From:
sukieferret
Date: 2002-01-05 21:21:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Photoperiods and sleeping quarters
Reduction in light causes the body to produce meltonin, and the more the reduction the greater the production. I know that in humans it takes a while for the body to "get up steam" so for humans in one study in industrialized nations peak melatonin production was at about 3 a.m. I do NOT know how long a ferret needs to be shielded from light to wind up producing a reasonable amount of melatonin, and they do tend to get up about every 4 hours or so to go to the bathroom and catch a meal. The production of melatonin is very affected by adding light, so *IF* it takes them a few hours to get production up there where it should be then they come out into light to eat or go to the bathroom that would mean they might have start all over again. I could be completely wrong, but I suspect that many of these specifics just aren't known for ferrets at this point.
Like you, we simply can't afford to have a ferret-only room since we live in an expensive neck of the woods (but wish we could), so we have a large cage, a lot of black covers, black curtains, and bedding that gets dark inside, too. They spend the night hours in the well-covered cages (which makes sense with our crew in case a fire should break out anywhere, too). It's not ideal, but it's better than the alternative.
I think that the photoperiod mention Mike made may be from a Judi Bell letter that vet had me carry to the FML once. Will have to try to see if I can find it in the archives there.
In rat studies it was found that a small amount of light much reduces the melatonin production (esp. of green or blue colored light). *IF memory serves* there is a great difference between a tiny bit of light and total darkness in terms of melatonin production, but it's still worth providing darkness in whichever ways and amounts that you can at this stage.
Since ferrets are descended from burrow dwelling animals which were most active at dusk and dawn (crepuscular activity) their adaptations are most likely for very little light.
Not a vet...
> Ok, let's suppose my ferrets sleep in a total-darkness nest (they do).
> Now suppose they come out to play at say, 10pm, when the house lights
> are on.
>
> Does this light at 10pm affect the photoperiod their bodies are
> sensing, or does the time they spend sleeping in the darkness during > the day make up for it?