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Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / September 2003Low light - instant behaivoural changes
Anyone else notice this? Turn the light on and blam, they groom themselves and mope about more slowly. (I'm still worried they may have mites, they are still nibbling their skin or scratching with their legs and then licking/biting their feet. Anyway, turn the lights off and bam, they're dashing about and are less jumpy and wary toward me. They're in fully fledged play mode now. Does this mean that time isn't really the issue, and they're nocturnal only because in the wild daylight dictates their patterns, where as in an artificial environment usually on the evening your light switch determines it. It's interesting none the less, anyone have some science they can bring for a discussion on this? Do they feel safer when it's dark? I think they do. Do they see better with their eyes in low light? I think they do. Do you think we're disturbing their natural clocks and patterns by using artificial lights in the evening? Anywho, back to the cage - beats interactive TV! :o) Pete --- Beginning to find out his rats are dictating his sleeping patterns i was told by my vet although he was not sure if it was true that the brighter it is, it is harder for them to see. my rats are the other way round, a hint of me being there (turning the light on) they sit at the front of their cage and beg to come out, i think they know it is treat time! Deb. > Anyone else notice this? > [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > --- > Beginning to find out his rats are dictating his sleeping patterns >i was told by my vet although he was not sure if it was true that the >brighter it is, it is harder for them to see. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > >Deb. They have you very well trained! >Anyone else notice this? > >Turn the light on and blam, they groom themselves and mope about more >slowly. (I'm still worried they may have mites, they are still >nibbling their skin or scratching with their legs and then >licking/biting their feet. Hmm.... my rats have all done that. But there is never any irritation or excessive scratching. A vet may be able to tell ya. >Anyway, turn the lights off and bam, they're dashing about and are >less jumpy and wary toward me. They're in fully fledged play mode now. Remember - they like the dark. I have low lighting in the house but during broad daylight, they don't like to come out as much. >Does this mean that time isn't really the issue, and they're nocturnal >only because in the wild daylight dictates their patterns, where as in [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >It's interesting none the less, anyone have some science they can >bring for a discussion on this? Ahh... circadian rhythms. I had a professor who successfully increased the lifespan of rats by exposing them to 12 hours of simulated sunlight and 12 hours of complete darkness. He had bunches of cages of rats rigged up with this setup. The control group was just out in the lab and had light when the lab was lit and dim light when the lab was not lit. The experimental group had rats that lived for an average of 4 years. the control group rats died in about 3. (myco-free environment). Neat stuff. Sadly I haven't seen anyone repeat this experiment so whether or not this would always be the case is open to doubt. The contol group was also well... not very controlled. Maybe repeat it with the control group exposed to human lighting conditions (16 hours of light / 8 hours of dark).... And another time with the control group exposed to constant light and another time in constant dark. Only bad thing about constant dark though is well... that sure seems a bit cruel to do. Rats could survive but yech... Constant dark would also be a REAL pain to maintain (you have to feed them / observe their behavior). This same professor patented the method of producing lower cholesterol chicken eggs by modifying the amounts of light and darkness that the chickens were exposed to. Needless to say, that info let him buy a nice little ranch and retire. >Do they feel safer when it's dark? I think they do. >Do they see better with their eyes in low light? I think they do. I'd have to look up their rod concentration in their eyes.... Remember though, during the day when there's light, they can be seen and eaten more easily. >Do you think we're disturbing their natural clocks and patterns by >using artificial lights in the evening? YES. Definitely. You're disturbing your OWN circadian clock as well. When I was studying under that professor, we found HOARDS of evidence that the amount of light we see in a day has a HUGE effect on different hormone levels. We have six male rats(all different ages) and quite honestly the amount of light,be it natural or artificial does not seem to affect their behaviour at all.Some are more awake and active in the morning,some at the middle of the day,some ALL day and one or two at night.They just do their 'own thing' whenever they want to - and it changes from day to day.You just can't tell a rat when it is supposed to be asleep or awake!!!!! > >Anyone else notice this? > > [quoted text clipped - 62 lines] > that the amount of light we see in a day has a HUGE effect on > different hormone levels. |
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