01 to 0.2. At low x these times are orders of magnitude longer than exciton spin relaxation times evaluated from the decay of photoluminescence circular polarization. This allows us to conclude that the direction of the spontaneous magnetization is determined by a momentary Mn spin fluctuation rather than resulting from an optical orientation. At higher x, the formation times are of the same order of magnitude as found in previous studies on higher dimensional systems. We also find that the exciton spin relaxation accelerates with increasing Mn concentration. Doping semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) with magnetic ions offers a possibility of controlling magnetic properties of matter at nanoscale. Notably, several theoretical reports have proposed tailoring of QD magnetization by tuning the number of carriers in a dot.1-3 However, in order to achieve the control over magnetization a detailed knowledge of its dynamics is required. In compound II -VI QDs the Mn doping is performed routinely enabling studies of very dilute systems including QDs with single Mn ions 4 and of highly doped ones with molar contents up to 7%.5 Magnetic properties are comfortably monitored through optical experiments, since exchange interaction between the localized magnetic ions and the band carriers leads to pronounced magnetooptical effects.6 In particular, energy minimization of a complex consisting of a photocreated electron-hole pair (an exciton) interacting with Mn ions, results in a spontaneous formation of a local ferromagnetic order -a magnetic polaron (MP).Static and dynamic properties of MPs have been subject to intensive experimental and theoretical studies 5,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Experimental fingerprint of the MP formation is a redshift of the exciton photoluminescence (PL) by polaron energy E P -the energy gained by formation of the ferromagnetic order. The development of the magnetization can therefore be monitored in a time-resolved (TR) PL experiment, in which a transient shift of the exciton energy is observed allowing to evaluate the MP formation time, τ f .10,11 However, in bulk and 2D systems a prerequisite for the MP formation is an initial localization of the exciton.12 A precise experimental identification of E P and τ f is then hindered by processes related to trapping of the exciton. On the other hand, excitons in QDs are inherently localized by the QD potential, and thus the studies of MP formation dynamics in these nanostructures are free of the obscuring localization effects.14,18 The studies reported so far were performed on QD ensembles, in which the obtained τ f may be inaccurate due to inhomogeneities in dot morphology leading to variations in exciton lifetimes, 20 τ X , affecting in turn the TRPL transients. Previous reports have also lef...