Black Footed Ferret Life Cycle

The black-footed ferret is a small, short-legged animal that is part of the weasel family. It used to live in prairies in the western part of North America, from areas in the Great Plains in Texas to places in Canada, but most of the species live in breeding facilities today. These animals are solitary creatures, except when they reproduce.

  1. Reproduction

    • Black-footed ferrets mate in March and April, and there is a gestation period of between 41 to 43 days before baby ferrets are born in underground burrows. Females usually have litters of three or four kits, but some have up to six. Only mother ferrets stay to care for the kits, generally until the October after the babies are born.

    Kits

    • When black-footed ferret kits are born, they are blind and weigh between 5 and 9 grams. Baby ferrets born in the wild stay underground until two months old. They open their eyes about 35 days after birth, and they still depend on their mothers for food until they learn to hunt alone.

    Development

    • During the late summers after they are born, black-footed ferrets start to go out with their mothers hunting. After they hunt as a group, they stay in different burrows and eventually start going out hunting on their own by the fall after they are born. They can grow to 15 to 26 inches and weigh up to 2.5 pounds, although females are usually smaller than males.

    Survival

    • Black-footed ferrets traditionally live in prairies and have diets that consist mainly of prairie dogs, burrowing rodents that are a part of the squirrel family. Ferrets usually hunt at night and sometimes eat animals such as snakes, squirrels and mice. For shelter, ferrets use prairie dog burrows, altering them so that they have wider entrances and tunnels. These ferrets spend most of their time in these underground burrows, and they become less active in the winter.

    Death

    • In the wild, ferrets live between three to four years. Those in captivity can survive eight to nine years.