Q: Are ferrets nocturnal? How much noise do ferrets make in the night, do you think I could get any sleep? Thanks for the help!
Answer: They are crepuscular which means they are most active at dusk and dawn. A normal ferret sleep schedule looks like this: Awake – 5:00 AM to 8:00 AM. Asleep – 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Awake – 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Asleep – 10:00 PM to 5:00 AM.
Ferrets don’t sleep the full night through, they work on a pattern of a few hours sleep, a couple of hours play, a few more hours sleep, a couple more hours play, etc.
Ferrets adrenal glands are activated by way of natural sunrise and sunset cycle. Your ferret will be healthiest if it experiences normal light cycles.
Can I Change When My Ferrets Sleep?
Ferrets sleep 16 to 20 hours, and can sleep most of the day, like teenagers. When they sleep is really up to the owner. Ferrets can learn a cycle. If there is nothing better to do, they will sleep and they normally sleep about 18 hours a day even when they have free roam of your home. If you let them out of their cage and play with them, they’ll play. They will learn about what times are sleep times and what times are play times from you.
Mine are most active in the early AM, then again in the late PM but will visit me briefly during the day. Mine are free roam.
How to Set a Ferret’s Day-Night Cycle
Ferrets tend to do most of their playing at night and sleep alot during the day. However there is a way to reverse this:
- Simply try to keep the room as dim as possible during the day and at night put a weak night-light next to the cage.
- After a week or two the Ferret will play and sleep as it chooses, not caring about the time of day.
- Once it realizes that the most attention comes before the night-light turns on, it will switch it’s sleepimg routine to accomodate with yours.
- Then simply switch back to regular lights during the day, but leave the night-light, only move it farther from the cage.
- The ferret will simply not care about the light anymore but sudden darkness may scare it at first, so wean the night-light away.
You will have better results with two, so during the day when your not around for attention and the poor thing gets bored, it can play rather than going back to sleep.
Is My Ferret Sleeping Too Much?
It is totally normal for your little guy to sleep alot. In fact that is pretty much what they do their whole life. They will wake, poop and eat, then back to sleep. If you let them out of the cage they will play for a bit then head somewhere for yet another sleep session.
Ferrets burn protein to a huge extent and that is their source of energy and this is why the sleep a lot. They have been known to healthily sleep up to 22 hours a day! This is normal and- as you will know- they are so active while they are awake that they tire themselves out. If they are putting on a lot of weight or have any sudden changes then there might be a problem but this is normal for a ferret
Why Are My Ferrets Noisy and Active at Night?
Ferrets will wake you up with loud noises if any of the following is making them uncomfortable:
- They have the wrong food/not enough food. They have to have food available 24/7 or they will rattle their cage to get more (even at midnight!).
- They are lonely. If your ferret is single, consider getting your it a companion. Got the second ferret and they were both still in the room. After a couple weeks of 2 ferrets moving around in the cage and eating I cleared out the junk food next to my room and moved the cage in here and turned it into the ferret room. I then got my sanity back.
- They are too cold. Also, anything below 32 degrees Fahrenheit is too cold. Anything about 75 (for my ferrets) is too hot. Anything above 80 can cause heat stroke and kill them.
- They have a physical itch or pain. They don’t make alot of noise at night unless they have an emergency itch, which they always do. When that happens sometimes they fall out of their hammock or down the ramp and that can cause a noise.
- They are fighting. Or if 2 get into a fight….then you hear little dooks and that.
Even with a fan to block out the noise, you will still hear them. I have to sleep with a fan or other white noise to drown them out. But after a while, you will get used to the noises and they won’t bother you.
Does too much Light Cause Adrenal Disease?
Normal lighting is not what causes adrenal disease, it is thought to be caused by using artificial lighting to prolong “daylight” hours, which will bring breeding ferrets into season quicker. This is a common practice at large ferret farms, I worked at one for many years and the lights were set to go out long after daylight hours in the wintertime, to get them to have baby kits sooner. It is used much the same way farmers will leave lights on in the chicken houses, to keep the chickens producing eggs round the clock.
Night Schedules
My last job, I was getting up at 3:00am and getting my ferrets out at 3:30am. They acted like I was crazy at first, but after about a week, they got used to it and were up and waiting for me to let them out at 3:30am. My new job, I don’t start until 11:00am, so I get them out at 8:00am now. Again, it took about a week to adjust to the new schedule, but they have adjusted and with no problems.
What sleeping patterns they have, and whether they are nocturnal or not, are really up to you.