In the most recent FML there were two colors about ferret colors.
 
A sables mask is gnereally well defined by the time the ferret is old enough
tto be seperated from its mother/litter.  Generally what I've noticed in the
kits we raise is that thee sables (and chocolates) get dark with in a couple
of weeks.  They are dark all over and gradually the lighter markings that
they will have develop over the next several weeks.  By the time they are
three months (which is really when they should be allowed to seperate from
their family) they have markings that are adult in nature.  I'm assuming
from the question that the ferret either has no mask or no light coloring on
the face.  A Sable Self color-pattern has little or no light coloring on the
face and thus no discernable mask.  A sable point, sable fine point or sable
siamese can have no mask and a completely light colored face.  Nothing to be
concerned with in either case.
 
About silver mitts now.  In most of the color standards used by the various
ferret groups a silver mitt is a ferret with white feet and dark legs.  (The
AFA refers to the darker colored ones as black) The true genetics involved
is still not settled - everyone has their own opinions but what it seem to
me is that there is a gene that causes white feet.  It is seperate from the
gene that causes basic color so a black bodied ferret (sable or black sable)
can also have the gene that causes white feet.  This you can call a silver
mitt or a sable mitt.  It doesn't really matter.  The gene that causes the
white feet might also cause the white tipped tail - this is a matter of
degree.  Just as the mitts can range from no presence on the legs up to long
white mitts the tail tip can range from not presence to a distinct tip.
Another factor is the gene that causes the blaze or panda markings - it also
causes white feet that also can range from no presence on some feet to
completely white feet - and it can also cause a blaze that ranges from no
prescense to completely engulfing the head (panda).  These white foot and
blaze genes can also be present with the gene for other colors such as
chocolate, champagne - cinnamon or even genes that ause the feret to be
completely or almost completely white.
 
After all that.  There isn't really a differnce between a silver mitt and
a sable mitt.
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 1204]