Commonly known as stoats or short-tailed weasel, Eurasian ermines can easily pass as ferrets to an untrained eye. They may also occasionally receive the label “Mustela Erminia”. These animals have short tails but big bodies. The term ermine means the white fur of an animal. The unique and special thing about ermine is they turn white in the winter or snow.
Ermines have bigger bodies than a weasel, however, they are smaller than an average ferret. Many people find it hard to distinguish between them. In fact, it is immensely hard for a novice to identify an ermine if they don’t have any knowledge about these pets, as they fall between ferrets and weasels.
Fortunately, there is an easy way to differentiate ermine from the weasel. Ermines have shorter tails as compared to weasels but their bodies are big. So, next time if you see something like a weasel, don’t forget to check the size of their tail; you are probably looking at an ermine. To learn more about weasels in relation to ferrets, check this article next.
When we compare ermine with ferrets, they are smaller in size. But sometimes that is not enough to know if you are looking at an ermine or a ferret.
What Are The Characteristics Of Ermines?
Ermines belong to the Mustelid family, which is the same family as the ferrets. That is why their characteristics, shape, and actions are very similar to ferrets.
Their figure is slender just like a ferret. But all ermines aren’t the same. Ermines of different areas also have different body sizes. Their body length varies 5 to 12 inches in their whole lifetime. Male ermines are always bigger and heavier than female ermines.
Their weight is a lot less than a ferret; they weigh less than 0.3 kg on average.
These animals usually live between 4 to 6 years. This probably happens due to their wild habitat. They spend all their life living in the wild and end up getting hunted. Ferrets actually get to live more than them for about 10 years.
Different habitats affect both of them differently and become the deciding factor of their age.
Apart from this, they have a short furry tail that ends with a black tip. Their top, which includes the back and head, is often dark brown and the bottom coat is pale white.
Where Are Ermines Usually Found? What do they Eat?
Ermines are usually found in places where they can easily find food. Due to their hunting nature, they love poultry farms, forests, and bushlands. In the wild, especially bushlands give them a lot of opportunities to hunt or hide from predators. Much of the food on the ferrets food chart here is what ermines enjoy too.
Due to these reasons, ermines are very much like wild ferrets. They love to feed on chicken and eggs of different birds by stealing from their nests.
But because of their size, they can’t prey on much bigger animals even though they are carnivores. That is why they attack animals that go with their sizes such as birds, frogs, and all types of eggs.
They look like adorable little animals but when it comes to prey, they are very vicious. They grab their prey from the throat and rip it apart using their sharp teeth or claws. Small animals are grabbed from their skulls and just simply destroyed by these adorable-looking animals.
Can Ermine By Kept As Pets Just Like Ferrets?
This is where we draw the main line between ermines and ferrets. Ermines are wild animals who have never been kept as a pet by people. People tried illegally, surely, but like housing other wild animals or predators in general, we recommend you not to try to do it yourself. They weren’t domesticated like ferrets because they have been living in the wild and surviving on their own since they were discovered.
Ermines are dangerous to be around as well, especially if you own a farm. Their history with preying on birds is so bad that they were officially said to be one of the top 100 worst invaders.
If in a rare case you ever see someone carrying a stoat with them, it will most likely mean that it was caught in the wild. Normally people don’t keep them as pets because they are hard to take care of… Of course, you can’t just turn an animal domestic after it has lived all its life in the wild. You won’t know what it likes, and you won’t have any special knowledge about how to deal with their drawback either.
Ferrets have proper vet offices and camps where they teach you how to live with a ferret. But we don’t see any of these things or classes for ermine.
No one really knows what they need, how they act at all times, and etc.
Are Ermines Legal?
Ermines are of course not legal in most states of the U.S.
They are not domesticated like ferrets so they are going to be more troubling than them.
Many states have stated that even ferrets are illegal even after they have been domesticated by millions of people over the world. The reason is that ferrets are considered wild animals. And the state officials are not much wrong about them. If ferrets are not disciplined then they can cause havoc in the house and possibly in the neighboring houses.
States have banned any Mustelid species. They are very dangerous and their habits are to chew and destroy most things that come in their way. Don’t get your hopes up on ever having one as a pet, legally anyway.
Ermines are not even domesticated and hunt fresh living birds. So, imagine the damage they would do if they ever get inside your house. It is even worse if you have an unprotected child in your home as they can harm them.
How Does Having Ermines Benefit You?
People mostly hunt ermines on their own. You don’t get them from the pet shops. The reason is that they can sell the ermine’s fur for very high prices because it is used to make winter clothing.
However, they can’t just sell any fur. The white fur of the ermine is the one always in demand. Those white furs keep the ermines warm in the winter. That is how they are used by clothing industries as well. They get their fur to make expensive and luxurious winter clothes. We don’t particularly agree with this practice, as we prefer to see animals taken care of and kept safe, but unfortunately the market for this exists, and we urge any readers not to participate in it directly.