CHE setup causing dry skin.

[holtzchick]

Since I got Penelope, I don't think she ever had a CHE set up and she's about 1 and a half, I've had her for half a year now. Her cage is about 1 x 3 and I have a 100W CHE bulb in there now.... I wanted to give her a proper set up but I think it's a little too hot, especially because my apartment is already usually quite warm! (I like it warm myself ) I've noticed that the temp climbs up VERY quickly in the cage and I find myself having to turn it off atleast 3 times a day and sometimes keep it off at night. Now I don't think the CHE has an affect on her because she wasn't used to having one in the first place. She's always got plenty of bedding to warm her. I'm noticing extremely dry skin which I will see what I can do about that but do you think I should scrap the CHE set up there altogether if it is already at least 26 degrees Celsius in the apartment.... I wanted to buy a repitemp to monitor the temp in the cage so that its always regulated but when I talked to the guys at the reptile shop they didn't think it was very reliable.... Hmmm... again... should I scrap the CHE or keep it?

Also, I know its definitely the CHE causing the dry skin because I haven't done any drastic changes in the last few months and when I got her, I didn't have her on a CHE setup for the first month and she never had dry skin, I did have a CHE set up with her C&C cube cage which aired her cage out alot more so there was less heat in it, but now, her cage has high sides so all the heat stays in... She's not quilling or scratching and acting quite normal from what I can tell, the only difference is that I can notice the dry skin if I look very close.... I'm off to give her an oatmeal bath so we'll see how that goes....


Thanks!
Michelle.

[HedgieGirl519]

You need to have a thermostat with the CHE. That is what controls the temperature and turns it on and off. Without that the cage can get around 60C (I think that's that it is).

[holtzchick]

I would definitely want to buy a thermostat I just don't know where. I'm not big on using my credit cards for online shopping, and I've shopped around Petsmart, PJ'S, PetValu and Port Credit Pet Centre (which is really just a store with reptiles ONLY) and thats where I saw the Repitemp... but they said it wasn't really good at all nor reliable.... any advice on this? k

Thanks!

[hanhan27]

The reptitemp is just fine. There is at least 1 review of it in the Product Reviews section. You want a CHE in case something were to happen to your furnace. You use the thermostat to set the CHE to turn on and off at a certain temperature, which keeps the cage temp pretty consistent. That way you don't have to check on the temperature 14 times a day If you need a little more convincing... last night our power went out around 12:30am. I didn't get home until 2:45am. We keep our house temp low (62 degrees F at night) and I have a space heater that heats my room to about 70 degrees F, but when the power goes out the space heater does not turn itself back on automatically. So my room was about 66 degrees when I walked in. But thanks to my CHEs and the insulation I have for the cage, the cage temp hadn't dropped below 72 degrees.

It's probably not actually the CHE that's causing the dry skin... I'm betting it's the warmth and the low humidity that so many of us are dealing with now, as it's winter and turning the heat on = dry air in our homes. I got a small humidifier for $20 at filtersource.com and it has helped my hedgie's skin a lot.

[HedgieGirl519]

The ReptiTemp is probably the most recommended one actually. I don't have a hedgehog yet, still looking but I have them with all of my other pets that need them. They work great. The only issue for them is that it takes a bit of tweaking to get it too the right temperature. It took my about 20 minutes to get it to the right temp. Once it's set it's good to go! I don't know what those employee's were talking about It's very reliable and the most recommended as far as I have seen.

[holtzchick]

Thanks!

I'll likely go back and buy one then.... I was really set on buying one and they were like oh no, I don't know how reliable that is blah blah blah... So then I started asking about other ones and they were like oh yeah a good set up thermostat will probably run you about $300.00 ..... but then again I guess they sell reptiles and reptiles supplies not hedgehogs :\

I will also make Penelope a vet appointment soon, I feel really bad for her because I feel like she never really got proper care so thats something that I definitely want to give her even if it means that she'll never come around to being social. I honestly don't mind, I bought her because I wanted to save her, she's extremely difficult but its not her fault! Maybe in the years to come she will come around eventually.

Anyways, thanks for all your help! Very helpful!

[hanhan27]

$300.00!? Oh my goodness. If that's how much a reliable thermostat cost, I would just deal with checking my hog's cage temp 30 times a day

It's so great that you understand that she may not come around, but you still care enough to want to make her life a good one. And that you realize she isn't "mean" or "angry", she's just a hedgehog who hasn't had a great life thus far. Props to you for being a wonderful pet parent.