# Best light for watching a hedgehog?



## LuciferM (Apr 12, 2016)

If I wanna watch my hedgehog's natural nighttime behaviour, what's the best light to get? Might Infrared work? UV?


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Any light on at night is likely to disrupt your hedgehog - they can see it even if you use infrared lamps or the colored night time lights sold for reptiles (which are bad for them as well, for the record, as far as I've read). You can try using a red or blue toned one to see how much it bothers your hedgehog, but I wouldn't have it on long at all, certainly not all night. If you want to see what your hedgehog is doing, you'd be better off getting a night security cam as they're much less invasive and you're more likely to actually see your hedgehog's natural behavior.


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## thomp7t (Mar 28, 2016)

I use a baby moniter with the camera attached to the cage.


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## Pongosmom (Nov 9, 2015)

We use a DLink camera that connects to the phone. Be ready to have it "ding" all night and wake you up with your hedgie's shenangians! It's excellent for peace of mind.


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## Hawkstorm1622 (Jan 11, 2016)

I use an infrared security camera to "stalk" John at night. 

I had used a computer webcam and a lamp before, but he didn't like it so we got an infrared light, and he was pretty active when we set it up.


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## Bonez (Apr 29, 2016)

Not sure about hedgehogs, but I also own sugar gliders which are nocturnal. With gliders, red lights are good for night viewing because they do not hurt nocturnal eyes. Also, light in the red spectrum will not dilate pupils (which is why the military uses red light at night).

Gliders do not seem to be able to see the red light. With hedgehogs, your mileage may vary.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

There's plenty of evidence that red lights can be seen by hedgehogs (and I believe reptiles as well, but I would need to look that info up again). It may not bother all hedgies, but it does affect the behavior of most of them to some degree. I don't like using lights at night for any animal as I think they need a natural lighting cycle, even for those that don't risk health problems from not having one.


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