>From:    FERRET5 <[log in to unmask]>
>I just bought what I thought was a black-eyed white ferret but his eyes
>aren't always black.  They look like they are dilating, and they change to
>red with just a black ring around the edge.
 
There really is no such thing as a black eyed white.  There really is no
such thing as a black eyed ferret is what I really mean.
 
In humans you talk about eye color as the color of the iris.  In sable
ferrets the iris is usually green or brown.  But the size of the eye is much
smaller than the humans and the "white" is barely visiable.  In the darker
eyed ferrets little light reflects back out of the eye.  You see colors by
seeing light reflect back out.  White is all light reflecting while black is
nearly no light reflecting.  Black holes is space are called that be cause
no light escapes from them.  Back to ferret eyes, by having little light
reflect back out from a ferrets eye especially off of the iris the eye
appears black.  Remember at night with very little light to reflect almost
everything appears dark or black.
 
Albinoes do not have red eyes.  Their iris's are pigmentless so they are
basically clear.  Light reflects back off the insides and blood vessels of
the eye so you are seeing the color of the blood "behind" the eye.
 
Some ferrets have blue eyes.  Mostly champagnes and other dilutes.  We have
a little sable jill with blue eyes which are pretty blue.  Fran yes that is
the temperamental Yang - in case you had noticed.  With a blue eyed ferret
particularly a dilute blue eyed ferrret light passes through the iris like
it does with the albino eye and you see both the red and the blue.  Remember
playing with paint colors?  red and blue is "purple".  In ferret eyes its a
shade of ruby or burgandy usually.  Every dark eyed white (blue not clear
colored iris) we've seen has eyes of this color.
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
http://www.zenferret.com/
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[Posted in FML issue 1954]