# Worried About the Heat



## Nixosia (Mar 18, 2012)

Maybe I'm just a worry wart, I dunno. 
When I got Moki, I figured, "I'm only going to be home for a month and a half, then I'm moving into my new house. It'll be fine." This thought is important because, A) I wasn't expecting it to get into the high 80s, low 90s so soon, and B) my house is extremely old. And by extremely old I mean that I can count the number of times my family has used an AC in this house on one hand because the wiring can't handle it. But the room I keep Moki in got up to almost 87F the other day, and while she seemed to handle it well enough, I got worried. Everything I'm reading now, and have read during my research prior to buying this little beastie says that mid-80s is pushing it.

I watched her for signs of aestivation (splatting, panting, wobbling, tongue hanging out, etc. etc.), but all she did was splat and she does that even when she's not hot.

I tried a bunch of tricks to cool the room / her cage. Ice in front of a fan (not pointing at the cage of course), wrapped blue ice on top of the cage because cold air sinks, cold bottle in the cage furthest from her so she didn't get too cold too fast, opened a bunch of windows hoping that circulation would cool everything down--nothing. None of it dropped the temperature well at all. I don't want this little girl to get sick or die just because I have to live in an old house for the next month. I monitored the weather in the area for a while before I even bought her, just to make sure I wasn't making a bad decision, bringing her home.

Does _anyone_ have any suggestions, or advice? 
Also, if I can convince my father to let me put in the AC just until the heat breaks, how fast is too fast for a temperature change? Because as we should all know ACs can make a room's temperature plummet real fast.

Gosh I'm worried. Any advice would be helpful at this point.


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## Quinn (Apr 24, 2011)

Wow that's hot. I've tried the same things. We have air conditioning but our place is still in the low 80's. The only change the hedgies have done so far has been they stopped sleeping in their bags and moved into their huts. Many have metioned ceramic pots or the chinchiller. But if anyone does have anu other ideas I would love to hear them as well!


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## elithranielle (Apr 14, 2012)

Same problem here mate. Today it's 91.4 degrees Fahrenheit here with 86 percent humidity. All Cookie and Kreme want to do is splat on something cold. I place a stone tile in their cages and they wouldn't budge from that spot.


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

I see an awful lot of information lately that you should keep your hedgehog under 80 else your hedgehog will die. I don't know where that is coming from. Yes hedgehogs tend to prefer 72-78. Go above 78 and most hedgehogs may not be as happy, but they can tolerate higher temps. For upper limits, some seem to handle mid 80s just fine. But they are a lot like us, some will be miserable at higher temperatures and will lay around, be less active, eat less, etc. They aren't happy, but they can tolerate it. 

Some tips for dealing with heat. Keep a fan blowing in the room. I keep a ceiling fan running year round to keep the air circulating. During really hot days I turn it up. I close the windows when the temperature outside is above the temperature inside during the summer, trap the lower temps inside. Insulated drapes can work wonders to keep the heat of the day outside. Provide lighter weight snuggle bags or blankets to lay under. Open the windows when the temperatures outside are lower, and turn a fan on to pull the cooler air inside. Monitor her to ensure her weight is doing fine, she is eating and always has plenty of water to drink and that she is active at night. You can also monitor her skin and ears, if they start to turn red, she's too hot. You can also check her tummy, if it is sweaty, she's hot.


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## Nixosia (Mar 18, 2012)

That is seriously, seriously a relief Kalandra. Thank you. Everything I was reading made it seem sort of "do or die", and while I knew it wasn't as dangerous as the cold, it... might have thrown me into a bit of a tizzy. So some of them _can_ handle higher temperatures well? They'll just be uncomfortable for a little while? Good. That I can handle. And so can Moki. She's proven to be a real trooper with the heat so far, so I'm not as worried now that I know this.

The drapes are a good idea, but that would cut the sunlight, and she needs to for her day/night cycle. A lamp would just heat up the cage.

I didn't know that about the skin and ears, or the sweat (why in the world I'd think even for a moment that they don't sweat is beyond me). Thank you. I like have definitive signs that something is wrong, especially considering the splatting symptom doesn't really work with my baby.


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

If you just turn on the overhead light in the room you can keep the drapes closed and she can still get her light schedule.


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

Several years ago I had a period of time where the house reached up in the mid-80s during the day. The kids were all fine. They sprawled out under blankets instead of inside warm fleece snuggle bags. At night the temps came back down. They ran normal distances, they ate normal amounts, & their weights stayed stable. I found no signs that they were stressing from it.

I use drapes to cut the heat during the really hot days. I turn on a lamp at the other side of the room when the drapes are drawn. 

Some hedgehogs splat even when they aren’t hot. I’ve had several that were always laying in a splat position. They did it because they were happy and comfortable. So while splatting is a symptom of being warm, it isn’t a definitive sign of them being too hot.

Basically watch for signs of stress, provide plenty of good airflow, and do what you can to keep her cool. 

If she starts to act like she’s slowing down, not eating well, not running on her wheel at night, acting groggy (more so than a normal you just woke me up reaction), or if you see physical signs that she is hot, then you really need to do something.

