One of the things I noticed, the first time I read through the info at
wonderful, blessed, stress relieving Ferret Central, before I adopted my
first ferret, was the mention of the possibility of light cycles in
reference to adrenal disease.  I didn't realize there had been so much
study done at the time, it just seemed to be rooted in common sense when
I read it.
 
My ferret's cage is kept near a source of natural, indirect light and the
light in the room where the cage is, is usually from the sliding glass
door, the tv or dim lamps.  My ferrets have run of the house as long as
someone is home (which is pretty much all the time, they average about 10
hours of cage time a week) and they choose where they want to sleep.  They
have a hammock in the cage, a hanging sleep sack, and a regular sleep sack.
They also have another hammock hanging under a day bed, and their own
closet (empty but for a blankie and a couple of cheweasels).  80% of the
time they both choose the closet.  It is pitch black in there, there are
no windows or lights to intrude.
 
I've read the discussions about darkening boxes, and I'll be interested to
read more as more studies are done, but for now I'm going to let my ferrets
choose how much light they want to be near when they are sleeping.
Wherever they sleep they have the option of being enclosed in darkness, and
I keep the artificial lights in my house dim, when they are on, which is
seldom.  I have two ferrets, both almost two years, adopted from different
places, from different breeders, different sexes.  They eat the same food,
have the same energy level so I guess we'll see what happens.
 
About the person who said his MF ferrets are small; My female is an MF and
she's larger than my male from an undetermined breeder.  She's is two and a
half pounds and is a VERY healthy looking, with the softest coat I've ever
felt.  She has good muscle tone, and a nice sized tummy too.
 
          Robynn McCarthy
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http://www.psynet.net/gothferrets
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[Posted in FML issue 2513]