I initially thought that heating was totally unquestionably needed, but now I'm second guessing myself after speaking to some of my family members. The temperature never drops to below 60, and if it did, my parents would turn into an ice cube (or my mom will have us convinced she is one) and crank up the heat. It's never snowed here as we are pretty close to the equator and in a coastal area. We don't really have distinct seasons, except for winter being maybe five degrees colder than summer and spring, (in extremer cases, 10) so the temperature normally stays at a pretty consistent 75. I'd like to get one in case of an emergency, and I'll probably talk myself into getting one later if I decide not to now, but still, are they an absolute necessity here?
WinterGalaxy
In my opinion, yes, it's necessary to have a heat source in place.
The beauty of a proper CHE set-up in which the CHE lamps are run off a thermostat is that if the cage temperature never drops below the desired temperature, the lamps never turn on. But if the temperature does drop -- for any reason -- the lamps turn on automatically and do what they're there to do. Yes, there is an initial investment involved, but in my opinion, it's much better to have it set up and ready -- even if it rarely has to kick on -- than to not have it and realize you need it.
The beauty of a proper CHE set-up in which the CHE lamps are run off a thermostat is that if the cage temperature never drops below the desired temperature, the lamps never turn on. But if the temperature does drop -- for any reason -- the lamps turn on automatically and do what they're there to do. Yes, there is an initial investment involved, but in my opinion, it's much better to have it set up and ready -- even if it rarely has to kick on -- than to not have it and realize you need it.
Just to add to what Mel said, you have to keep in mind that low temperatures are not the only thing that causes hibernation attempts. Inconsistent temperatures do as well. You need to keep them at a consistent temperature with no more than a 2-3 degree variance. That can be rather difficult if you don't have a heat source on a thermostat to keep the temperature even.
Look at it this way, the cost of a heating set up is probably a lot cheaper than treating a sick hedgehog.
Ok, thanks guys, I'll get one then. I didn't know about the inconsistent temperature too, thanks for alerting me about that.
I agree that you should have a CHE setup whether you'll usually need it or not. That being said, I've found that my hedgehog really doesn't seem to be very sensitive to temperature. When I brought him home in the middle of winter, he had no heat while traveling (his previous owner seemed to be totally unconcerned about possible hibernation) and he was perfectly fine. I do have CHEs to keep his cage from 73-76°, but he has no problem going outside when it's in the upper 60s. Today I took him to the vet and the room was very air conditioned. Again, no problems. I guess some hedgies are sensitive and need to be kept at a very consistent high temperature, but some aren't. Of course it's always better to be safe than sorry. 
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