From some letters I gather that people don't understand that LOW light
levels can have a negative effect if the assorted melatonin cycle
disruption studies continue to pan out.  Shockingly low levels of green
colored light had a bad effect in the studies; we've removed all green
night lights.  Blankets are NOT enough to eliminate the light impact,
especially if one is talking about animals which had ancestors that lived
in burrows.  Heck, in humans (who didn't) low light levels have impacts;
but in rats even having a small crack under a lab door resulted in
significant alteration.
 
Have heard from some folks who have ferrets in similar conditions to those
Judi mentioned and they have also not seen adrenal growths (and in general
mentioned good health and long lives) so I have asked them to write in
about their experiences.  Steve and I WISH we could manage a larger home
where the ferrets could have their own room and we could have more book
space, but we expect to very possibly be supporting some older members of
the family in the future, and have been helping some nieces with college
needs, and still have our own retirement to keep saving for.  Got to do
what one's got to do.  Therefore:  here's a HUGE item on our wish list:
black-out darkness sleeping boxes.  We figure if the boxes also have a
tarp-like cover in black to sheild cracks and similar curtains at
opennings, and then have bedding inside that the light levels could be
taken down a LOT.  We often let our guys sleep under the platform bedding
wrapped in bedding and we suspect that the levels are very low there, too,
which should help some, but we'd like them to be able to have MORE hours
with almost no light and only the darkness boxes would work in our living
situation.
 
Granted this may not pan out in the long run, but there is now a LOT of
intriguing research (See earlier posts with recently given reading list)
pointing in that direction so it's sure worth a try!!!!!
 
Sukie
[Posted in FML issue 2508]