why does my my ferret sleep a lot?

Answer 1

Ferrets sleep 16-20 hours a day and must have a playtime of at least 2-3 hours a day. They sleep so they can be active during play.

Answer 2

That depends on age and health.

Ferrets do normally sleep a lot, and they have a high number of hours of REM sleep (the work of Dr. Jerry Siegel, though there is also work by Jha SK, Coleman T, Frank MG who missed that the correlation between number of hours of REM sleep is with being very UNdeveloped at birth, and who also missed that mustelids are one of the two most recent branches from the Canid branch of Carnivora -- only something like 30 million years ago).

On the other hand, when awake ferrets are normally very active problem solvers and incredibly intelligent. One of ours even saved my life when our furnace malfunctioned. Those who don't know how smart ferrets are simply don't know ferrets well enough (YET).

A bored ferret and one who is out of shape -- not having enough physical and mental exercise will sleep more, as will anyone of any species who is depressed enough.

More common, though, are some medical problems, especially the onset of insulinoma.

Heart disease and several other medical problems also result in more sleeping, including anemia such as that which is secondary to a hyper-hormonal state from prolonged estrus or from adrenal associated endocrinopathy, or from marrow damage due at times from using the wrong parasite products such as flea collars. There are a range of possibilities which can create lethargy.

The rule of thumb is "When in doubt have the vet check it out."

You can learn about some conditions and diseases that need to be taken into consideration for a ferret whose sleeping has increased such as insulinoma, cardiomyopathy, and others in places such as
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/PDF/insulinoma.pdf
and other articles in
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html

http://ferrethealth.org/archive/

and links from
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
(and if you do not have a ferret vet that will help you find one with some of the links in there)

Answer 3

All ferrets sleep a lot

Answer 4

Because it's a ferret. They can sleep so much, and so deeply, that sometimes you feel like shaking the cage to see if they are still alive. When a ferret sleeps, it's really asleep!

Answer 5

because it is a ferret! like a cat sleeps 16 hours a day! but i think they sleep 18 hrs .....well it is nature! and nature rocks! not for cows and every animal dieing..... :( well it is normal so don't worry!

Answer 6

nicely it relatively relies upon, have you ever replaced his nutrients habitual and is he getting much less exercising and play time then he's meant to, is he ingesting many times and is he pooping superb, or is he not ingesting or ingesting and his poop looks diverse than many times happening, additionally he may well be drained from loss of sleep, is he on some form of drugs that there are indicators of sleepiness, all of it in basic terms relies upon, yet, ferrets will sleep all the time if there is not something thrilling of their cage for them, like if she would not have adequate toys, or you won't enable her out of her cage many times adequate. in spite of if it remains there, wipe off lots of the flea drugs. If she is taking that long to poop, it skill she is constipated, you may desire to attempt changing her nutrients habitual to a minimum of a few thing fit, like once you're giving her too many treats it may desire to reason this. additionally, upload some greater thrilling toys in her cage if she would not have them, and take her out of the cage greater and play along with her greater many times. in case you do each thing I say and she or he remains performing like that, you ought to make an apointment for the vet. with any luck she would not have an ailment or something.

Answer 7

wouldnt you if you had nothing beter to do yr spoiling him its normal dont w about it

Answer 8

cuz its a ferret.
all it can do is:
1. sleep
2. ****
3. make ferrety noise
4. die
5. reproduce