• Ferrets sleep up to 18 hours a day.
• In captivity they have lived to 8–10 years.
• Litters usually contain 5–10 young.
• They undergo seasonal moulting.

The species typically lives for six to ten years, with a maximum lifespan of fourteen years, and a theoretical lifespan ranging from five years seven months to eleven years one month. Ferrets reach sexual maturity between eight months and one year; their eyes open between three weeks and one month and one week, and they begin walking at one month and one week old. The embryo develops inside the mother after fertilization, followed by the newborn stage, where the young are born blind, deaf, and with little fur, consuming only maternal milk. Subsequently, the species enters the adult stage, lasting from one to nine years, during which the animal fully grows and can reproduce.