Ferret facts: surprising things about ferrets

Ferret fun facts

• They are tamed polecats. The American Ferret Association says the pet ferret was almost certainly domesticated from the European polecat.
• They sleep most of the day. The RSPCA says a healthy ferret may sleep 18 to 20 hours a day, and ferrets are most active around dawn and dusk.
• Males are hobs and females are jills. Babies are kits. A castrated male is a hobble and a vasectomised male a hobblet, says the British Veterinary Nursing Association.
• Hobs can be twice the size of jills. The MSD Veterinary Manual gives up to 2 kg (4.4 lb) for males and 1.2 kg (2.5 lb) for females.
• They are built like Houdini. The American Ferret Association breed standard says a ferret's spine, breastbone, wrists and ankles allow "contortions worthy of Houdini", with extra-long neck and lower back bones and short legs for chasing prey down burrows.
• The tail is a third of the body. The breed standard asks for a tail about one third of the length from nose to the base of the tail, and five toes on every foot.
• Their hearts race. The MSD Veterinary Manual gives a resting heart rate of 200 to 250 beats a minute and 30 to 40 breaths a minute.
• They run warm. Normal body temperature is about 38 to 39°C (100 to 103°F), says the MSD Veterinary Manual.
• They cannot sweat well. VCA says ferrets cannot sweat effectively, so they overheat easily. Keep them below 32°C (90°F) at the very most.
• They get a winter coat. The coat darkens and thickens in winter and lightens and sheds in summer.
• They put on winter weight. The PDSA says ferrets can gain around 40% of their body weight in winter and lose it again in spring.
• Kits are born deaf and blind. VCA says their eyes and ears open at about 3 weeks, around when they start walking.
• They catch human flu. The RSPCA warns that ferrets are very susceptible to several strains of human influenza, and it can pass both ways.
• Happy ferrets dance. Ferret rescuers told Vetstreet that happy ferrets hop, jump up and down and spring sideways across the room.
• Their smell is in the skin. VCA explains that most of the musky smell comes from skin glands, so even descented ferrets smell musky.

Ferret history facts

People have kept ferrets for a very long time, though sources disagree on how long. VCA says more than 2,000 years, first for hunting and pest control. The American Ferret Association places domestication as early as 63 BCE, with ferrets reaching Spain by 600 AD. The British Veterinary Nursing Association goes further back, to the Egyptians around 3000 BC. We would go with "more than 2,000 years", which every source supports.

The RSPCA lists five main colours in the UK: fitch, albino (also called the English ferret), silver, sandy and dew. Our guide to ferret breeds and colours covers the full list.

Facts about ferrets as pets you need to know before getting one

Our guide to ferrets as pets covers whether a ferret suits your home, and do ferrets smell answers the question everyone asks.

Female ferret facts

• Jills weigh up to 1.2 kg (2.5 lb), often half a hob's weight.
• They can come into season from 5 months old, the American Ferret Association says.
• A jill stays in season from spring to autumn unless she is mated or her hormones are stopped, says the British Veterinary Nursing Association.
• Pregnancy lasts about 42 days.
• Kits open their eyes at about 3 to 4 weeks, start on solid food from 4 weeks and are weaned at 6 to 10 weeks.
• Kits do best with their mother until about 12 weeks.

Black-footed ferret facts

The black-footed ferret, Mustela nigripes, is a wild ferret of the North American prairies and a different species from the pet ferret. As its name says, it has dark feet. The Smithsonian's National Zoo gives a length of about 46 to 61 cm (18 to 24 in), including a 13 to 15 cm (5 to 6 in) tail, and a weight of 0.7 to 1.1 kg (1.5 to 2.5 lb).

• It lives on prairie dogs. The Smithsonian says prairie dogs make up about 90% of its diet. One ferret may eat more than 100 prairie dogs a year, and a family needs more than 250.
• It lives underground. Black-footed ferrets are mainly nocturnal and spend most of their time in prairie dog burrows, where they sleep, hunt and raise kits.
• There were once hundreds of thousands. The US Fish and Wildlife Service estimates 500,000 to 1 million in the late 1800s, across 12 US states, Canada and Mexico.
• It was first described in 1851, near the Platte River. Fossils date back about 100,000 years.
• Wild ferrets live short lives. Wild females live about 5 years and males about 4, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
• Kits are born after 42 to 45 days, in litters of 3 or 4, and open their eyes at 37 days.

Black-footed ferret endangered facts

The black-footed ferret was listed as endangered in the US in 1967 and is still endangered. Its story is one of the closest calls in conservation:

The dates are from the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Smithsonian's National Zoo. The Smithsonian's centre in Virginia alone had bred 1,029 kits by May 2021. Every wild population today comes from reintroduction. The main threats, says the US Fish and Wildlife Service, are sylvatic plague (a disease brought to North America), drought, low genetic variety and the poisoning and shooting of prairie dogs, their food.

Ferret facts for new owners

If you are getting ferrets, the facts that matter most are simple. Get a neutered pair. Feed complete ferret food, always available. Keep them cool. Give them 4 hours or more of play a day. Vaccinate every year. Weigh them weekly. Everything else follows from those, and our ferret care guide walks through each. For the life stages from kit to senior, see how long ferrets live, and for what the bouncing and hissing mean, ferret behaviour.