This blog post has some graphic pictures of ferret genitals (hence the thumbnail), some of them are quite gross, particularly the jills fully in season, so don't read while eating and put young kits out of the room lol
I would like to remind anyone who is unsure of their options that it is covered on our ferrets: 101 page. If after reading you would like some help walking through your options just let us know.
Telling if your ferret is in season is quite obvious when you see it, however if you have never seen a ferret in season it is very common to think there is something wrong with a jill or hob coming in to season or for you to mistake a jill coming in for being ready to mate. Hopefully this post should help you know the difference.
Before going into things it is really important to familiarize yourself with what is normal for your ferret. A jill can be naturally very small and flat out of season or she may have a tiny bean of a vulva. Both are normal, like humans there are all sorts of shapes and sizes out there. This goes for boys too. They can also naturally have thinner or thicker fur on their lower stomachs.
When a male ferret is out of season his testis shrink and pull up into the body. He looks neutered. When he's in season he has 2 large pompoms between his back legs. It is normal for some ferrets testis to be more obvious than others even when in season. They can be hidden in hair or just be smaller. For this reason (as well as to check against diseases like cancer) you should really check them by feeling.
In these photos you can see a long haired ferret who's large testis and at the bottom of the picture, a very furry boys who's are hidden in the coat, a boy with typical coat colour changes and oily build up at the base of his testis and a boy out of season (this boy had a vasectomy recently hence the shaved stomach etc). It's also really normal to see a bit of poo on their testis because they like to compete who can poo the highest and plonk their knackers in anything already in the tray
They can also get little black dots on them from all the oil blocking hair ducts (like rat tail of the nuts lol) or tiny grazes if they drag them around sent marking, though the latter you should keep a close eye on it and consider a softer bedding until they calm down a bit.
Another thing that you might find concerning is when a hob is coming in he might not look "normal". To be specific he might look cryptorchid until fully in. This is a perfectly normal, non-crypto male. He's actually a veteran so I know what is normal for him. He is part way into season and one of his testis is currently sitting higher than the other, given a week or two they will both be back to their usual place. This is why breeders tell you to wait a year before neutering if you suspect crypto. They can come fully into season for the first time at any point up until a year old so you could be looking at a similar situation and fearing the worst.
The following pictures are of ferrets at different stages of being in and out of season. You will notice a lot of variety within stages. Your ferret is not generally at risk of aplastic anemia developing until FULLY IN SEASON for an EXTENDED LENGTH OF TIME. If you notice a change start making a plan. If you plan on using the jill jab or a vasectomised hob then she should be FULLY in season for a week minimum. This is so that she is receptive to the hob, if given the jill jab before this time it is known for the jab to not work and you have to get a second one done later on. There is no reason to panic. The last picture is of a jill after breeding before coming out however the discharge is normal throughout her time full in season, it is not caused by breeding.
