Light and Dark?

[gutterglitterxx]

So this might be a silly thing to even think about but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Due to health issues, I am currently home full time. I spend 99% of my time in my room, which is where my hammies are. I have terrible sleeping habits so it's not unusual for me to be awake until 4 or 5 in the morning. My Syrian hammies are on pretty consistent schedules, both getting up around 1am. I know that's really late but for me it's fine because I'm up anyway.

I guess I'm wondering if their habits may be because of my own. I mean, they are almost never in complete darkness. During the day the light is on and usually the TV too. And at night when I feel myself getting sleepy, I shut the lights off but leave the TV on. Basically I have a really guilty conscience about turning everything off, I feel bad leaving them to play in the dark while I try and sleep. Often I'll end up waking anyway at 7 or 8 in the morning and shut the TV off then.

Should I just go ahead and shut it off? Should I be giving them some time of pure pitch dark?

I've gotten so used to falling asleep with the TV on but I'm wondering if maybe I'm causing more harm than good for my babies.

Thoughts are very much appreciated. xx

[GemmasMom]

That is a great question. I'd like to know the answer to that as well! My hams don't seem to mind the lights on while they play, but I'm not sure if it's harmful. We actually have 2 night lights pointed towards their cage area, because they tend to bicker more in pitch darkness.

[gutterglitterxx]

I'm glad I'm not the only person who has wondered this. I always feel so bad about leaving them in the dark. Like last night, I really wasn't feeling well so I convinced myself to shut everything off early so I could get some rest. But I still felt bad about it!

[Lougarry]

I really don't know. I'm the opposite and a bit paranoid about ensuring they have total darkness!

My hams are in their own room with blackout blinds and lined curtains. When I put my children to bed between 7 and 7.30 and feed the hams, Magic and Storm are usually up already but Dinah doesn't usually come out of her house till I close the blinds and curtains after feeding. There's a dimmer switch so if I go in after lights out I only put the light on very low, but Dinah still freezes. The robos are different and tend to be up and about much more during the day.

[Lynternette]

I open the blinds in their room at half seven and put the to bed at eleven at night when they go to bed after playtime. They'll pop out in the day for a drink or use their toilets. I put them a light on until bedtime and then it goes off. I did worry when we had a power cut. OH thought it was hilarious that I took them in a candle in case they were scared. :)

[Arraminta]

As far as I know although predominately nocturnal hammies often have a few "wake" periods in a day or night! For example, Tilly used to be up at 5pm come rain or shine but wanted cage time and then back to bed.. Then up again around 9pm in full "right I'm here play with me NOW" mode.. Smudges always came out late but now because cinnamon gets up at 6pm he gets up at 5.30pm!! They share a play pen (individually) and seem to have developed an "ok I want the play pen, no I want the play pen"
I dont know the answer but I would assume that the light isn't a problem.. All our hammies are happy and healthy which I'm sure they wouldn't be if it was detrimental to them.

Hammy hugs
Arraminta

[kyrilliondaemon]

Er... Given the experiences our lot of little lunatics have given us... I think hams are fine with the dark.
Scamp actually tells us off if we're up past 2 or 3am because she wants the light out lol
Muffin does most of his playing in the pitch black of night. When we lost electricity for a few days the hams didn't care. No light? So what? Humans out most of the dark time? Fantastic! More dark time!
Thats kinda how most of them reacted lol

I'd feel guilty not giving them some time in the dark. Our hybrids used to squabble a bit more in the dark sometimes but frankly, no animal would naturally go without dark and I think its quite cruel to deprive them of something that natural. Not having a steady light-dark pattern has been known to really mess up the internal clocks of animals - including a study on hamsters I read about.
With our hybrids the extra squabbles just showed they were happy, confident and being about their business without human interference. Which is a basic right really.

Loads go all out for "natural" setups, so why on earth should they be deprived of the natural thing of light and dark that every animal (humans included) tends to benefit from?

[vanilla-yazoo]

i am also often up to 5 am, i work evening shifts, my guys are fine with it, a simple solution for you
get a red light bulb :D

hamsters cant see in red, so they act like the light is out, that would be their night time, having the tv on too wont be that much light (mines in the room too, and only on really bright whites dose it light up the room a bit) so you can keep it on,
In oxford fred was so bad with bar chewing I kept a small desk lamp and the radio playing to drown him out/fool him to us being awake.. didnt work that well but worth a shot.
you could paint an energy saver bulb with some red glass paint, if you are worried for the heat and the elec bill. or even get a kids night light, so it can light the room just enough to see. I dont have one but have a lil light next to the bed for when i have panic moments
-i think hush has opened her zz2 and tallen 4.5 foot (nope!)
-i think the buns have got out the pen and chewing on wires (nope!)
-someones wheel has moved and pings the bars (all the time, unless i tape them down.. need to do that for hammond..)
-i hear somthing touch a bar and i think the door is open and hams are loose..(nope)

I find it easyer to just go and check, and go back to bed, often i get up 10 times in the night for one noise or another.

the sound of the tv wouldnt be a problem, its their 'natural enviroemnt' they are used to, e.g, in the wild they would have trees in the wind, owls hooting, other animal noises, so having a tv or a radio wouldnt bother them at all :D

[StarlightSerenity]

Luna is better in the dark. When the lights are on while she's up she'll either beg for attention or sulk in her bed. As soon as the lights go off she'll start doing hamster things - foraging, running on her wheel, digging etc etc.

