Frosty nights and hammies

[Pebbles82]

We live in the north of England and not sure about the rest of the country but we've just had a couple of frosty nights where the temperature dropped quite a lot, so have just started having a little oil filled radiator on at night on low. Just thinking it's about the time of year for thinking about hammies having some warmth at night. Depending on how warm a house you have. A heat pad or similar.

[SirLawrence]

I was only thinking of this this morning myself. The mornings have gotten so much colder. I'm intrigued by the heating pad suggestion?

[AmityvilleHams]

It would only be a good idea if you're extremely careful,preferably with something temperature controlled especially if you have it under a cage with a plastic bottom,as well as using a good quality thermometer just to be safe as it is easy to have accidents with heating items!

[Geewhiz]

I live in the north too, it's gotten chilly very quickly! Makes me excited for Halloween really... I have a small north facing room, and while I like it cold, (my room's normal state) I've started having the radiator on for my hammies. Might look into getting two heating pads for them, just in case. So far I've just given them extra bedding and they've been fine.

[cypher]

Originally Posted by SirLawrence

I was only thinking of this this morning myself. The mornings have gotten so much colder. I'm intrigued by the heating pad suggestion?

I use the snugglesafe heat pad, not touching the cage but on a shelf below & it really helps retain the warmth in the cage, I also keep all my cages on a fleece blanket.

[Pebbles82]

I got one of those snugglesafe ones last year too! But I ended up using a little heater. Although the microwave heat pads take the chill off next to the cage, the rest of the room is still cold then. We either put the oil filled heater on very low all night, or have it on medium and set the built in timer so it goes on and off a couple of times in the night. Wasn't sure which would work out cheapest! It seems to be about the same so we now leave it on low all night.

[cypher]

I agree the heat pads won't make much difference alone, you do need to keep the room temperature at a reasonable level & I think the heat pads only really work under the cage, just not too close as you don't want to cook your hams!

[pinkneon]

Would the heat pad work by putting it on the very top of the cage? Like on top of the bars where tey can't reach?

[cypher]

Pinkneon you have to remember that heat rises!
Putting it on top of the cage would mostly heat the area above the cage & barely change things in the cage at all.
Last year someone, I think it was Coco was thinking about propping the cage up on some books or something to put a heat pad underneath, can't remember if she did that or not in the end though!

Hamsters do create a surprising amount of body heat & I find that doing simple things like putting the fleece blanket under the cage & just giving them the chance to build a huge nest makes a really big difference helping to retain that heat overnight.

[pinkneon]

Oops! Forgot that heat rises!