A ferret that is a dark eyed white at birth is very rare. This means NO stray dark fur anywhere onthe coat. I used to be able to breed these, but the male passing on the gene passed away and I kept a daughter who ended up being sterile. So I lost the line. BEW females tend to either be poor mothers, canibalistic or infertile, hence the "color" being so hard to perpatuate. NOW - light silvers, those ferrets with dark eyes and a few or more dark hairs tend to go lighter as they get older, especially after they are altered. Really light silvers can become dark eyed whites in a year or two - that is why several ferret showing systems allow ferrets with a few dark hairs to be entered in the dark eyed rings - they will get that way eventually and the show sponsors do not want the owners to pluck out the odd dark furs and cause discomfort to the ferret just for a silly show. For an example - look at the earlier issues of Modern Ferret and Knuks - he was a dark eyed stripe. Now look at more recent photos (I think issue #5 gives baby and adult photos) and his stripe is gone. Pandas - I have had several silver pandas in my breeding lines, and as soon as I get them spayed or neutered, they turn almost white. Pandas usually have a few dark patches on their original coats which stay put after the rest of the coat has lightened up, hence the "pattern" category at several shows. I have a striking photo of one of my ferrets at 2 years of age. Patches was a silver panda - a VERY distinct dark coat, white feet, white head with a dark patch behind her ears. this ferret is now almost 8 and a half, and with the exception of the patch, she is white. Last night I was visiting friends (Hi Rhonda and Bruce) and asked to see Buttons, another retired silver panda breeder I had spayed and adopted to them. A BEW was pulled out and handed to me - and Buttons was a medium silver coat whan I had her spayed a year ago. Buttons is a grandmother now to her albino daughter's litter of 6 cinnamons. Genetics are a funny thing. Silvers are not rare, they just keep changing coats. Pam [Posted in FML issue 1532]