Heat Pad - Necessity?

[pinktink]

I bought my first Pygmy Hedgehog yesterday. He is an Albino and is called Oscar.

At the moment I have no form of heat pad for him. He is kept in my spare room where the thermostat is set to turn the heating on if the temperature drops below 20oC. He sleeps in a plastic igloo type house which at the moment has a t-shirt of mine in for him to burrow under (For warmth and to get him used to my smell) I am hoping to buy a hedgie bag and some small fleece blankets for him to snuggle into. I cover the cage with two thick towels on a night.

Lastnight was obviously his first night with us and he slept with the t-shirt in his house and towels over his cage. I checked on him this morning (after worrying all night that he wouldnt be warm enough and would try to hibernate) and he uncurled from his ball and had a hissing fit at me for waking him up.

I was just wondering if heat pads are a necessity with Pygmy Hedgehogs or if I keep the room warm enough and provide enough bedding etc will that be sufficent?

If I do buy a heat pad it will be one of the snuggle safe discs as I dont like the idea of having something constantly plugged in as I'm a bit paranoid about fires etc lol.

Any help would be appreciated

Thank You.

[dzmeadows]

20 degrees c is the equivalent of 68* F, which is not warm enough for a hedgehog. Plenty of bedding can help, but the temperature still needs to be warmer than that. If the temp is warm enough, a heating pad is not a necessity, but it is a good idea. The snuggle safe discs are ok, they are GREAT for travel, but they do not maintain an adequate even temperature, so they get cool before the advertised time to warm them up. They also make it so that you can't be gone for very long at a time, as they need to be warmed up every 6-8 hours or so. You would be better off if you raised the temp in the room up to about 23* C, that would be more comfortable and less dangerous for your hedgehog.
Becca

[pinktink]

20 degrees c is the equivalent of 68* F, which is not warm enough for a hedgehog. Plenty of bedding can help, but the temperature still needs to be warmer than that. If the temp is warm enough, a heating pad is not a necessity, but it is a good idea. The snuggle safe discs are ok, they are GREAT for travel, but they do not maintain an adequate even temperature, so they get cool before the advertised time to warm them up. They also make it so that you can't be gone for very long at a time, as they need to be warmed up every 6-8 hours or so. You would be better off if you raised the temp in the room up to about 23* C, that would be more comfortable and less dangerous for your hedgehog.
Becca

Thank You Becca. I have altered the thermostat to turn the radiators on when the temperature drops below 24*c, do you think that will be warm enough for him? As well as the snugglesafe pad?

Thanks,

Rachel.

[Stasi]

Sounds great to me Rachel! The added snuggle safe at night is a great idea, just in case. The hedgies are quite sensitive to temps, and above 70* needs to be maintained regularly. It can be a pain to set up, but so worth it when you see a happy and WARM hedgie instead of an angry, cold ball of prickles.

[AnnieR]

African Pygmy Hedgehogs need to be kept at 68-72 degrees. I recommend a heating pad for nights, if it gets cold where you live. If you are warm enough without a sweatshirt on in your house, he should be okay too. You can get a cheap heating pad through amazon.com that is safe for hedgehogs. It's roughly $20.00, search small animal heating pad. It is thermostatically controlled and reaches a max of 102 degrees. I leave it under my hedgies plastic cage, where his igloo is. You can keep it in the cage too, but I am too nervous too yet. I hope this helps!

[Stasi]

Annie - NO! Hedgehogs need to be kept at 72-85 all the time - cooler than that, and they will potentially try to hibernate and die. Sorry, but definite nono there - they MUST be warmer than that.

[dzmeadows]

I agree with Stasi. My crew turns into popsicles if it drops below 72. And some of my older girls aren't even happy at 72, they need it more like 74-75 to be comfortable without someone to snuggle with.
Becca

[HamorHollow]

I tell people to aim for 75 degrees, so that if the tem drops a little to 73 they are still in the safe range. I don't like to go below 73 because (as Becca said) some older hedgehogs require higher temps.

I would recommend a plug in heating element. House If you set your house heat to 75, your bill is going to be outrageous. If you set it to 73, it will take the temperature up to 73 and not turn on again until the thermostat has dropped below what you have it set at. It also doesn't guarantee that it is 73 degrees in the corner of the room that the cage is in.

The Snuggle safe disk is fine for travel, but I've found that it doesn't really stay warm for 6 hours. Not only that, but you have to remember to warm it back up at least every 6 hours, that's 4X/ day, 7 days/ week. That means you can never go away for more then 6 hours without running home to take care of your hedgehog. And you have to remember to go and re-heat it. I can barely remember to feed my dog twice/ day.......... and she follows me everywhere!

K