Ferret or Mink?

Looking for help identifying this albino critter…not sure if it is a ferret or mink. It appears to be tame…I was able to pick it up with my gloved hands in a garage located in the middle of a village…closest water is about 1/4 to 1/2 mile away.

Thanks!!

I’d go with ferret I had one that looked just like it.

Ferret.

Thanks! Just curious, what are you seeing in the photo that makes you say ferret instead of mink. Thanks again!!

Ferret. Their tails are more bushy and they have slightly narrower snouts. Their feet and claws are also more adapted to digging.
We have an opposite problem - people bring home steppe polecats who sometimes stray into the suburbs, and flood the local social media with threads like "help, we found an abandoned ferret, please help, the poor thing is so stressed it's screaming, attacking and biting us, irresponsible owners should be punished!"

Should be able to tell by the smell. You can tell as soon as you walk in the door if someone owns a ferret. Gag

To me, they smell pretty similar to ermine and other true weasels (Mustela). Mink smell has more cat ketone/blackcurrant nuances.

Ferret, I got three. One that just showed up like that and the missus liked it so much she got two more.

They're fun little critters.

A mink wouldn't be any kind of tame!

I'd say the fact that's it's tame gives it a 90% or more it's a ferret

Thanks for all the replies! I just found a small tattoo in her ear…ferret! Now to see if I can find the owner or wait until I find the reward posters on the telephone poles LOL! (I turned her into the dog warden-conveniently my neighbor!)

We've had 2 when the kids were young. and they were a ball. My daughter would wear Sneezy around here neck like a mink wrap and all her friends would too. I could be in the recliner and unbutton a couple of my shirt's buttons and he would crawl in my shirt and take a nap.

The next one was Rascal and he had that name for good reason. He loved to tease the wife's miniature dachshund. The dog would be sleeping, and Rascal would go jump on him and get him to chase him. He'd make a beeline for the China closet and dive under the opening between the 4 legs at a dead run. That opening isn't more than an inch and a half, and the dog just had to stick it's snout under there only to get nipped on the nose. Every time. We sure had a lot of fun with them but they require a lot of care.

Look at it's front toes.