It's really rare for an escaped "pet ferret" population to boom on it's own, since most ferrets purchased in the pet trade (i.e. not specifically purchased for

It's really rare for an escaped "pet ferret" population to boom on it's own, since most ferrets purchased in the pet trade (i.e. not specifically purchased for breeding) are already spayed/neutered. This isn't the case for most other pet species. IIRC, this is done because female ferrets who go into heat can/do die if they don't mate and male ferrets will become quite hostile when near a female in heat.