Low Temperature

[StarlightSerenity]

My boiler broke today (for the second time in 3 months!) which means we dont have any heating.

I'm a bit worried about Luna my Syrian, she's in our bedroom which is warmer than the rest of the flat but without heating we will soon reach 15/16C, what temperature will induce hibernation?

[KatiePillow]

My boyfriends boiler broke when 2 of our hammies lived with him, he had a fan heater, which he turned on to heat the room a little, (but only intermittently) and he wrapped a duvet around the cage, as well as giving them extra tissue, and they were fine.
I think the temp is 9C, but I'm not sure,
Just try and make sure she has lots of bedding to snuggle in etc

[Hannah]

I think she should be ok as long as she have lots of tissue for bedding, as Katie said, and is in the warmest place you can put her. If is the sudden change between temperatures that can bring on hibernation I think. XxX

[nooboo]

though of course its been a lot of generations since syrians were wild, they are designed to be hardy to cope with their native lands. Syrians lived on the edges of desert regions...in places boiling hot during the day, and very very cold at night.

Remember what times of day syrians are active??

they hide in tunnels to avoid the heat, and come out when its cooler, they can therefore cope with some really rather cold temperatures when they have to!!

Some do seem to have a 'faulty thermostat' and hibernate at warmer temperatures than others, but these are the minority. As someone said sudden change is really what causes the most problems...no keeping a hamster cool then heating up quickly or vice versa!!

As the house cools the hamsters will be fine...our boiler doesnt work when its freezing outside (really makes it soooo useful!!) and the landlord is not the best about doing much about it as its due to pipes freezing up. So everytime we have had a lot of snow over a few days this place loses heating and hot water! Luckily this winter we have found a cheating way to get it to work, but this time last year it was hell!! No one here hibernated, they live in a room thats got two eternal walls...no one had any issues.

Me and my husband on the other had were shaky most days wrapped up all the time..i couldnt even type without socks over my hands to try to keep them a bit warmer!

All in all try not to worry...and whatever happens make sure it doesnt turn suddenly tropical there! heat kills hamsters VERY quickly, its these times of year you hear of hamsters dying because people decide they look cold and get them too warm!

[ZuZu]

well I have had to keep my hermit crabs warm with out heating so here is what I did, we had space blankets (no idea why lol) and since they are great for keeping in heat I covered the tank with one and it kept in most of the 70-80 degrees (farenheit) they needed If you can find some at a camping store or somthing they will be perfect! (if it starts getting Waaay to cold that is)

[Katarina]

I heard of people putting electric blankets under half of the cage set on a low heat to keep them warm during winter. you could even have it set up on timer, too, but to be honest I think it will not be that cold for them - maybe just throw a blanket over the cage - make sure it still allows some ventilation and as everyone else keeps saying, supply loads of bedding or loo roll! I sometimes (when hammie looks a bit poorly) put hot water bottle next to the cage near where the nest is for a day and cover that side of cage with light cloth - I've got a wire cage so there is plenty of air coming through the other half

[shazzy]

I went the whole of last winter without a boiler (we found out in November after buying the house that it didnt work, and couldnt afford to replace it right away). I was worried about Mo, but she seemed to be fine. Just gave her some extra tissue and partially cover her Duna Multy cage with a fleece blanket to keep the heat in