# CHE wattage and dome concerns for this cage?



## AidansMom25 (Oct 24, 2012)

Hello everyone new here. I'm sorry if I posted in the wrong area. I have a few questions regarding my new hedgie. I pretty much got the basics down been researching for close to three months now, but there's still one thing I'm puzzled on and thats heating. I need to know if anyone has ever used this cage? http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B008XU4EM ... -2&pi=SL75 if so can anyone tell me what size heating dome I should get and what CHE wattage I should get to keep her warm? We usually keep the room she will be in around 68-70 at the lowest. My boyfriend is hot natured but me the complete opposite. I'm just really confused because our wall thermostat shows the house temperature being 73 so with the door open would that be our room temperature? Any help with this would be very beneficial. I almost forgot to let you all know my hedgie will be around 7 weeks! So her being so young would she need additional heat or..?


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## sparkmanr (Aug 29, 2012)

You need to purchase a seperate thermostat for the hedgies cage or one to put right next to it. I bought one at Walmart and I keep it right next to his cage. If I think inside may be a different temp I will lay the thermastat in the cage for a minute. It shows the high and low temps for that day and the humidity levels as well, that would be the actual temp your hedgie is feeling. Depending on where the cage is in the room the actual temp could be quite different from what your thermostat on the wall states. 

Heat wise I know most of the people on here use CHE's or space heaters with thermostat controls to make sure the heat stays purfect. We keep our house at 75 right now and Milo does great with that but I will probably have to get a CHE when it starts to really get cold because it might be expensive to heat the entire house that temp. Right now we are still on AC. Anyway, There is a thread on here about heating and it's really good and explains all. I'm sure one the Admin's could post the direct link to it if you can't find it.


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## AidansMom25 (Oct 24, 2012)

I have read all the heating threads but nothing really answered my particular question. I need to know which ceramic heat dome to purchase for example 5, 8, 10 inches and what CHE bulb wattage to get 75-250Watt I realize I need a thermostat (like I said I've been doing my homework and I'm also a bit of a lurker) I also have purchased a digital thermometer that measures the cage temp by a probe attached to it that I will be placing in her cage but it would serve no purpose if I don't know what wattage of CHE to purchase.. I'm still researching on heating but nothing is really coming up..I am also going to purchase a thermostat to hook to my CHE but I couldn't get it with this particular Amazon order (my total is already 185$!) thats why I bought the digital thermometer for safe measure until I can afford the thermostat..I'm sorry if I seem persistent but I just want to make sure I have everything ready for my little girl when she does arrive.


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## sparkmanr (Aug 29, 2012)

Well as you can tell I'm not expert. I've only had Milo for a few weeks now and he's my first hedge but from what I read I would think that a 75 to 100 watt would be the one you would want to go with. That's a guess. You may want to wait and see what someone else suggests or start with the 75 and see how it heats it up and test it and if it's not warm enough then bump up to the 100w. I know those bubs can be high dollar though too so you might want to wait for more sound advice. And the dome, I would go with the mid range sized dome. I have a C&C cage for my little guy and I think that's what I'm going to go with. If the cage is long I would think about buying two to put at both ends of the cage. I'm not good with imagining how big this thing is. I would think maybe using two smaller lamps would be best or one large one. Okay now I'm just guessing and rambling and you really need someone who knows this stuff to answer you. Sorry. I know I wasn't much help.


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## AidansMom25 (Oct 24, 2012)

Its okay sparkmanr I appreciate you trying to help. I just need some solid info on which to choose as you said those bulbs are not cheap so thats why I need to know which bulb to choose to avoid not letting my new little girl getting too hot. I have in mind the 8.5 inch ceramic heat dome along with the 60 Watt CHE or should I get the 10 inch dome and the 100 Watt CHE but what if she gets too warm? Wouldn't the smaller dome and bulb be sufficient and maybe a heating pad wrapped in a towel on low heat placed under her igloo be okay? I just really hope someone gives me some help before this Saturday because thats when I will be placing my Amazon order and then it will be too late to change my mind.. But thank you for your help anyway. I know I have watched all of quality quills videos on youtube and she has a pretty big c&c cage and if I'm mistaken she looks like she has at the minimum a 8.5 dome but she didn't state what wattage her CHE was..maybe I should watch it again..but I'm thinking a huge dome and I high wattage CHE with that cage size is going to make her too warm and I def don't want that!


