Talk:Ferret

Proposed Update
Hello- The "As Pets" section of this page is very small and vague. I would like to add a lot more info about adopting a ferret or ferrets as pets. I have ferrets as pets, I have brochures about taking care of ferrets, and I have found much more information online and in books that would be helpful to add to this article. Would really appreciate any advice, help, or ideas for doing this. Thanks --Edavidson1220 (talk) 22:18, 10 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Hello, and thanks for taking an interest in the article, but I'm afraid you seem to have the wrong idea about what wikipedia is for. In the past the article had lots more information about keeping ferrets as pets and lots of cute pictures but, as the article was improved, most of that was removed. The reason for that is that wikipedia is an encyclopaedia and that sort of information is not appropriate. I you look at the guideline What Wikipedia is not you will see that one of the sections is about it not being a manual, how to guide etc. Looking at the links you have given, the first one goes a "page not found" and the second one goes to a wordpress blog which would not be suitable as a reference for wikipedia anyway. see:wp:reliable sources. Any general information about ferret biology and suchlike that you can get from reliable sources to add to the article would be welcome, but I don't think that the sort of information you could get from brochures about their care etc. would be suitable. If you are interested in collating information about keeping ferrets as pets you may find that Wikibooks is a better place to do that. Richerman  (talk) 00:48, 11 February 2019 (UTC)

Some of the information on this page should be changed. Caged ferrets require at least two hours of play time not just one hour. in some areas in the untied states vaccinations are not required and some older ferrets (seven years or older) have a bad reaction to them. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Michelle Paige42575 (talk • contribs) 13:49, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

New intro
Please change to this new rewritten intro.

The ferret (Mustela putorius furo) is the domesticated form of the European polecat, a carnivorous mammal belonging to the same genus as the weasel, Mustela, in the Mustelid family, Mustelidae.[1] Their fur is typically brown, black, white, or a mixture of those colors. They have an average length of 51 cm, including a 13 cm tail, weigh about 1.5 to 4 lb, and have a natural lifespan of 7 to 10 years.[2] Ferrets are sexually dimorphic predators, with males being substantially larger than females.

The history of the ferret's domestication is uncertain, like that of most other domestic animals, but it is likely they have been domesticated for at least 2,500 years. They are still used for hunting rabbits in some parts of the world, but increasingly they are kept only as pets.

Being so closely related to polecats, ferrets hybridize easily with them, and this has occasionally resulted in feral colonies of polecat–ferret hybrids that have caused damage to native fauna, especially in New Zealand.[3] As a result, New Zealand and some other parts of the world have imposed restrictions on keeping ferrets.

Several other Mustelids also have the word ferret as part of their common names, including an endangered species, the black-footed ferret.


 * Thanks.76.102.7.183 (talk) 03:53, 2 March 2019 (UTC)


 * ✅, mostly. Almost all of your suggestions clearly look constructive, so I've incorporated most of what you suggested (link additions, clearer wording, etc.), but there are a few notes.


 * MOS:NOPIPE states that As per WP:NOTBROKEN and § Link specificity above, do not use a piped link where it is possible to use a redirected term that fits well within the scope of the text, so I did not incorporate a few of your suggestions because of this (also, note that endangered species does not do anything different at all than what's currently on the page because the very first letter of a link is not case-sensitive). I also did not change 2,500&#38;&#110;&#98;&#115;&#112;&#59;years to 2,500 years; when two words should never be separate with line breaks, using &#38;&#110;&#98;&#115;&#112;&#59; is preferred, see WP:NBSP. I am not sure that we need the description of "carnivorous" for the European polecat; we already have the link to the animal and I don't think any more detail is needed, especially considering being carnivorous is not particularly special or interesting about the European polecat as ferrets are also carnivores. Finally, per WP:OVERLINK, I did not add links to pages such as predators or New Zealand.


 * Besides that, I believe I've incorporated everything, although it's possible that I missed something. Thanks a lot for the request!-- SkyGazer 512 Oh no, what did I do this time? 15:02, 2 March 2019 (UTC)


 * Thanks, I hope you can add something about their diet to the introduction eventually, because it is not obvious to those who aren't familiar with the animal. 76.102.7.183 (talk) 01:11, 4 March 2019 (UTC)

Is any one still responsible for the Ferret Wiki page?
Is anyone still working on the Ferret Wiki page? If not I'm willing to take over for this page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Michelle Paige42575 (talk • contribs) 13:16, 8 January 2021 (UTC)


 * I check on the ferret wiki page time from time to make sure no one did anything bad to it The furret lover (talk) 18:52, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

Article And Talk Page
Hey This is Nakita Kelley i Have To Say i Love Your Article And Talk Page Nakita Kelley (talk) 10:26, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

Team-B-Vital Improvement Drive
Hello all!

This article has been chosen as this week's effort for WP:Discord's #team-b-vital channel, a collaborative effort to bring Vital articles up to a B class if possible, similar to WP:Articles for Improvement. This effort will run for up to seven days, ending early if the article is felt to be at B-class or impossible to further improve. Articles are chosen by a quick vote among interested chatters, with the goal of working together on interesting Vital articles that need improving.

This is a special New Year's selection.

Thank you! -- ferret (talk) 01:03, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

Infertility?
The introduction includes:

"The ferret is most likely a domesticated form of the wild European ferret or polecat (Mustela putorius), evidenced by their interfertility."

I think this needs to be explained, corroborated, or corrected. 73.111.188.68 (talk) 01:11, 22 January 2022 (UTC)


 * Interfertility, not infertility. Ian Dalziel (talk) 01:40, 22 January 2022 (UTC)

Typo in Diet section
“kit” should be “kid”. Unfortunately the page is protected so I can’t update it myself. Consti (talk) 00:06, 19 April 2022 (UTC)


 * From "Etymology" : "Ferrets under one year old are known as kits". Ian Dalziel (talk) 01:26, 19 April 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 23 November 2023
Washington DC should be removed from the section on US regulation, as DC Code § 8–1808 section j, subsection F now permits them. https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/8-1808.html AshleyTheBat (talk) 20:35, 23 November 2023 (UTC)
 * ✅ Done. Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 02:45, 24 November 2023 (UTC)