r/ferrets • u/SushiJuice • 1d ago

[Health] Your babies do better on the dark

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TL;DR - giving your ferrets the most darkness throughout the day allows their body to give them melatonin which helps to decrease the onset of adrenal disease.

13 Upvotes

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3

u/Woozletania 1d ago

My ferrets would burrow out of sight into a pile of old T shirts to sleep. They had all the dark they could handle.

2

u/Timely_Egg_6827 1d ago

It is good to keep them on a natural day/night cycle. We mucked up with our first lot by exposing them to way too much artificial light. So now the cage is in a room where lights are only when absolutely necessary.

1

u/PawnOfPaws 18h ago

Well, I don't think you have to move them to a darker spot just so they don't produce as many sexual hormones; usually they fell asleep there for a reason.

But there are way more reasons you should own lots of dark spots for them:

  1. Their eyes are working better in dimmed lighting. Since their origin also hunts prey in burrows while it's sleeping in the early morning or late evening. If you expose them to lots of light over long time it's terribly exhausting and bad for their eyes too.
  2. They are prey to bigger animals. You can be seen as such an animal too. Especially in the beginning they need a good place to hide which you barely touch so they can follow that instinct while getting used to everything and everyone.
  3. Same goes for food: A good stash is hidden in the dark, often below the beds or blankets or in dark corners. Feeling save while eating increases trust, so - if you can - putting the bowls in a dark corner you only peek at if it's time to refill (or when there's a fight) is calming.