★ Your magazine. Your say. Complete our reader survey with a chance to win Jack Pyke kit worth £500! ★
Why are my ferrets are strange colours?
All the pictures I see of ferrets are either albinos or darker coloured hobs. I have just bought two jills and a hob from a friend and all three are almost black in colour. Have you come across such colouration before?
Ferrets
EDWARD COOK says: Dark polecats are becoming a bit more common, but I have to confess the really dark ones I’ve come across carry wild polecat blood.
Ferrets do come in all sorts of colours but I would say the most common are polecats, albinos or silvers.
Got a question? Contact: sportinggun@ipcmedia.com or Sporting Gun, PO Box 157, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 9FU
About the author
Edward Cook
A professional rabbit catcher and ferreting expert, he served for many years on the Shooting Times question-and-answer panels, answering readers on ferret feeding, welfare and working, and wrote features on rabbit control, including shooting alongside the combine harvester.
Related Articles
Game by the tonne, not by the brace
Eat Wild wants game meat sold on an industrial scale, and it has three seasons to build the market before the lead-shot ban lands. Selena Barr meets Tom Peachey, the gamekeeper’s son and gun-trade b...
By Selena Barr | 22 September 2026
The grouse is the boss: why a moor is a working landscape
Jean-Paul Gaudin on tweed debated like military strategy, a bird gone in three-quarters of a second, and the months of management that happen long before the first cartridge is fired
By Jean-Paul Gaudin | 22 September 2026
Get the latest news delivered direct to your door
Subscribe to Shooting Times & Country
Discover the ultimate companion for fieldsports enthusiasts with Shooting Times & Country Magazine, the UK’s leading weekly publication that has been at the forefront of shooting culture since 1882. Subscribers gain access to expert tips, comprehensive gear reviews, seasonal advice and a vibrant community of like-minded shooters.
Save on shop price when you subscribe with weekly issues featuring in-depth articles on gundog training, exclusive member offers and access to the digital back issue library. A Shooting Times & Country subscription is more than a magazine, don’t just read about the countryside; immerse yourself in its most authoritative and engaging publication.
