I know this question has been asked here before but mine is a bit different.
You see, I bought my ferrets from someone who couldn’t keep them anymore. He told me that they were descended, neutered/spayed, and brother and sister.
On the ride home we stopped at the nearest Petco to ask if they could tell if they were neutered/spayed. They said when we got them home we should check for a small tattoo in their ears. (We couldn’t check at the store because both the ferrets were very scared and hyper so we didn’t want to take them out)
Upon bringing them home we checked but saw no sign of the tattoo. We decided to leave them alone for now and assuming they would not mate being brother and sister. We later found out that it doesn’t matter to them if they are because they can’t tell and will end up mating anyway.
A few months ago I posted a question about ferrets mating because I thought my male ferret was trying to hurt my female one but then I found out they were actually mating. I read that the females need to be bread in order to not get aplastic anemia so I decided to see where it took me.
About 4 or 5 weeks ago I started to notice that my female ferret was sleeping more than usual and was getting much fatter. She has always been much smaller than the male and hadn’t been gaining any weight no matter what we did to try and fatten her. (Because they had been underfed at their old home)
I can’t tell if this is a sign that she is pregnant. If she is, is there a way for me to know for sure since I don’t know the exact date that she would have gotten pregnant?
And, if she is, does the male need to be separated now, or can he wait until just before she is about to give birth?
The vets office wants to charge me $70 dollars just to see one of them and I don’t have a job right now so please don’t say “Bring her to the vet.”
I could really use some good advice on this.

Thanks.