[JahJahWarrior]

I've got a three room, two story hedgehog cage... Flatter box on the bottom right hand side, with a second story that is a taller box. Left side just has a bottom story tall box. So it's like an L, with the tall bit being two stories tall. Rubbermaid bins.

I can clip a CHE to the edge of either of the 2nd stories, but the hedgie spends more of his time on the bottom floor, he really likes to sleep in the tube between the floors.

So, do you all think the bottom story will get warm enough like this?

Also, where do you get a thermostat? I'm having a really difficult time finding one for this application. What thermostats are you all using? Temps keep dropping in the room when we're gone and I'm really scared of the hedgie hibernating. We have a space heater but can't run it when we aren't there because that is a fire hazard, and a roasted hedgie is just as bad as a frozen one. Help me out here please.

 

[cutietexan]

i have been eyeing this one at petsmart.
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... Id=2752611
you can plug more then one CHE into it, which seems helpful for your setup. also, you will need thermometers on each level, to be sure it is staying on the level of heat it says it is.

 

[Bengall77]

I just use a spaceheater in the room on the other end from his cage. It's 8" from the wall and any other objects and has a design that if it's tipped over or kicked it turns off. I leave it on 24/7 and have never had a problem. I also inspect the cord once a week to make sure that nothing is frayed or damaged.

 

[nikki]

I have been using a space heater in my hedgehog room for 4 years now. Its on 24/7 and there's never been a problem with it, good space heaters are safe to use even when you're not home. CHE's are not recomended for bin type cages. Also heat rises so if you have the CHE heating the top bin there is no heat going to the other bins.

 

[JahJahWarrior]

If CHE's aren't good for bin cages, well, then basically what you are saying is, screw anything specifically for the hedgester, and just get a nicer space heater? One that can be left on 24/7? Girlfriend is very nervous about this. She always unplugs spaceheaters even after they are turned off when she leaves.

 

[Immortalia]

Get a good quality oil filled space heater.
I have one for my room when I'm at my mom's, and I leave that on 24/7 when both my hedgie and I are there.
It turns off on its own if it is ever forcefully moved, knocked over or even bumped into. Same with power loss. It just resets and sits there, completely turned off, even once the power comes back.

CHE's aren't great for bin cages the same reason why people say it's bad to use CHE's for tanks. Lack of ventilation. Unless you drill hundreds of holes all along the sides, all the way to the bottom...
But, as Niki said, the heat won't reach the lower level, at least not enough to heat it to the desired temperature.

 

[nikki]

either that or get a plastic bottomed wire topped cage, heating should have been considered before getting the hedgie.

 

[Nancy]

i have been eyeing this one at petsmart.
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... Id=2752611
you can plug more then one CHE into it, which seems helpful for your setup. also, you will need thermometers on each level, to be sure it is staying on the level of heat it says it is.

What you linked to is a rheostat, not a thermostat.

Thermostats will keep the temperature at a set degree regardless. Think of the thermostat on your furnace. You set it for say 72F and it turns the furnace off and on to keep the house at 72. Reptile thermostats have a probe that goes down to the bottom of the cage to read the temperature.

With a rheostat you can turn the heat up or down but it doesn't do it. You have to constantly monitor the temperature and adjust accordingly. Think of a dimmer switch on a light. You can turn the light dimmer or brighter but it won't do it on it's own. Rheostats can be okay if you are home most of the time to monitor the cage temperature but they aren't ideal if the room temperature fluctuates or you are gone most of the day.

 

[cutietexan]

ah well then maybe i need to ask the same question because i cant find one either D: that was the closest thing i could find out of petsmart and petco. :?

 

[nikki]

if you google reptile thermostat you will find alot of places that carry them

 

[sunshine]

I have a Zoo Med Repti Temp 500R http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752604 which I really like. I think several other people here use it too.

 

[smhufflepuff]

if you google reptile thermostat you will find alot of places that carry them

Agreed about finding them on line. I'm not sure what I'm about to say is a universal experience, but I had a heck of a time trying to find one in a real pet store recently. I saw them there for years... purchased my first one in a pet supply store... but when I went back for another maybe a month ago, they were all gone. Tried somewhere near a dozen different stores. One had the rheostat cutietexan posted, but that was it. Had to go online to PetCo. Got this one: http://www.petco.com/product/108340/Zil ... SiteSearch
They had a weird sale where the 1,000 watt one was cheaper than the 500, so I got the 1,000. Looks like the 500 is cheaper now and comes wiht free shipping.

 

[cutietexan]

they had a weird sale where the 1,000 watt one was cheaper than the 500, so I got the 1,000. Looks like the 500 is cheaper now and comes wiht free shipping.

im assuming you mean 100 i think 1000 would burn a hedgie to a crisp!!

 

[Nancy]

they had a weird sale where the 1,000 watt one was cheaper than the 500, so I got the 1,000. Looks like the 500 is cheaper now and comes wiht free shipping.

im assuming you mean 100 i think 1000 would burn a hedgie to a crisp!!

It means the wattage the thermostat will handle, not how much wattage the emitter is.
Some thermostats will only handle an heater up to 500 watts. The other will handle 1000.

 

[smhufflepuff]

Hahaha... yes, it's a 1,000 watt thermostat; ie, one that can handle up to 1,000 watts. Right now, I have a 150 watt CHE and a 115 watt CHE plugged into it. Technically, I could plug in 735 additional watts of CHE... but, yeah, doing that would probably cook my little hedge-a-roo.

 

[Marc]

The way you describe your cage actually sounds just like mine. And I just recently had the same problem of figuring out how to heat it (viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3717&st=0&sk=t&sd=a). I ended up getting a Zilla 500 Watt thermostat. The 500 Watt only has 1 outlet but I got a multi-outlet extension cord (the kind you find at CVS) so I could plug in 2 CHE's to it. It's 500W max so it's more than enough for 2 150W CHE's. CHE's aren't particularly safe to use with plastic bins but if you happen to be an engineer, you can figure out a good way to set it up. I also have both lamp fixtures with built-in rheostats so that I can make the lamp that's higher up hotter. Also useful for different size rooms, etc. You have to play around with the settings to get both rooms to heat up to the same temperature. I have the same problem of heating the bottom floor. It is able to get some heat from the connecting rooms and stay about 1-2 degrees cooler than the other rooms, but if the temperature in my apartment drops, then so does the temperature in the bottom floor of the cage. So I basically just keep my apartment warm, and the thermostat is just a backup in case my roommates turn off the heat without telling me.

 

[cutietexan]

haha okay sorry i read it wrong but ya never know, that 735 watts could really come in handy one day