How old does a ferret get?

It's very different, so it's hard to give an average age. A few become older than 10 years, the oldest living I know of in Sweden during the beginning of 1997 is 14 years old, but quite a few get ill or are subjected to accidents while young.

Among the youngest accidents seems like the greatest risk, even though some get diseases to, at the ages 2-4 years most remain healthy, but from around the age of 5 some diseases, mainly tumours, start to appear. Many fall victim to them at 5-8 years, which could be said to be a common age for those who survive youth.

[Diagram showing distribution of attained age]

The diagram shows the attained ages for 65 ferrets, mostly American, the material gathered by Alan Horne during the beginning of 1997. We can see that 50% die at the ages 5 to 8 years old.



Ferrets: You can't live without them!
Senast uppdaterad 1997 maj 18 av Urban Fredriksson
griffon@canit.se