Heating and Lighting Needs

[Brynn]

Hi, so I have a 5 month old hedgie named Oliver. I am currently using a red heat lamp to heat his cage. I keep his cage in a warm room in my house and I plan on getting a space heater too just in case. But I was wondering, since I've found alot of claims saying red heat lamps are too bright for hedgehogs, I was wondering if I could use it for his light schedule as well? I flip it off in the night otherwise he won't come out and run. Is it bad for them other than disrupting their sleep schedule? Or is it alright if I keep flipping it off at night as long as I find a way to maintain heating?
Thanks for your help

[Emc]

I'm honestly not entirely sure how bright a red light is to a hedgehog. Yes, they can see the light emitted from them but just how bright they are in comparison to a white light, for example, we do not entirely know for certain. So can they be used for daily light? I'm doubtful, personally.

Technically it wont harm your hedgehog, so long as you switch it off at night. But while they can see the light emitted from red bulbs, i dont think it's necessarily a bright light in comparison to actual daytime white bulbs.

[Ria]

From what I have seen, red light isnt as bright as the white light generally, its slightly duller.

To hedgehogs it is bright enough to make them not active - I only know this from the amount of people who have used them and their hedgehogs wouldn't come out and be active in the night with the red light, but as soon as it was swapped to just a normal heat bulb they were out all night running on wheels and around the enclosure.

No one can tell you how bright it is to a hedgehog, but from this we know its bright enough to stop them being active.
I don't believe its as good for daylight, warm white would be better as its got more of a natural light feel but is probably wont harm them.

[Mecki]

Are you currently using a thermostat with the red heat lamp?

Rather than keeping the red bulb, turning it off at night, and then coming up with some other source of heat for the nighttime, it would be far simpler to just replace the red bulb with a no-light, heat bulb on a thermostat.

Then you can use any light in the room for the daylight. You could even put it on a timer if you like.

By using a no-light, heat lamp with a thermostat, you know the right temperature is being kept constant whether it is day or night.