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

Fortunately you can always return things from Amazon. 

You'll want 10" domes to distribute the heat more widely. For a cage that size you'll need two CHEs to evenly heat the whole area, so make sure the thermostat you get has enough room to plug in two of them. 100 watt might work, but you'd be better off getting two that are 150 watt.


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## AidansMom25 (Oct 24, 2012)

Okay so what your saying is to get the 10 inch and the 100 Watt to distribute the heat more evenly? Does anyone know exactly what temperature a 100 Watt CHE will make her cage? I just don't want to mess up and get too high of a wattage I really wasnt anticipating buying two CHEs so thats why I wanted to get a big enough dome and a high enough wattage to be able to suffice for her heating needs also a hedgie needs to be kept at around 76 degrees correct? Please do correct me if I'm wrong!


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

You don't have to worry about the CHE's making the cage to hot, that's why you get a thermostat to plug the CHE's into. The thermostat will turn the CHE's on and off as needed to keep the temp in the cage constant. Just like the thermostat on your furnace keeps your house at a constand temp. You will also need a thermometer to monitor the temp in the cage.


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

I'd say go with the 150 watt for both, to be safe. Better to have them heat better than needed, so they can be off some of the time, than have bulbs that need to constantly be on in order to keep the correct temperature. The thermostat will control the temperature after you get it set up, which isn't too hard but can take a little fiddling, so it's a good idea to set everything up and make sure it's heating to the right temperature a few days before bringing your hedgehog home. The thermostat itself doesn't have specific temperatures, it will have a dial with a color range, with red being the warmest. You'll have to use your thermometer to monitor the temperature of the cage, set the thermostat somewhere in the medium-warm range, and start from there. If you come back in a few hours and the temperature is too hot or too cold, you adjust it and wait again, and keep adjusting until it's set correctly. After that you won't have to fiddle with the thermostat again, and the thermostat will keep the temperature in about a 2 degree range where it should be, by turning the CHEs on and off accordingly. So, as long as you set the thermostat correctly, it doesn't matter if you have more wattage than you need - but if you have less than you need the cage won't heat as much as it needs to.

A single CHE is generally capable of heating an area about 5-6 degrees above the temperature of the rest of the room. So as long as the room is normally around 68 degrees or higher, they work very well, but if the room is especially large or drafty and doesn't retain heat well (which is especially true of large rooms during the fall/winter), you might have to put the cage in a smaller room and/or use a small space heater to keep the room temperature at around 68-70 degrees. Two CHEs will work together and possibly can raise it a little more than 5-6 degrees if necessary, but the reason you'll need two is because the cage is so large. If you were to only use one, the middle of the cage (or below wherever you placed it) would be the right temperature but either end (the areas further away from the CHE) would be lower, as much as 5 degrees or so, and you don't want that much variation, even if all the temperatures fall in the correct temperature range.

The best temperature for an individual hedgehog will vary. For instance, if you get your hedgie from a breeder who keeps their hedgehog room on the warm side, closer to 80, your hedgehog will be used to the higher 70s. 72-80 is the overall range; I keep my hedgehog room at around 72-74. With CHEs I'd say aim for around 75, which means the CHEs and thermostat will keep the cage around 74-76 at all times.

Hope that all makes sense. Let me know if anything is still unclear.


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## AidansMom25 (Oct 24, 2012)

Thank you moxieberry very informative. I will get the 100 Watt or a 150 Watt and the 10 inch dome to distribute the heat better. I also would like to add that she will be in my bedroom which is a small room with low ceilings so I think I'm just over reacting but I'm just really stressing on how she will be untill I can buy the thermostat to monitor the temperature. I have no problem checking on her a much as she needs me to.I'm used to it I have a one year old so I'm constantly running lol! Would anyone point me in the right direction on how to hook a CHE to a thermostat I thought I seen it on this forum but I could be wrong. Thank you all so much for your help and quick responses it really does mean a lot.


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