# Belly is never warm



## luna (Apr 13, 2014)

when I take out my hedgie for play time her belly is never warm. when i feel under her arm pits its usually a bit cool. I have my heat up, she uses fleece for bedding one liner, a towel, puppy pads and two more liners on top she sleeps in her igloo curled up in one of my old tshirts. I also use a heater by her pen, its not always on i turn it on a few times a day to warm up her area.

does anyone know that the heck is up and some solutions?


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## shinydistraction (Jul 6, 2014)

Is she eating and drinking normally? Is she lethargic or active? Is she always that way or is this a new development? Has her behavior changed at all? A cool belly sounds like a sign of a hibernation attempt and needs to be addressed pronto.


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## luna (Apr 13, 2014)

yeah she eats like a rock star, she drinks her water, she comes out for play time and snuggles and runs around and plays in the laundry, she uses her wheel every night and wakes very easily when i turn on her light in the morning the click of the lamp wakes her and i hear her huff. since I got her 3 months ago her belly is always slightly cool. its not cold, but its not warm either


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## shinydistraction (Jul 6, 2014)

Hmph. Maybe she just runs a little cooler? A friend of mine the other day was commenting that one of his dogs runs consistently a few degrees cooler than the other one. Your baby could be the same. Do you have a thermometer to keep track of the temperature in her cage?


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## luna (Apr 13, 2014)

I dont actually she has a pen with an open top and I have no idea what kind of thermometer to use? I would keep the heater on all day but it makes me a little worried to leave the house with her alone with it on in case of a fire even tho it does have an automatic shut off. I was thinking of other heating options but I am not knowledgeable about my other options and honestly when I go to the pet store I dont even think the employees really know what their talking about and just want me to buy stuff I dont need. winter is coming and canadian winters are the worse so I want to be prepared enough so she doesnt try and hibernate


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## shinydistraction (Jul 6, 2014)

Well, theres tons of cage and tank thermometers out there. The one I got was pretty inexpensive, but so far seems to be fairly accurate. As far a heating, a space heater is a fine way to go, but I would pair it with a thermostat that will turn it off and on when needed. But a CHE is a better way to go. I've linked the CHE, dome and thermometer. Not really happy with my thermostat (it doesn't display at what temp it will turn on at) so I'll be replacing it with a nicer one. But I'll link it anyway so you can see what I'm talking about.





http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002AQD9A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s03?ie=UTF8&psc=1


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## luna (Apr 13, 2014)

oh thanks so much for links!


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## TikkiLink (Dec 4, 2013)

I've always felt that the warm belly thing is subjective. Often my girl's belly doesn't feel warm to me because it's either summer and my hands are warmer than she is, or I've just washed my hands in warm water so she feels cool. My fiance feels temperature much differently than I do, and even though his skin always feels much warmer than mine, he will say that she feels warm when I think she feels cool. Because of that, I put more stock in monitoring activity and food intake than warmth.

For thermometers, i love acurite thermometers. I have one with a probe, and one with a wireless unit so that I can carry it around the house and always know the temperature in my girl's cage! It has saved her when I have woken up in the middle of the night and picked up the thermometer next to the bed and found that the temp in the hedgie room dropped dramatically and the heater wasn't turning on! Here's a wireless one that shows humidity too, because humidity levels are important: http://www.amazon.com/AcuRite-00611A3-Wireless-Thermometer-Humidity/dp/B001B35APA
I carry around the piece with the digital screen and keep the other in the cage.

The acurite thermometer that I have with a probe also keeps track of the highest and lowest temps throughout the day, so it's good if you're gone all day.


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## luna (Apr 13, 2014)

thank you so much for the links. I am always worried about temp. since she feels cool to me ill put on the heater and sometimes she will come out of her hut and splat in the middle of her cage to sleep and sometimes I think it might be because shes hot because typically she loves to burrow and be covered while sleeping


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## TikkiLink (Dec 4, 2013)

Yeah, usually if they come out and splat, they're too hot. I have a hedgehog who overheats easily, so I give her a ceramic tile just in case she gets too hot. I put it near her sleeping area and sometimes she drags her fleece onto it and sleeps under the fleece on the tile.


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