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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2015 12:05:52 GMT -5
I'm semi familiar with "death sleep" in ferrets, since I "met" a ferret once when he was in the middle of it, and I could tell he was alive and well, but couldn't figure out why he was so floppy and unresponsive while his brother played with my shoe laces and chased me ( he was then a really convenient 'hot water bottle' since my neck was sore, though). I do have a question, though! How often do ferrets typically go into death sleep, and how long does it typically last? And, furthermore, why do they do it? Thank you, Pero
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Post by RedSky on Mar 17, 2015 12:23:09 GMT -5
It can vary from ferret to ferret, my female wakes up at the smallest sound and comes running to see what's happening while my males can be picked up before they wake. I've heard it's more common in ferrets with certain illnesses but generally unless there are other symptoms or it's suddenly started quite often I wouldn't worry about it. I will admit I've got into a habit of feeling for a pulse in their armpits when they don't wake after I've picked them up. Often their breathing is so shallow it can be hard to spot. With both of mine I can wake them with some salmon oil in front of their nose, they often start licking before their eyes open though.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2015 12:40:44 GMT -5
Is it safe to wake them up mid-death sleep? Or is it necessary for them to occasionally go into that sort of deep slumber? Haha, that sounds rather cute, though
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Post by linsul on Mar 17, 2015 13:18:37 GMT -5
I've never heard that it's unsafe to wake them up. My boy does this more than my girl, I've woken him up once from a death sleep but it was just because Kat wouldn't leave him alone and I figured holding him through it would be nicer. His eyes were slits for a few minutes and he was still floppy, then he had a long tremble upon waking up session, then he was just sort of out of it. It was around 10 minutes before I figured he could defend himself and put him down to play.
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Post by Celene on Mar 17, 2015 14:18:59 GMT -5
My fuzzies do it very rarely, or maybe they just do it during the night when I'm not around to pick them up anyway. They seriously feel so limp and dead, their bodies just loll when you pick them up. Even when I know it's FDS it still freaks me out. There's nothing dangerous about waking them up (although they might give you a really grumpy look before crawling back to bed) but if you're ever seriously worried and want to make sure they're okay, hold an ice cube (or something cold/frozen) gently against their paw for a moment and that should rouse them. (Obviously you don't want to press it against their paw for a long time or anything that might actually cause them discomfort.) As for why, I'm not really sure but somehow don't think it would be the best survival skill for the wild! Heather, do any of your poleys DFS? I hope if they *do* DFS in the wild it's only when they're burrowed very deep and feel extremely safe and secure. PS - love the new avatar/profile pic!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2015 20:48:19 GMT -5
I would take this time and get all the holding you want. I would not try to wake them---who likes being woke up from a good o sleep? My two, that i have now, have never been in a dead sleep------ I wish they would -----mine get up at crack of dawn.
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Post by Heather on Mar 17, 2015 21:16:50 GMT -5
Dead sleeps don't seem to show any rhyme or reason, they're certainly not geared toward a time of day. Napoleon, a master of the DFS ciao
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Post by Celene on Mar 17, 2015 22:14:27 GMT -5
Heather, that's totally magical. After seeing that I can't help but share this one of Nova, although it was just regular sleep, not a dead one.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2015 8:51:51 GMT -5
So they just kind of do it on random? I guess it makes sense, as hyper as the wee weasels are when they're awake, haha. I wish I could sleep like that, too! Heather those pictures are absolutely wonderful! In the first pick Napoleon almost looks more like a toy bear than a ferret I can see why dead sleep startles ferrents so much! I think the only reason the hob I met didn't startle me was because when I picked him up he sort of stirred to squint at me before flopping back into the sleep of the dead, haha. It does seem like a good time to get extra cuddling in, though.
