[StellaWithaBow]

I am the new owner of an 11 month old hedgie, she's a sweet and incredibly cuddly little girl named Stella. Stella gave me a horrible hibernation scare a few days ago- since then I have been searching for heating alternatives. We have a plastic bottom cage for her.

I have a basic human heating pad, and one for reptiles (I bought today).
The human pad turns off after an hour which causes a problem, seeing as Stella needs steady heat. The pad gives off an average temp of 75 when on medium heat. She seems to be fairly content with this... but it's annoying to have to keep turning it on.

I bought a reptile pad today which was all Petsmart carried- I was reluctant but got it anyway, and we're checking it out now. It stays on all night and keeps her warm, but I'm worried it could be too hot. Is this a bad idea? The package doesn't say the temp.

Does anyone have better ideas on heating, we live in Fl so usually we don't need a light or a pad- only for when the weather dips below 75...

I'm looking for ANY advice.

 

[Immortalia]

Heating pads are only good as an alternative ADDITIONAL source of heating.
This is because heating pads only heat the bottom of the cage, but the air will still be cold. This will give your hedgie a higher chance of going into hibernation, as she would have to leave her extra warm sleeping place, to go somewhere cold to eat. Or, she may never come out at all, and deteriorate inside her warm home.

You NEED either a space heater to heat the entire room, or you need to invest in a ceramic heat emitter. (You can perform a search for each, the search is located on the upper right corner)

But in a nutshell, most popular space heaters are oil filled heaters (I have one, it works great)
as for CHE, you MUST get the ceramic bulb, the reptile lamp, thermostat. (the thermostat is VERY important, as it keeps the bulb from burning your hedgie!)

With all of the above, you need a thermometer, so you always know the temperature of the cage.

 

[Katie_Cakes]

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4463

Here's a post I wrote yesterday.
Its got everything you would need for CHE,
if that ends up being what you use.

 

[ILOVElily]

i love in fl too!
the human heating pad turns off every hour as well so i don't like it at all.
i only use it when it gets really chilly and she needs a little extra heat although i am looking 4 a new way to heat her cage up, i think im just gonna stick w/ the ceramic heater(it has a thermostat)
if u find a way to keep the heating pad going plz let me know...