Sukie wrote:
> Remember cage covers and providing ferrets with dark areas to sleep.
> There are so very many careful peer-reviewed studies, not only originally
> showing why too much light exposure can cause adrenal tumors but also
> independently confirming that too much light results in too little
> melatonin production by the ferrets' pineal gland, which is turn results
> in more production of LH and FSH by the ferret's pituitary which starts
> the process. Too much light exposure may also play a bad role in some
> other endocrinological tumors, both malignant and benign ones just as it
> does for humans. (You can find a lot in archives and in PubMed.) The
> safest light coloration for least disruption of melatonin production by
> the body is amber. The worst is blue, followed by green. (BTW, this is
> also why people with some types of blindness have lower levels of
> endocrinological tumors than others.

Well here I am nit-picking and being pedantic again. :-)

Sukie, I wonder if you could word that a little more clearly.  As you
can no doubt imagine,  some of my posts generate a lot of replies and
questions off-list.  One thing that keeps cropping  is that some folk
understand that you recommend to keep ferrets in darkness 24/7.  I'm
sure that this is not your intent, but it is the message that some get.

Ferrets only need an uninterrupted period of NIGHTTIME darkness to
produce melatonin.

In my experience, with ferrets that have access to natural lighting
this is not as necessary.  My own ferrets and many of my friends'
ferrets have the chance to dance, sleep and play in the sunshine.  This
does not hurt them. In fact, because of this, they seem to tolerate
incomplete darkness at night very well.  That is, they do not get
adrenal disease.

Love & Dooks,
Shirley

[Posted in FML 5395]