When Luna goes into her playpen I have to switch the lights off for her (it's in the livingroom, I keep the hallway light on so I can see) and as soon as the lights are off she'll start zooming around.

I think, whatever the hamsters prefer (light or dark) they need both light and dark parts of the day. Or at least lighter and darker parts. Never going to get total darkness here as I live on a main road and there's a streetlight (at the same height as our windows) right outside our spare bedroom.

Both my partner and I have weird sleeping patterns too btw, it does effect Luna - the more stable our sleeping patterns are the more Luna's are.

[SnickersTheFirst]

Your hams may well be adpated to having the TV on now but my guys know the TV usually goes off around 12 and they instantly become more active when it's pitch black.

[obscura]

I really don't know. I'm the opposite and a bit paranoid about ensuring they have total darkness!

I'm more like this, as well. They have daylight during the day, and darkness at night. After all, in the wild they don't have the luxury of having lights on and off. And in the wild, they choose to come out at certain times, usually when it's kinda dark. My dwarfs are up several times a day, despite light or darkness. But in the past, my Syrian hamster was barely up during the day. She was awake early in the morning, and late at night. She had a normal schedule of light and dark based on what it was like outside. I think having light 24/7 isn't the best thing, but that's just my opinion. We all do things a bit differently with our pets. I think they can kind of adapt to different cycles.

[fluffymunchkins]

Personally i don't worry about the lighting, hamsters will adjust to their own routine either way and i haven't found any evidence of the light bothering them.
The hamsters in my room (and before they all were) have a light on all night as I can't sleep in darkness as it makes me panic. The hamsters downstairs now have darkness during the night, but are mostly active in the evening when i'm downstairs and all lights are on anyway.
The only thing i have noticed is light has an effect on the winter coat change of winter whites. So i believe being in constant light caused Squirt to go into winter coat during summmer and change back during winter. Hes now downstairs and his coat hasn't changed since x

[gutterglitterxx]

Thank you all SO much for your thoughts. I really appreciate it! You have all given me some things to think about. I may try shutting the TV off tonight and see if it changes anything. They seem to run around crazy no matter what so I suppose I just worry too much!

Thanks again.

[gellerbing]

i think rocket prefers the dark as hes hardly out during the day but as soon as the lights and the tv go out he comes out, whereas my late hamster coco didnt care less

[gutterglitterxx]

Yeah it doesn't seem to matter much to them. Roxy is out and about a lot all day. Cheeto and Jazzy seem to wake up at about the same time no matter what is or is not going on in the room!

[bashful]

My little Pickle would potter about with the lights on, but would wait until the lights were off before he would run on his wheel! Sometimes I could tell he was itching for me to turn the lights out so he could have a good run. Sure enough, the moment I turned out the lights I would hear him thundering round his wheel :D

[chewy1991]

Buttercup was always much more active with the lights out. Charlie seems to be the same way. I'm actually the complete opposite of you in that I turn off every light in my room at night. Which is scary for me, actually, since I'm afraid of the dark (phobia stemming from childhood experience). Having rodents, however, has actually helped me slowly ease through the fear and I'm getting more and more comfortable in the dark as long as I can hear my rodents awake. I give my rodents a kind of day and night schedule. Lights are on in my room until the sun goes down. When the sun goes down, the lights go off. My gerbils will be awake in the early morning (like 5 am), the late afternoon, and the late night (seems to be that the sun determines their wake time, too, I should think). Buttercup always woke up once at noon to eat and drink and woke up for the night at six pm, but didn't get active until about 10 pm when the room was really dark. Charlie wakes up once in the morning for food and a drink and then for the night at eight, not surprisingly... when the lights go out! I don't imagine that's just a coincidence. He's most active, though, between 10 and 2. (Sometimes, if I accidentally left the light on, Buttercup wouldn't even come out of her igloo... and last week, when my bulb died and I couldn't find another... my light was out all day for three days... it really confused my gerbs. they weren't active during the day at all those three days. In my experience, normal day/night schedule is ideal. Maybe others have different experiences, though?)

[gutterglitterxx]

Thanks for your thoughts and I'm glad the critters have helped with your discomfort in the dark.

My schedule is so screwy that it's probably confusing for my little ones sometimes, but they don't seem to really be affected one way or another. I have wicked insomnia so my sleeping patterns are all over the place. Basically I take it when I can get it... Whether at 2pm, 7pm, 11pm, or not all night until 5am. I do wish my hammies would get up a little earlier though so I'm not always playing with them at 2 in the morning!

But I'll play whenever they want really. ;)