From:
smhewett@dodo.com.au
Date: 2006-03-24 11:43:49 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] RE: darkness/natural sunlight
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
I guess my ferrets are luckier than many because they live in an environment that is as close to nature as possible. They have access to the outdoors and indoors 24/7. Indoors is like a forest because of skylights and window placement. Outdoors is sun, wind, heatwaves and sometimes hail (No snow here in Perth, but we do get frost). My ferrets have access to very dark snoozing places indoors and to their own self-dug tunnels outside. (very deep!) This is a very good place to observe what they would do if given the choice.
Guess what they do during the day. They chose sunny spots in the laundry or at the mouth of their tunnels to snooze in. They bask in the sunshine! They alternate between bright and dark places as the temperature dictates. They dance wildly on the crisp grass during a frost and head deep underground or into the airconditioning during a heatwave.
I believe that natural sunlight is as important to ferrets as it is to any other organism apart from cave dwellers.
During my visit to the US I visited a shelter where balding ferrets spontaniously grew their hair back when exposed to natural daylight.
I have never had one case of adrenal disease in my ferrets in over 12 years.
Please don't keep your ferrets away from natural lighting.
Shirley
Author wrote:
> I know there is much discussion about ferrets getting total darkness if
> possible, and that for many, it is not possible or practical. My ferrets are in a
> basement bedroom and I have covered up the very small high window, so they
> actually get total darkness. My question is whether they also need to get
> natural sunlight for this to be possibly helpful or effective for them? In other
> words, right now they get total darkness when they aren't out in their room for
> playtime, and when they are playing each day, they get the artificial lights
> in that bedroom. For this to really work, do I need to uncover their window
> during the day to let in the natural sunlight, or is it enough for them to
> simply get the darkness when they aren't up playing. The reason I ask is that it
> is hard for me to get to that window to seal and unseal it, but if it makes a
> potential difference, I will arrange to remove the covering each day during the
> day. If anyone knows this, thanks in advance for sharing !
> Lisa and Bridget, Clemy and Lily
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