All this talk about ferrets having total darkness to sleep has got me
wondering a few things.  Mainly: How important is this?  How much (if any)
actual difference does it make?  Does it, or is it currently just theory?
 
The reason I am asking these things is that I got to thinking about
ways we could provide our ferrets with a dark area.  The problem I am
encountering is that I live on the southwest coast of Texas.  For those
of you not familiar with the area, that means that we have about two weeks
of cold weather, intermingled with about a month or maybe (if we're lucky)
a month and a half of cool weather.  The rest of the time it's HOT. e.g.
it is the middle of November and right now it is 80 outside and my
thermometer is showing 88 inside right now.  (Unfortunately our house is
very old and not really insulated.) We do run the air conditioners, but
with the level of heat, the lack of insulation, and the fact that our
house can only accommodate window units, we can only keep it from getting
90 or above.
 
Now, we take lots of precautions to make sure the ferrets don't
overheat...they always have fresh, cool water, we put plastic water
bottles in the freezer each day and use them as towel-wrapped ice packs
for them to snuggle near if they are hot, we keep a breeze in the area as
best as possible, but I am afraid that if I cover a part of their cage
they will burn up!
 
They *do* have a couple of sleep sacks, although they prefer their
hammocks.  I don't know if those provide enough dark?  If it is a feasible
solution we could go buy one or two of those hanging cube-like things for
sleeping in; again, I'm not sure if that would get too hot, or would
provide enough dark.
 
I would appreciate any comments or suggestions.
 
Shannon
Sterling, Pandora, & Jasmin
[Posted in FML issue 3601]