If you’ve ever seen both a ferret and a weasel, you’ll agree that it can be pretty difficult to spot the difference between the two. Let’s see if we can make it a little easier by comparing them in this in-depth ferret vs. weasel guide.
Overview
Ferrets and weasels are mammal cousins in the Mustelidae family, together with their other cousins, the wolverine, badgers, river otters, stoats, minks, etc. They’re also both in the Mustelinae subfamily, which makes them even more closely related.
All the different ferret and weasel species belong to different subgenera:
- Mustela: mountain weasel, missing-toothed pygmy weasel, stoat (or short-tailed weasel), Haida ermine, yellow-bellied weasel, least weasel, and American ermine.
- Lutreola: Japanese weasel, European mink, Indonesian mountain weasel, Malayan weasel, Siberian weasel, and back-striped weasel.
- Putorius: Steppe polecat, domestic ferret, European polecat, and black-footed ferret.
Physical Appearance
Coat: Ferrets can be white, cinnamon, chocolate, sable, or brown. They also have white, cream, or black marks and their legs and tails are always darker than the rest of their bodies. Weasels can be gray, black, red-brown, or brown with white or yellow marks. In the winter, they turn completely white.
Unique features: Ferrets have a dark mark over their eyes that make me think of them as little animal bandits with masks. Weasels don’t have masks, but they have distinctive fluffy white underbellies.
Other features: Ferrets have shorter necks, shorter tails, and bigger heads than weasels. Both mustelids have little round ears.
Size
Ferret: They’re the larger of these 2 mustelid species. They’re just the right size and weight for cuddles because they weigh as little as 1-4 lbs. They’re no longer than 20 inches from nose to body and their tails can also add 5 inches to their overall body length.
Weasel: They’re much smaller than ferrets with shorter legs and longer tails. To add to their length, their tails can be as long as their entire bodies. They can be as long as 10 to 12 inches from nose to body and weigh 2 to 5 ounces. However, long-tailed weasels can weigh slightly more (about 7 ounces).
Behavior
Personality: Ferrets are rather friendly and they have a much lower prey drive than their weasel cousins. These are just 2 of the reasons why it’s pretty easy to own a pet ferret. However, these little guys bite when you handle them too roughly, which is one of the cons to having a pet ferret. So unfortunately, despite their intelligence and playfulness, you should rather not introduce them to your household if you’ve got small children.
Weasels don’t make great pets at all. In fact, they’re so aggressive and sneaky that they’re better off in the wild, far away from children and other pets. They’re very devious and they tend to attack anything that moves because of their high prey drive.
Activity: Ferrets are nocturnal animals, but sometimes they’re crepuscular. This means that they’re most active at dusk and dawn. Weasels are diurnal, so they’re active during the day.
Socialization: Ferrets prefer to live in groups, while weasels prefer to be on their own in the wild.
Habitat
Ferret: They mainly live in grasslands, but they prefer those that have a lot of prairie dog burrows. This is because they use the burrows and tunnels dug by other animals to nest in. However, most ferrets are domesticated, which means they now live in human homes in suburban areas.
Weasel: They really won’t be able to adapt in our human homes, so they prefer to live in the hedges outside. They also prefer the wild, where they can be wild themselves. Their favorite habitats include grasslands, woodlands, marshes, moors, mountains, crop fields, and sand dunes.
Diet
Ferret: They’re carnivores in the wild but pet ferrets also eat commercial food, which consists of high-protein kibble made especially for them and their needs. You can also give your pet ferret whole mice or soft homemade foods, like pureed baby food, cooked eggs, and dehydrated organ meat.
Weasel: The least weasel is one of the smallest mammals in the world. Actually, it’s the smallest carnivore in the world. Thus, they also live off small animals, rodents, frogs, snakes, birds, and insects in the wild but they don’t eat commercial food. Larger weasels can prey on larger animals, like big rats, rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks.
Conservation Status
Ferret: Unfortunately, the black-footed ferret is endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. They were almost completely wiped out in the 20th century because of rodent poisons and agricultural development. There’s just a small bunch of them left in the wild but thanks to breeding and reintroduction by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, things are slowly starting to look better. Fortunately, the rest of the ferret species are safe and happy.
Weasel: Most species of the weasel are listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It’s just the mountain weasel and Japanese weasel that are considered near threatened.
Other Differences
Sounds: Ferrets make a dooking sound, but this isn’t their only vocalization. They also communicate by using body language. In contrast to this, weasels have 4 basic sounds. They squeal, chirp when disturbed, hiss when frightened, and trill when flirting with other weasels.
Domestication: If they’re handled from a young age, ferrets can be trained and domesticated to make fantastic pets. On the other hand, weasels don’t like to be handled or trained at all. Too much handling may even make them more aggressive.
Lifespan: Ferrets can live for 5 to 10 years, while weasels don’t tend to live longer for 4 to 6 years.
Similarities
War dance: Both ferrets and weasels perform a sort of war dance when they get excited. Ferrets hop, spin, and cluck, while weasels play rough, sway their heads, and hiss.
Predators: Unfortunately, these tiny creatures are at risk of predators in the wild. They’re both preyed upon by foxes and dangerous birds, like hawks, eagles, and owls. You can add coyotes, bobcats, and badgers to the list of animals that want to catch ferrets.
