Please! Help idk whats wrong with my little girl!!!

[Lyssab320]

All winter long my hedgie was fine with one heat lamp and never acted like she was cold or was cold to the touch! Now that its spring and the windows in the house have been open and the air conditioning is on she has been cold to the touch, cranky and seems like she's shivering. She's fine and back to her normal behavior after being on a heating pad for 10-15mins. I have warmed the others in my family to not open windows by her cage and have purchased a second heat lamp to help heat her cage but she isn't doing any better. I have a thermometer in her cage and it reads around 80 degrees! I have also put thermometers on other parts of her cage and they r in the ranges that they should be in! We even drilled holes into her hut to allow more heat into it but nothing is helping! This morning her cage temp was 83 in her hut and 80 in her cage! But when I took her out she was cold to the touch, grumpy, and shivering! I don't know if I should add more heat because she should be fine with the temp in there now! I don't want to over heat her either but I want her to be warm! What should I do! PLEASE HELP ME AND MY LITTLE GIRL!

[Lilysmommy]

Where is her cage located? You need to make sure there's no cool drafts going into her cage at all - either from windows or air conditioning. Put notes up to make sure windows stay closed and close any air conditioning vents near her cage. You may need to move the cage or hang blankets to help keep drafts out.

Do you have a thermostat controlling the heat bulbs? If you don't, you need one. Another thing that can cause hibernation attempts is fluctuating temperature. The temperature may be 80* when you're looking, but it could go up and down depending on the time of day/night, or whether there's nearby windows/vents open. A thermostat will control the heating bulbs and turn them on/off as needed to keep the temperature steady. Do any of the thermometers you have record the highest/lowest temps? Those are really useful for checking to see if the temp is fluctuating. I would adjust things and try to keep the temperature at 78-80*, and make sure it doesn't fluctuate more than that. Use the heating set up (with thermostat), closed windows and vents, and blankets to shield to see if you can stabilize the cage temp.

The last thing is to make sure she's getting enough light where she is. Hedgies need 12-14 hours of light during the day to make sure they don't get confused and attempt hibernation. Usually not a problem when it gets to be spring/summer, since days are lengthening anyway, but just in case.

If you get the temperature stabilized, she's getting enough heat, and there's definitely no drafts getting into the cage, I would take her to the vet. Increased hibernation attempts can be a sign of sickness (inability to keep internal temperature warm enough), and she could have an URI due to repeated attempts, so it wouldn't hurt to get her checked out anyway.

Edit: Just so you know, I deleted the second post you made about this and just moved this one to the Hibernation section, since I'd already answered.