# Artifical Light Hours



## hedgieteen (Jun 11, 2012)

Okay, so a few days ago I bought a lamp for Pandora, and I have it on a timer to go ON at 9am and OFF at 9pm. Are these good hours? I feel like they aren't, what's a better time ON and OFF? I feel like it's wrong because she hsn't been running on her wheel since. Tips?
Also - wrong section but wanted to ask, how many crickets and mealworms for her? She's almost 8 weeks old, and when do I cut down? Thanks everyone..


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

The hours sound fine to me. As long as they're during general daylight hours and the same time every day for her, it's pretty much fine - many people have different schedules, so you can adjust their light schedule (within reason) to work with yours.

What kind of wheel do you have? Are her nails long? Is there any light in the room that might be causing her to avoid running? The lack of running might be due to something else besides the lamp. 

Number of insects depends on the hedgie and their weight. Since she's a baby, a little extra fat probably won't hurt her. Most people tend to go with 3-5 mealies a day as a "normal" amount, but more won't hurt as long as you keep an eye on her weight. Crickets aren't as fatty, so you can offer those more than mealies if you think she's getting a bit too round. Another thing to keep an eye on is poop - with the exoskeletons on mealies and crickets, sometimes feeding too many (even live ones) can cause constipation issues if they're not able to fully digest the skeleton.


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

I doubt it's related. There's a good chance that there's not even any actual "cause". Babies just can be inconsistent with how much/how often they use their wheel.


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