From:
"Zoo"
Date: 2010-02-21 20:13:30 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Lighting in the ferret room
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
[In ferrets, which are not descended from diurnal
ancestors, unlike humans, too little melatonin
production will trigger them to have a coat change
for warmer weather, and what brings that on is
too much light, but worse can happen and that's
important. The pineal gland produces melatonin
from serotonin (which in turn can be gotten as a
product of tryptophan, another if which is niacin).
There are things which can cause the pituitary to begin
overproducing Follicle Stimulating Hormone and
Luteinizing Hormone and one of those is a too little
circulating melatonin in the body.
FSH may play a role in the formation and worsening
of adrenal tumors, and has been tied to bone loss.
LH DOES trigger the formation of adrenal tumors.
These do NOT say good things about too much
light exposure for ferrets.
Please, see past vet expert posts such as:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL9453
and
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG6389
and
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG7127
as well as others.
Too much light is not a good idea for ferrets.
They need access to darkness that as complete
as possible for about 14 hours in each 24.
--Moderator]
Someone asked us about just covering the cages most of the time, so that the ferrets would be in darkness. This was our response.
Our room is filled with bright, natural sunlight.
The ferrets have the ability to get into darkness (their sleepysacks) if they choose, but we do not cover their cages.
Some thoughts:
We do have a pretty dim light in our main ferret room for nightime. (There are still cages to run, after dark, and there are still meds & feedings to give etc.)Often, there are still some boxes to do. Sometimes I`m up quite late, and we don`t want it any brighter in there than necessary at night. When we go to bed, the lights are off, but moonlight still filters through the blinds.
We do have 21 adrenals on lupron--however, only a few became adrenal, or displayed signs, after coming to us. Most came IN adrenal.
One of the comments most often made by visitors is how gorgeous our furkids`coats look. Even the sick ones look pretty good at first glance,until you feel the lumps or masses, or realize they`re insulinomic, or have a heart condition etc.
Their fur is pretty--and only a couple don`t have much of it.
NOW--As a HAIRDRESSER---We were taught that ultra violet light encourages hair growth. (Not cooking yourself in it--just some exposure.) I believe this must be somewhat true, judging by the beautiful coats in our room. Two whole walls are full of windows.
Instinctively, the ferret will get out of the light if it needs to (IMHO) so we do need to provide a way for them to do that.
A sidebar opinion--Our ferrets enjoy the entertainment of watching the others play,or us working, until it is their turn to run. Covering them would cut off this enrichment when they`re awake.
Many times, people have commented about how happy our ferrets seem. It has occurred to me that maybe ferrets need natural daylight, the same as people do,to avoid depression....
Those are my thoughts, for what they`re worth.
Love, Zoo
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "ANITA" <amb5890@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Everyone, This is about the light exposure in my ferret room.
>
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
ferrethealth-digest@yahoogroups.com
ferrethealth-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ferrethealth-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/