There have been several cases of ferrets living to be over 10 years of age. Geriatric disease problems usually start at around three years of age. Many people are concerned about the odor of the ferret. Therefore, removing the anal glands is an unnecessary procedure in ferrets and in fact does nothing to remove body odor. Males are normally twice the body size of females.
Ferrets reach their adult weight by six months of age.
As would be expected, weight is put on during the fall and lost in the spring. There is also a hair loss that occurs at these same times. Usually the shedding is gradual, but occasionally it may be quite dramatic with all the undercoat coming to the surface over a 24-hour period. The dark blue is caused by the presence of hair just coming out of the follicles. The animal's markings including mask configuration, overall hair length, shade, or texture may change with each shed, and this is normal.