From:
"Marie Bartholdsson"
Date: 2004-09-02 15:32:53 UTC
Subject: RE: [ferrethealth] RE: melatonin/daylight dilemma
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <BAY18-F1MqiaTOVvKYc000aeac1@hotmail.com>
>Do your ferrets who are outisde have ways to get out of the light, such as
>a shed, sleeping boxes, or dark bedding, as was historically used in much
>of Europe? If so, they may be making sure themselves that they get enough
>darkness.
They have sleeping boxes (both indoors and outdoors), but those do not
provide total darkness. Most ferrets are more active during the summer
months and might even choose to sleep outside the boxes sometimes so they
are, voluntarily, exposed to many more hours of light during the warmer
season of each year. The ferrets indoors are also active during the days,
and do not get anywhere near 14 hours of darkness in the summer. Even when
it's night, it's never completely dark up here during the summer.
But what my ferrets do have, including those indoors but particularly the
ones outdoors, are very well defined seasons. There are big differences in
both the temperature and the photoperiod (not so much temperature difference
for the ones inside). And the seasons shift gradually, giving them ample
time to adjust for each season. The summer season, or breeding season, will
be up to 19 hours of light and just a few hours of twilight, but it doesn't
last for very long. Summer doesn't go on for most of the year as it is for
most indoor ferrets. Both altered and unaltered ferrets exhibit a huge
difference in behaviour when comparing summer/winter (except for older ones,
7+, which do not change that much).
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