maybe its the light?

debyc08 · Apr 1, 2009

i did a post the other day about decaf sleeping ALOT, well, i have tried keeping the temp. warmer like about 78 and its the same. i mean if i wake him and remove his hat from the cage he will stay up for a few mins til i put it back in the cage, and when i take him out of the cage for play time, it depends if he stays up or not. if i have him on my bed he is running around like crazy looking to run, but it there is anywhere were he can hind thats the end. and if i setup the play pen with a wheel and a few toys including a paper roll cut down the middle, he will sleep if i'm not on top of him, he will go under the wheel or the paper roll and sleep since i try not to put his hat or pouch in there so he will stay up. he is 3 months old.

ok so, now i'm thinking maybe its the light or lack of privacy. i have his cage in my bedroom and i'm up till at least 2 am every night with the TV, lamp on, and computer. so maybe he is waiting for me to turn all of it off???

or i was thinking maybe it is that his cage is clear (storage bin) and there is no privacy for when he is up, cause i have some lights on? if so is there something i can do maybe paint the outside of the bin so it is darker inside???

either way i am going to be making an appointment for his wellness check.

oh and does anyone know the normal weight range for babies? like is there some type of list with age and weight??

thanks in advance

Melissa · Apr 1, 2009

Babies do sleep alot but I would have to think that it is a light issue. They need a regular light cycle. If the light is on they think its still day light out and they stay in. If you are going to bed around 2 am and the sun rises around 6-7am he is only getting about 4-5 hours of time to be able to be awake.

I would not suggest painting the outside of his cage to keep the light out because he still needs that light in the day time to know when to sleep. From my understanding not enough light can cause him to hibernate.. no matter what the temperature is..

Is there any way he can go into another room where the light can be regulated more efficiently? He needs about 12-14 hours of light and the other 10ish hours of dark..

Nancy · Apr 1, 2009

Try surrounding his cage with a dark blanket or throw when you are up late at night. Usually that works when I have rescues in the bedroom. After a few day, they are fine with just the TV on and still get up as soon as the light goes off.

Sasha · Apr 1, 2009

Nancy said:
Try surrounding his cage with a dark blanket or throw when you are up late at night. Usually that works when I have rescues in the bedroom. After a few day, they are fine with just the TV on and still get up as soon as the light goes off.

Is this what you do for the summer when it's daylight out for over 12-14hours? Like right now, the sun rises at about 7am and falls at 730pm here, and it's not even summer yet. So I expect the days to get longer.

lessthansign3 · Jun 8, 2009

Henry won't come out when it's light out, either. Fortunately, now that I'm no longer in a studio apartment, I can go into the other room late at night so he has more time to his huffly-puffly self

Courtney · Jun 8, 2009

Sasha said:
Is this what you do for the summer when it's daylight out for over 12-14hours? Like right now, the sun rises at about 7am and falls at 730pm here, and it's not even summer yet. So I expect the days to get longer.

I just close the blinds and it seems to do the trick here. They get themselves on a schedule and nothing seems to disrupt that. Just the other day, I got caught up in something else and didn't turn the light off until about 11pm. When I finally remembered to turn the light off, I caught Cuda on the wheel. I guess he got tired of waiting.