Darkness for complete rest?

[Hedi]

Remember some time ago people were talking on here about buns needing darkness at night for their health? Well I never really understood until now.

Originally my 4 buns shared a bedroom next to ours and had complete darkness during the night. When we moved them downstairs I kept a light on for awhile wanting to make sure they were comfortable in their new surroundings. When our power went off last week my buns were forced to sleep in the dark. That next morning after the first night of darkness they were all big balls of energy!! For the past few months with keeping a light on during the night all the buns were lazy and not interested in playing much during the morning when I fed them.

 

So ever since then I make sure all the lights are off. Hoopie is still al ittle afraid of the dark so there is a baby nightlight down there that just illuminiates without lighting up the room. It is amazing that them getting a full night of darkness really does renew their energy!

[bunnytowne]

OH wow I didnt’ know that.    Cool….   Where I live tho the nite lights outdoors come on by themselves I can’t do nothing about them.  They kind of light up the room a little…. Had to put 3 curtains thick ones in my bedroom windows to keep it dark enuf to sleep.   I close the shower curtain too. Can’t close the door cause of HB I dont’ want him shut off in the bathroom there.

I put my shades down in the living room.   I have curtains I will start closing them at nite now.  Maybe the buns will be more active that way.,

I do know Ruby is very active.   She does a popcorn jump and is real silly and funny.   She wore Cotton out the other day. HE went to his house and slept.

I cover Cotton at nite tho. Give him a little security there.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Ok, I might try this!

[LittlePuffyTail]

I always turn off the light in my rabbit room when I “put the bunnies to bed”. I find they tend to make less noise when the light is off.

[Alicia Conklin]

Hmm I will try this.  Mine have been lazy bums lately.  They don’t have alot of light at night but I do leave the one lamp on the dim setting when I go up to bed.

[KatnipCrzy]

We have a large saltwater fish tank in the room with Cotton’s pen and it is lit at night with moonlights.  So the room is dark but not completely dark.  I always viewed the 6 foot long fish tank as a bunny nightlight…LOL.  One of these day we are going to build it into the wall and that will open up alot more space for Cotton’s run- I should be able to pen off the end of the room as opposed to a 3 sided NIC enclosure.

[JK]

I always turn out the lights at night.  I read somewhere that bunnies need darkness for their endocrine systems to  function properly!  Edson is quiet as a mouse at night…but then he sleeps almost the entire day too!

[Scarlet_Rose]

Hedi that is very interesting. I have always left a night light on, not just for them but for me too. I think I am going to experiment with unplugging it and see.

[MimzMum]

I keep my room pretty dark. There is a dim nightlight on, but without it the buns get nervous. And they are plenty full of energy first thing in the morning…like about 5. >_<
They don’t do as well during the summer, when our natural daylight goes pretty much all day and night. I noticed they were rather lazy during the solstice and for awhile on either side of it.
I keep a dark curtain on the window in the summer because I don’t sleep well when it’s light out either. But now that we’re going to swing the other way, I’m going to have to have a light on for the 12 normal hours of daylight. I have a dimmer switch on the light in the bunny room so that I can adjust it like one would see the lower light in the mornings and evenings.

[BinkyBunny]

Good to know! I have kept a soft night light on in their room until I go to bed which is usually very very late, so it’s really not that long before the sunrises – not much total darkness. (the webcams always look brighter than it really is because we punched up the brightness in the cams) but I wonder if even a soft light affects them. I will turn off the lights entirely earlier for the next few weeks, and see what happens.

[Hedi]

The nightlite I bought was from Target. It doesn’t omit any light at all. It kinda lights up but it is pretty dim so it doesn’t really light anything up in their room.

I knew we had talked about this a long time ago but when we moved them I totally forgot. I was just afraid they would be nervous in a new room.

They all act like babies again. lol

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