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Post by Heather on Mar 18, 2015 12:55:40 GMT -5
FDS is really scary when you don't know the ferret very well or they're sick. Ferrets can sleep deeply (will stir, twitch but remain asleep but are not in FDS) but FDS is total and it can last several minutes. During that time, you are basically dealing with an animal that is in all ways limp and unresponsive (by the way, it's a good time to trim toenails, if you can get your own heart rate back down to normal). These wee beasties are not only unresponsive but who's respirations have dropped to almost non-existent (unless you really watch closely and believe me when you're panicking this can not be a good observation point), who's core body temps have also dropped so they often feel cool to touch when you pick them up. I had such an instant with wee Lady Morgain. She was in soft quarantine and had only been in my house for about 24 hrs after a twelve hour flight and a couple hour car ride. She was being a really nasty, spiteful wee thing and doing everything but hanging from the ceiling. The quarantine meant that she had to be caged and she wasn't really happy about this and about being sent half the world away to a new home. I'd brought the quarantine vet in to check on my new fuzzums and everything had been fine. Lady Morgain had shown a perfect set of teeth to the vet and hissed at both of us. She had been cage rattling and ripping up her bedding and generally being over the top bad. I went down at noon to feed everyone and was greeted by the boys but no Lady Morgain. I looked in the cage and she was curled up in the corner. I called her and got no response (she would normally have been cage raging like the boys as soon as I opened the quarantine room door). I undid the cage latch and put her food in...still nothing. I reached in with the full intent of making a hasty retreat if she suddenly woke up...nothing. I touched, nothing. Tweaked her tail...nothing. Picked her up and she was like a liquid. She was absolutely unresponsive, limp, mouth slightly open, eyes open....nothing. Heart attack time....mind is racing as to what could possibly have gone wrong. The trip was too long, maybe her crate got dropped....yah, you know the drill. I don't know who was more surprised, her to find she was all snuggled up warm or me when she sunk her teeth into my finger. How dare I take such liberties with her person. Me a perfect stranger. Just for the record, she's never done this since, though we have since made friends and she feels it's her right and privilege to lay on my lap with her feet in the air getting a full belly massage. Lady Morgain ciao
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Post by Celene on Mar 18, 2015 13:16:45 GMT -5
That reminds me, another great use of FDS is to make a ferrionette (ferret marionette). We used to make Truffles do the "Thriller" dance, or tell fortunes by nodding "yes" "no" or shrugging. Her dignity was never hurt as she was never the wiser (and we certainly didn't tell her).
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Post by raynebc on Mar 18, 2015 14:01:04 GMT -5
Ferret thriller would be awesome to have on video.
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Post by FerretsnFalcons on Mar 18, 2015 20:42:44 GMT -5
Oh my goodness, these pictures are so cute! Napoleon reminds me of my Sunny, he loves to sleep belly-up with his tongue sticking out. Both of my fuzzies have fallen into a dead sleep once since I've had them, and both times I totally freaked out. It's not like I didn't know what FDS was, but when I picked them up and they were limp and unresponsive, all my knowledge of FDS flew out the window as I went into panic mode. Katie's FDS especially scared me, because she is normally quick and active, and I couldn't tell that she was breathing at all!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2015 19:58:18 GMT -5
FDS is really scary when you don't know the ferret very well or they're sick. Ferrets can sleep deeply (will stir, twitch but remain asleep but are not in FDS) but FDS is total and it can last several minutes. During that time, you are basically dealing with an animal that is in all ways limp and unresponsive (by the way, it's a good time to trim toenails, if you can get your own heart rate back down to normal). These wee beasties are not only unresponsive but who's respirations have dropped to almost non-existent (unless you really watch closely and believe me when you're panicking this can not be a good observation point), who's core body temps have also dropped so they often feel cool to touch when you pick them up. I had such an instant with wee Lady Morgain. She was in soft quarantine and had only been in my house for about 24 hrs after a twelve hour flight and a couple hour car ride. She was being a really nasty, spiteful wee thing and doing everything but hanging from the ceiling... I found this thread searching the forum for info about ferrets twitching in their sleep. I was just holding my Liam (who recently had DFS for a few seconds when I picked him up) and he started twitching a little before he woke up and deserted me. I was just wondering if that was normal or not. Loki never twitched and he would sleep on me a lot longer than Liam just did.
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Post by Heather on Apr 19, 2015 11:15:17 GMT -5
Ferrets like all animals, twitch, air run and worse whimper and yes, scream. ciao
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