Ferrets

kingdom: animalia   

phylum: chordata

class: mammalia     

order: carnivora     

family: mustelidae

genus: mustela

species: m. putorius

subspecies: m. p. furo

     I didn't steal it from here.

     Ferrets are domistic mammals. They are carnivorous, and they are approximately 20 inches long. Female ferrets weigh from two pounds to four pounds, and male ferrets weigh around four to five. Well-fed ones could weigh at about eight pounds. Also, they live for about seven to ten years. They are very popular around the world, and they are demanded for pets. Some ferret's relatives are polecats, weasels, minks, stoat, and the endangered black-footed ferrets. Males are called hobs and females are called jills. Baby weasels are called kits or kittens.

Ferrets in the wild live a little shorter than domistic ones.

    Ferrets were domisticated for about 2,500 years. They are adopted as pets by people. Ferreting, or rabbiting is a sport or a hunting skill in which a ferret goes into a small rodent or any mammal's burrow and scares them out into the open fields. Then the hunter shoots them down. This was used for a long time, and was very useful for hunters.

     Ferrets are carnivorous, which means meat-eating. they feed on tiny preys, like small birds, mice, big insects, and small mammals. They eat just about everything in the wild that can fit in their mouth; the meat, organs, bones, skin, feathers, and fur. But pet ferrets eat other stuff, like kibbles. They don't eat a lot. In the wild, they eat rodents (rats, mice), birds, reptiles, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, and maybe occaisonally a chicken.

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     Ferrets usually sleep 14~17 hours a day, about two to six hours a time. The most common two colors are sable and albino. Sable ferrets look very alike to polecats. They can be from, brownish red, dark brown, or to light brown. About 25% of all baby ferrets are albino. The eyes vary from red to brown, to pink.

     Ferrets are illegal in California, because of the fear that the ferrets might kill and hunt down all the California quail, the state bird, and the fish. They ambush their prey, and suddenly jumps them and kills them. Some other places that ferrets are illegal is Australia, Canada, European Union, Japan, and United Kingdom. But United Kingdom does accept some ferrets. They have to be microchipped, vaccinated against rabies, and documented. They have to be treatede for ticks and tapeworms for about 24 hours before entry.

      Ferrets are very mischievious animals. When they go outside, they could pick a fight with maybe a small cat. They could step over a wire and electricute themselves, or climb a telephone wire. They should be kept with a lot of care and love, because it can always ditch the owner anytime, anywhere.