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How Should I Keep Her Warm?

1.6K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  abbys  
#1 ·
I pick up my little hedgie this weekend so I've been putting the finishing touches on the cage. Right now I have a rubbermaid container set as the cage, with a K&H Small Animal Heating Pad under it. It doesn't seem to keep the underside as warm as I want it, and my space heater doesn't seem to make much of a difference inside the cage. Maybe I'm freaking out over nothing, and it is warm enough for the little one, but I would like your advice so that I am completely sure before she gets here.
 
#4 ·
Heat pads can be a bit dodgy, I would definitely recommend using a ceramic heat lamp. Set your thermometer closer to the bottom of your hedgie's cage, as quite often it's cooler down there than the ambient temperature in the room. This will give you a much more accurate reading of how warm your little dude really is. One of our hedgies prefers a lower temp, and the other one likes it in the mid-70's.
 
#5 ·
A heating pad will only warm a very small area, not the entire cage. They need to be warm, around 75 degrees, so I strongly recommend getting getting CHEs like these, which connect to a regulating thermostat, along with a digital thermometer:

8.5" lamp (possibly get 2, depending on the size of the cage):
http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Deluxe-Po ... ds=zoo+med

Ceramic bulbs:
http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-ReptiCare ... ds=zoo+med

Regulating thermostat (you plug the lamps into this):
http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-ReptiTemp ... iTemp+500R

Thermometer:
http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Digital-T ... rds=zoomed