# 12 hour winter drive



## Luna4385 (Dec 29, 2010)

I just bought an albino hedgehog 2 days ago and will be picking her up on Friday. We traveled 12 hours to visit family and bought her while we were here. However, I'm concerned about the drive. I've made the same drive in the summer with my old hedgehog and she was fine, but I want to be extra safe this time so she won't get too cold.

I have a hard-bottomed travel carrier with wire sides (I believe it's meant for birds). I also have a few fleece blankets, but I'm worried about keeping her warm. I don't want to spend too much but I also don't want to stress her out too much. Suggestions?

Thanks


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

I just returned from a 3 hour overnight road trip with Snarf. We don't use a heating system for him at home cuz our apartment is small enough to easily maintain a good temp for him, so we didn't have a CHE to bring with us.

I used handwarmers in his carrier (which were totally unecessary, as it turns out). I brought his thermometer in the bag and kept checking it - it was 25 degrees. Snarf actually crawled out of his hedgie bag (I had the handwarmer underneath) and made his way to the layers of fleece under the bag.

Once we got to the very chilly, drafty house, I set up his cage with two handwarmers and set up a reading lamp. I wasn't concerned about him during the day, as he could stay as warm as he wanted in the hedgie bag placed on top of the handwarmers (too warm, it turns out, he was sleeping in the middle of his cage or with his butt hanging out of his hedgie bag like he does at home :lol: ). Nightime was a bit more worrisome but he was fine. He ate, drank, used his wheel. My BF and I checked his temp and it was low compared to home (22-23) but he was acting like he always does.

So...my advice:
- if you're staying anywhere with him, bring a CHE for peace of mind. I 'knew' he'd be okay cuz he prefers it a bit cooler at home but I didn't want to chance it, so I checked him every 15 minutes, driving him crazy
- keep him off the floor of the vehicle and near wear you sit so you know the temp - we have a small truck with zero back seat, so it was a tight fit - we kept him between the driver's/passenger seat
- make sure he can move away from the heat source if it's too warm. I always made sure that half of his hedgie bad had no heating under it so he could be covered but not too warm

I'm sure others will jump in....congrats on your new hedgie and enjoy!!


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## Luna4385 (Dec 29, 2010)

Thank you, I'll be sure to get those 

My mom just told me that we'll actually be getting her full sized cage here (in Utah). Would it be better to travel with her in the travel cage or the full size one? We will have both with us; I just don't know which to put Luna in.

Oh, and also, what's a CHE? Sorry I'm new to this.


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