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Post by Heather on Aug 3, 2014 18:37:45 GMT -5
Length of time in lighting is what is important, as Sherry mentioned. By controlling lighting the ferret farms produce litters all year without season. As we often share our living space with our little ones they're subjected to artificial lighting as many of us want to have them as company when we get home from work. Even the light from our TV's put them at risk for adrenal. Adrenal almost non-existant in the UK, is becoming more prevalent as ferrets are invited to live in the home and are altered. ciao
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Post by raynebc on Aug 3, 2014 18:56:49 GMT -5
I'm lucky that I was able to secure a dedicated room for my ferrets. I can close the door and keep artificial light out. An air purifier keeps the room smelling tolerably fresh, as well as cleaning and circulating air (not toward their pen). It has an LED (to indicate that the UV-C light is in operation) on the side of it facing away from their pen, but the amount of light it puts out is rather miniscule so I'm hoping it has a negligible effect if any. If even the smallest light source that is present constantly would trigger an under-production of melatonin, let me know and I can cover the led with masking or duct tape to block it.
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Post by Sherry on Aug 4, 2014 8:58:28 GMT -5
It shouldn't be an issue.
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Post by raynebc on Aug 4, 2014 13:11:53 GMT -5
Thank you, that's good to hear. I went into their room before I went to bed late last night to remove their dig box so they don't have any big obstructions between their bed and the litter box, and the amount of light from the purifier was so little I couldn't even see anything in their pen.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2014 14:52:25 GMT -5
I'm a little confused I think..or maybe I'm not, let me know. So, is it the artificial light along with too much or too little exposure? Say, for example mine, are out 1-2 hours in morning, sleep from 9am-6pm under a darkly covered cage, and 3-4 in eve in artificial/minimal natural light, then to bed when ready in total darkness, as we are then in bed to. If that's too little exposure, how do you control it to give them the proper amount? Could a specific type of light bulb help while out for play to, like the ones to simulate natural light? I eventually want a ferret room whenever we have an actual house, right now I have no room for that though .
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Post by raynebc on Aug 5, 2014 16:18:08 GMT -5
What I'm taking away from this thread so far is that the total amount of time they are exposed to light is the key factor. Whether it's artificial or natural may have other effects like on their mood (like with humans). While too much light may be a problem, I haven't really heard any reasoning that too little is also a problem. I have to imagine polecats sleep underground or in dark cover during the day to stay cool and out of predators' sight, so they wouldn't necessarily need a full solar day's worth of sunlight.
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Post by Heather on Aug 5, 2014 22:09:24 GMT -5
Generally speaking it's the total amount of light that they're subjected to. One thing to also consider is that different types of light also present greater and lesser risks. Blue light is the worst, while the gold is better. I only ever rarely dealt with adrenal until they brought in these stupid energy saving lights. Many years ago, someone decided that ferrets shouldn't be subjected to light at all, as the theory being that they would be sleeping in the tunnels during the day and thus wouldn't need to have light. This also made them ill as they do require some light. Remember that ferrets are crepuscular by nature. They do require some light to be healthy. The best way is natural light only but some of us would never see our little ones if that was the case. Try figuring how much light they would get for the day for that particular season. This will help keep their lighting needs covered and then providing either covers for their cages and/or to give them sleep boxes that provide darkened safe sleep spots. ciao
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