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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2015 16:22:57 GMT -5
hi guys,
outside my ferrets room is a street lamp, they dont have a blind or curtains at the moment as i thought a natural daylight cycle was best for them. but obviously now with the street light the only natural darkness they get is in the box they sometimes sleep in. is this a bad thing? i work evenings so sometimes its not going to be until 10 - 11am that the curtains will get drawn, but not all the time. i'm tempted to move theyre cage to the living room which is at the back of the house so they'll get a natural lighting cycle there as they only go in it at bed time, they spend theyre time elsewhere during the day. but that means locking them in as i'm pretty sure the dog will eat them :/ i can't remeber the last time they were shut in theyre cage.
if anyones got any advice, i'll appreciate it.
many thanks
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2015 16:41:46 GMT -5
Hi and Welcome to the HFF  Mine are free roam also. I don't have a dog though. It wouldn't be a good idea to leave the ferrets unsupervised with the dog, but you already know that. In their room, you can set up several places for them to go into and sleep in a dark place. If there is a drawer that can be left open, you can put blankets in it. You mentioned a box that they like, put blankets or towels in there, set up several places for them to choose from. Wash their blankets weekly, and they should be fine. Here is a thread with alot of pictures, that might give you some ideas. holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/607/share-bedding-sets |
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2015 18:16:43 GMT -5
what about getting some dark sheets or some blankets or quilts and putting them over cage. My cage stays covered. Free roamers here as well. During day, mine like to sleep in a closed drawer as well as the cage. I leave bottom drawer open , so they can access the favorite middle drawer.
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Post by crazylady on May 7, 2015 11:46:41 GMT -5
Hi could you not close curtains before you go to work ? it is really best to try and keep to natural daylight hours if it means them loosing an hour or two hours daylight that's fine as more darkness keeps the adrenal gland shut down ( they think its winter not summer ) it could mess up the shedding patterns of the coat that's the only draw back take care bye for now
Bev
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2015 7:51:41 GMT -5
Thanks everyone, sorry it's taken me so long to reply. I have been considering making a fitted cover for they're cage, might have to get started on that. So losing a few hours daylight isn't too bad? At the moment they've got no curtains or blinds in there so the do get the day cycle it's just that street light outside, it's so bright I don't need to put the light on when I'm in there after dark. I need to change they're routine too, at the moment I get them up between 10 and 12 for morning playtime then playtime again from 11pm till 1am I keep artificial lighting down as much as possible but at that time I've got to have a light on or they'll get stepped on! It's killing me doing those hours but the fuzzies are happy so it's worth it. Just trying to get a balance with the dog, partner and work is hard.
I'm still learning as I've only had them 6 months. And poor little jasper has liver disease and has been quite poorly,(with a blockage thown in on top) now his tail hair looks suspiciously thin! So keeping him happy and playing in his last months is so important to me. I know he's old as he's missing 4 teeth and what he's got left look bad. Every ones got to go to the vet soon anyway for a bg test so I can get them on raw food.
Thanks everyone, sorry for the long post.
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Post by FireAngel on May 8, 2015 8:43:27 GMT -5
How much artificial lighting is too much? We've had our beasties for about 6 weeks now and their room is actually our bathroom (I'm lucky enough to have a largish bathroom and it's easy to keep clean or clean up, even the wall the cage is against is a shower type material) so the only time the light is on is for a few mins when we are using the bathroom. My schedule actually makes it so I am not home until 10pm or so which is when I let them out for their 2nd playtime of the day. I stay in there with them so the light is on then for at least an hour and a half but usually closer to 2 hours. I usually let them dictate how long. They go into the cage on their own when they are tired out. Is the 2 hours too much?
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2015 8:53:51 GMT -5
Oh geez,I am so sorry about ur little jasper(quite sad). Glad he will be well taken care of  About lighting--- If you will notice, ferrets tend to pick dark places to sleep if they have a choice in the matter. So it is fine. If they have the run of the house, they will be exposed to light from windows should they choose to roam about. I bought a bunch black out curtains from walmart and have yet to make a cover. They r just draped here and there covering cage, I probably could have bought a cover as cheap as what i spent. I did have two cages to cover but got rid of the other--trying to make life simple for myself. Long time ago, I had a red light in my ferrets room. I had read something about red light not being as bad as other lighting---do not have it anymore. Do not know if there has been much research on that. |
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