I would just like to say I don't think there is any significant difference in how long a European ferret will live compared to an American one. The typical age they reach seems to be around 7-10 years, provided the ferrets stay healthy. However, it seems to me, some US ferrets, or perhaps certain strains of US ferrets, have some kind of disposition to a number of diseases. I don't believe we have seen this kind of disease tendency in our Swedish ferrets, not yet anyway. Of course, this is only from my personal experience. I have read several posts about feeding mice LIVE to ferrets. To those of you who do that.......PLEASE DONT! Although I'm sure the ferrets enjoy the hunt, please think about the mouse's terrible suffering when it finds itself trapped, with nowhere to hide, and a bunch of predators chasing after it. Really, there is no need for such cruelty! I feed my ferrets mice, but only after I've painlessly killed the mice first. If you love your ferrets that much, I'm sure you can show at least some concern for the mice too. Marie [Posted in FML issue 3322]