Heating Pad or Ceramic Heater?

I'd go with a ceramic heat emitter and thermostat. A heating pad will not keep a wire cage warm enough. Sometimes, depending on the room temperature a heating pad is ok with a bin but you need to keep the whole cage environment at a suitable temperature.

The problem with using a heating pad is, the area directly above the heating pad is very warm. When the hedgehog leaves it to eat or wheel, the air temperature is cooler and is sudden drop in temperature. This is not healthy. What you want is the whole cage environment to be a suitable temperature and a ceramic heat emitter and thermostat will do that.

And it won't melt the powder coating on the wire?

Nope. When in the fixture, the emitter is about an inch away from the bars and it doesn't do a thing to it.

And I need to have a thermostat with it correct? Any brands in particular that are recommended (for the thermostat and ceramic heater)?

Yes, you need to have a thermostat to control the temperature. I use the ReptiTemp 500R. http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/E...iO3M6MToiMCI7czo4OiJTZWFyY2hfeSI7czoxOiIwIjt9

It has worked well for me. There are other brands available in many price ranges.

I got a ceramic heater, and a proper lamp to go with it (I believe the brand name is fluke's?). Are they suppose to get hot on the outside? And is it alright to have the lamp touching the cage? When I just had it clipped onto the cage, there really wasn't enough heat getting into the cage? I had it sitting on the top of the cage last night, and it didn't seem to hurt anything, but just wanted to make sure since the lamp itself was getting hot/warm (I was able to touch it).

You don't want to try touching the heat emitter when it is on. It can blister burn in a second. It hurts. When I first got an emitter the person at the store told me they had to go in wire fixtures. Yep, wire fixtures are a burn waiting to happen. Apparently he told me that because they didn't sell an emitter approved solid fixture. sigh

When the emitter is on the fixture will get quite warm but not enough to blister and depending on the size of the emitter, it is safe to put on top of a wire cage. The larger wattage the emitter the bigger in size it is and goes closer to the bars. You don't want it touching the bars. I think mine is about 1" away.

Do you have a thermostat?

Ah, gottcha. Didn't think you could have touched the emitter.

I've not seen that type of thermostat. How do you like it?

So far I like it. I've only been using it about 24 hrs, but it was very easy to set up (big plus for me :lol: ). I only had two to choose from, this one and the other one that had no specific temperatures, just low medium and high. :| It was absolutely worth the little extra money for a more precise reading.

Hedgie Environment - How to Heat?

I, too, have a wire cage from Exotic Nutrition for my new hedgie (haven't gotten the animal yet but will have him home on the 19th). My roommate generally keeps the house at 74F. I know that winter is coming so I anticipate the use of a heater even with a warm ambient temperature.

Now, my cage set up includes wood foraging toys, silk plants, and fleece bedding - all things that are quite flammable. I certainly do not want to bring harm to my new little buddy, is a heat emitter that safe with these materials?

Yes, it'll still be safe - if the heat were enough to cause any of those things to catch on fire or anything like that, it'd also be cooking your hedgehog. Set on top of the wire cage, there's no chance it'll fall into the cage, and if you're worried about it being knocked off, the Fluker's clamp lamps have holes in the edge of the lamp where you could put a ziptie or wire through & secure it to the cage.

Also, just so you know for future posts, it's usually better to start your own topic rather than bring up an old thread.