As far as I know the teacher takes the ferret home on the weekends and vacations, not the students. Last year my other son had a ferret in his classroom that was 3 years old but she ate something that she found in the classroom when she was out getting exercised after school and got sick and died from it. One of the students mother who is an EMT took her home but she died during the night. Are there a lot of things that are toxic to ferrets? How long does the average ferret live? Your ferrets are all pretty young aren't they.