Attempted Hibernation!

[SpineyPigFaceLover]

So I went upstairs to check on my girls and when I lifted up the blanket, Sookie balled and spiked up-something she very rarely does. I noticed her head moving very slowly and when I finally was able to pick her up she was freezing cold! I immediately put her in a blanket against my chest to warm up. I then put a heating pad under the towel under the blanket in her cage and put her in there. She was very wobbly when she was walking towards the warm spot. She seems to be in much better spirits for now and feels very warm (not to mention her daughter seems to love the warmth as well)!

So, I'll be keeping a very close eye on her in the next week, but I do have a few questions.

-What could have caused this? I have the house at 77 degrees. I thought that was pretty sufficient and she's been fine at this temperature until today. The linoleum I have under the towel might be cold always and she does have a tendency to sleep under the towel under the blanket.
-Should I always keep a space heater in the room just in case? I don't want my girls to go through this again.
-How long should I keep the heating pad in the cage? It's a human heating pad so I don't want them to get hurt. I have it set on low.

This was quite a scary experience.

 

[menagerie]

Good job catching it in time and acting quickly to warm her up.

What kind of a cage do you have that she is sleeping on linoleum? Can you put the heating pad under the cage? Do you have a thermometer in her cage? She could have been in a cool spot in the cage or caught a draft and gotten cold. Some hedgies do like it to be over 77 degrees to be comfortable. If possible, I would try to keep the room a bit warmer or use a ceramic heat emitter over her cage to increase the ambient temperature of the cage.

 

[Nancy]

How much light are they getting? They need 12-14 hours per day and at this time a year need supplemental lighting. Insufficient light can cause hibernation attempts in some.

I'd get rid of the linoleum in the cage. It is always cool and it could make her cool. If possible, have a liner on the bottom of the cage that she can't get under.

It is better to keep the whole cage a warm enough temperature than to use a heating pad.

How old is her daughter?

 

[SpineyPigFaceLover]

I built a C&C cage for her before she had babies, and looked everywhere in town and couldn't find coroplast, therefore had to improvise. I finally was able to find a cheap site to order it from and will be receiving it tomorrow. I have also thought up recently of some modifications I can make so they don't go under the towel, like rigging up a velcro system so they can't dig it up. Any advice on that matter is welcome.

I have put the heating pad on top of the linoleum and underneath the towel. I've been checking on her periodically and they now have no interest in going under the towel since they seem to love that warm spot so much. I've been interested in getting a ceramic heat emitter for some time, and this whole situation has just made it necessary.

I thought I was doing a pretty good job of keeping enough light in the room. I keep blinds open during the day and when it gets dark I turn on the room light until I go to bed. But I am concerned that maybe it's because they like to spend all of their time under the fleece/towel. I really need to figure out a way to stop them from doing that, but all efforts up to this point have been in vain.

I'll take the heating pad out before I go to bed and have the space heater going until I can go to the store tomorrow and pick up a ceramic lamp and temperature gauge.

Sweety (sookie's daughter) will be 7 weeks old on Thursday. I have begun slowly separating her since I am giving her away to a trusted friend (3 hedgehogs is just too much for me!)