Breeder Opinions

Want to hear some great news? I am officially getting a hedgehog! All my hard work finally paid off and I'm getting my very own hedgehog for Christmas! I am very excited for this! But I'm not here to tell you that.

The breeder I am getting my Hedgie is http://www.terrapinhedgehogs.com/

My mom and I filled out the questions and got a reply yesterday telling us we could put a deposit down, which I am going to about after I do this. I read mostly all her care guides, Cage, etc. And the only concern I had is with the bedding she suggest. I emailed her and she replied, I was satisfied.

To the main point. I really want to email her and talk about the hedgehog, but for some reason I'm holding back. On her questions she asked for kids who are younger than 18 a parent should guide/help them, which I understand completely. My case is about whether I should email her or not. I'm not asking you to criticize her in anyway, but I want your opinion if I should email her, also being younger than 18 doesn't help. I just wanted your guy's opinions before go ahead and talk to her, Thanks for reading!

P.S. I am getting http://www.petco.com/product/116477/Midwest-Guinea-Habitat-Plus-Guinea-Pig-Cage.aspx for a STARTERS cage, is it good to use for the time being?

Congratulations on your soon-to-be hedgie.

My thought is that, if you have a question and cannot find the answer, it should be fine to send an email... even if you're younger than 18y. Of course, first, do your due diligence and see if you can find the answer either through us (if it's a general hedgie question) or Terrapin's site (if it's specific to their hedgies/policies).

Yes, the Midwest cage should work just fine in general... though it's all situationally dependent. I was considering using it for a travel cage (eg, when I go out of town and take hedgies with me) since it will collapse quite nicely, so I've done a bit of research on it, but do not have first-hand experience with it.

A couple things you'll want to consider: I know there's a version with a top and a version without the top. If you get the one with the top, make sure you know how tall the ceiling is and how tall the wheel is that you're getting for your hedgie. If you get the one without the top, two things to think about: 1. do you have anyone at home who would get in there and harm hedgie (this could be a younger sibling or a cat or a dog) and 2. how you will heat hedgie's area. See, if you get a ceramic heat emitter set-up, you can set it on the top/ceiling. You can still do the ceramic heat emitter set-up without the top, but you'll need to figure out a way to safely attach it/hang it from something else.

I don't have a hedgie, so I don't have knowledge to comment on most of this, except....

I have that cage, with the top, for my guinea pigs. The top is kinda flimsy, it's several pieces all hinged together. I planned to use it for my guinea pigs, but it just never wanted to lay right and I found it cumbersome and not easy to just flip open to get the pigs out. I'm not sure how heavy the heaters you're talking about are, but if it was too heavy, I could see the top piece not laying flat. I just don't like the top, IMO it should have been designed in two pieces with the hinge in the middle, but I suppose, for ease of storage and taking up less space, it's hinged more, which I don't think adds to its useability. Just my thoughts.

I'm a bit late with my reply, but as they say, better late than never. :hilarious:

Yes, by all means email her with any questions you have. When I was breeding I too required those under 18 to have parents contact me. Once I knew the parents were on board and in agreement I often continued to correspond with the young person. It not only shows how much interest the child or teen has, but I was better able to directly answer questions. Usually when emailing back and forth the parent was included in a cc.

Ditto what greychins said about the cage. It is rather flimsy.

Sorry for being inactive!

So far, my mom and I picked our hedgehog from the litter. I wasn't aware that i would pick one that hasred eyes. Mostly he has dark red eyes and is a reverse pinto. I'm really happy, I cant wait! I know deep down I will love him with or without red eyes.

The main issue currently is that my mom, surprisingly, didnt know they needed CHE. She saw some repile heating pad that I disagree on. What, excactly, are simple and cheapish cermic heat emitters tgat you, the hesgie owners, use?

Also does anyone know quality exotic vets near Sewell, NJ? :hmm:

right, a reptile heating pad won't work well for hedgies. They need to be up, eating, and running at night and the heating pad won't keep the air consistently warm enough for them to run.

If I were starting fresh, I'd get this for the thermostat: http://www.bigappleherp.com/BAH-1000-Thermostat (Zilla brand is also good. A good thing to look for is how many lamps you can plug into it. I like the one that will hold more than one lamp. That way, if I find that one is not enough, I have the option to use more. For example, I have two cages. One has one lamp on top; the other has two lamps on top. A very important thing to know is that a themostat is different from a rheostat. Hedgies need a thermostat, while other animals are fine with a rheostat. Pet shops do not always understand this extremely important distinction.)

This for the lamp that you plug into the thermostat: http://www.bigappleherp.com/Zoo-Med-Brooder-Fixtures?sc=2&category=22 (other brands are good too. I've used Fluker's and another brand I'm not remembering at the moment. They're all about the same. The two very important things about the lamps are to make sure that it's rated for use with a ceramic heat emitter AND that it's a 10" dome. The 10" dome spreads the heat better than one with a smaller diameter).

And this for the ceramic heat emitter that screws into the lamp: http://www.bigappleherp.com/Big-Apple-Black-Infrared-Ceramic-Emitters?sc=2&category=13. Either 100w or 150w should be just fine. You want the ones that only emit heat and NOT light since they need to be on day and night. And hedgie needs darkness at night. Other brands are good too. I've used the ZooMed just fine. I just like the big apple ones because they seem to last longer.

The three parts of the system seem a bit pricey up front, but they last a long time and don't add substantially to the electric bill. Especially when compared to the cost of heating the entire room. They work best with a plastic-bottom, wire-top cage because you can sit the lamp directly on the wire top. The lamp is deeper than the emitter is long, so there's some space between the emitter bulb and the top of the cage.