By all means I’m not advocating that higher than 80 temperatures are ok, you do need to pay attention for signs of stress and try to keep the temperatures down. But yes there are hedgehogs that can deal with it. 

Hopefully this month will cool down a little to make life a little easier on you both.


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## ObeyOurHedgehogs (May 14, 2012)

elithranielle said:


> Same problem here mate. Today it's 91.4 degrees Fahrenheit here with 86 percent humidity. All Cookie and Kreme want to do is splat on something cold. I place a stone tile in their cages and they wouldn't budge from that spot.


Just had to throw it out there, I named my Hedgie "Cookie" as well, and he looks almost identical to yours! Just a whiter fur on his snout! Funny 

But on topic, to my experience Hedgehogs will splat naturally when they are sleeping sometime depending on how exhausted they are from running all night, or even if they are just in deep sleep. In southern Alberta, the temperature outside ranges from 75F to 87F in a normal summer day. I still leave the heat emitter running all day and night and it hasn't affected him at all negatively. I've noticed he does splat a lot more than he did when he was cold all the time (he was pre-owned by people who didn't research nothing about him.) but it hasn't been much of a concern. In my personal opinion, I would rather him be a little too hot than a lot too cold. I haven't used a cold stone for him to splat on or anything, but I'm thinking about trying it. They will not die immediately or nothing from the temperature being in the high 80's, but a good way to cool the room down to get a nice 77F would be to open a window in the room slightly, close the blinds, and put a small ceiling fan in the corner on low power and leave it run if the temp in there in constantly high like that. But never let it get below 70F.

Off topic again: Being from Canada, that's really hard to do the stupid equation for Celsius to Fahrenheit every time I want to say a temperature lol.


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## casxcore (Jul 28, 2011)

This might be a silly question but do you guys turn the CHE's off during the summer?


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I kept mine on even in the summer and on hot days. The weather changes pretty quickly where I am (Michigan, where it was over 80 two days ago and now down in the 60's today :roll: ), so I figured it was best to be safe and have it on just in case. The thermostat keeps the CHE from turning on unless needed anyway, so it's not wasting energy either way.


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## elithranielle (Apr 14, 2012)

ObeyOurHedgehogs said:


> elithranielle said:
> 
> 
> > Same problem here mate. Today it's 91.4 degrees Fahrenheit here with 86 percent humidity. All Cookie and Kreme want to do is splat on something cold. I place a stone tile in their cages and they wouldn't budge from that spot.
> ...


Oh wow! Cookie and Cookie. XD And both are chocolate chips?

Temperature here is getting lower because rainy season has started (thank God). But this past summer the temp reached a sweltering 37 °C (98.6 °F). Right now it's 31°C (87.8°F) with 70% humidity. Humidity's really high around here so it makes the heat even more intolerable. ALthough the heat isn't deadly, it definitely is affecting my hedgies appetite and activity. They don't want to eat and move much when it's very hot. My hedgies lost weight. My friend's hedgie became really light (his apartment is hotter than mine, plus Queue's a really picky eater). No problem about not letting the temp go down 70F, that would be a miracle around here. 

I completely agree about the conversion from Celsius to Farenheit thing.  We use Celsius here as well. I just use google to covert though.


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## elithranielle (Apr 14, 2012)

Oh and I bought these plant gel things and made them into hedgie pillows. The hedgies love them and sleeps on them like water beds. They are cool to the touch and never heats up. Seems like a good alternative to hard floor tiles.


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## Nixosia (Mar 18, 2012)

Heatwave thing is finally more or less over where I'm from, its staying back around 75F (~23.8C) Mah baby is fine =D

I'm glad I'm not the only one worrying about the heat, and thank you all for the great suggestions. Keep them coming, the heat will be coming back eventually xp

I really just wish there was a more effective way for me to control the temperature (both hot AND cold). Cold isn't so bad. I close the windows, turn on the CHE or space heater depending on how cold the actual room is. The heat I have very, very little control over.

Oh, Celsius versus Fahrenheit. I read both like second nature, but America has trained me to do Fahrenheit for everything so it's what I do. I'll start putting down both just to make everyone's life easier. God, I really just wish we'd conform to what are pretty much universal standards, like the metric system. But _no_, we're America. We do what we want. Psht.


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## Puffin83 (Apr 15, 2012)

I'm not an expert by any means, I'm a fairly new owner actually, but I remember reading that if it's too warm you can freeze water in a milk jug and place that in the hedgie's cage to sort of work as a makeshift air conditioner. I can't remember where I read it and haven't tried it but if there's a reason not to, I'm sure someone will come along tell you. Just didn't see it mentioned here so I thought I'd throw it out there!


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## ObeyOurHedgehogs (May 14, 2012)

The biggest problem with that is that when it melts and condensates, it can soak the bedding. As well, its not exactly consistent temperature control. So you could cool him off a little too much. Its not a bad idea if you monitor how long it stays in there. Of you have a shelf next to the cage it would work perfectly.


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