How to keep your hamster warm in the winter

[Thehampsterlover123]

I would appreciate some advice on how to keep my hamster warm this winter, because it gets pretty cold around where I live and I am not sure what the best options are to safely keep him warm

 

[Maz]

Hello There are various things that help, but the main things is not letting the room temperature drop too low. It varies depending on peoples housing as well as some people have quite insulated homes that keep the heat in well after the heating goes off at night, and others (me included) don't!

Popular things are: Insulating the cage base (wrapping something round it) and using snugglesafe heat pads, which are microwaveable - not touching the cage but a gap between the snugglesafe and the cage - some people put them underneath a cage or enclosure.

However if it's a house that gets very cold at night, heating the room is the main thing, even if its only an hour in the middle of the night. We actually have an oil filled radiator with a timer and thermostat, that comes on at night if the temperature drops below a certain level. The difficulty with setting central heating to come on for an hour during the night is it would heat the whole house! Which might not be a bad thing but can add to bills!

I think whatever is more cost efficient really. And it helps if the hamster has lots of cosy bedding as well.

Depending on where you are in the world, it's not too bad yet - but freezing temperatures could start coming along soon.

Ideally the room temperature doesn't drop below 16 degrees - not for long anyway.

 

[Maz]

Also see this thread

https://www.thehamsterforum.com/threads/keeping-warm-this-winter.3277/#post-117562

 

[Thehampsterlover123]

Thank you! I will try those

 

[Thehampsterlover123]

We have a space heater that we can use in the room we keep ginger, what temperature should I set it to?

 

[Maz]

What type of space heater is it? Fan or oil filled radiator or something else? Even if it doesn't have a timer, you can use one of those plugs with a timer on maybe.

 

[Thehampsterlover123]

I believe it is electric so you plug it in to the wall outlet

 

[Socks' Mum]

I tried a timer plug on a fan and it got quite hot. The fan was OK without the timer plug and didn't get hot. Just a thought

 

[Maz]

A fan heater might be a bit risky to use overnight. Especially if the timer plug got hot.

 

[Socks' Mum]

A fan heater might be a bit risky to use overnight. Especially if the timer plug got hot.

It was a fan, no heater

 

[Maz]

Oh sorry must have misunderstood. Something shouldn't get hot using a timer plug. You can get timer plugs with an inbuilt circuit breaker which makes it safer. Easier if the heater has it's own timer though.

Timer plug with circuit breaker

 

[Thehampsterlover123]

OK thanks I will try that

 

[Maz]

I'd be careful what kind of electric heater you leave on overnight though - some are safer than others. I only use the radiator type (oil filled) - I wouldn't use a fan heater.

 

[Tanja]

I'd be careful what kind of electric heater you leave on overnight though - some are safer than others. I only use the radiator type (oil filled) - I wouldn't use a fan heater.

I found this heater is perfect. A fan is too dangerous I think. It's definitely keeping the room at 18 to 20 degrees. It was on sale when I got it and I think it was a good investment as can be moved around too. The Radia S Easitronic. I got it for £85

 

[Maz]

They can be useful as well - used in different rooms at different times or if a boiler breaks down!

 

[Tanja]

They can be useful as well - used in different rooms at different times or if a boiler breaks down!

Yes and hopefully not

 

[Thehampsterlover123]

What exactly do you mean by a "fan heater"

 

[Maz]

One that blows hot air like a fan. This sort of thing. It's like a large hairdryer really.

Fan heater

 

[Thehampsterlover123]

Oh well mine is adjustable for different temperature settings, I do believe it just blows the hot air though

 

[Maz]

I just edited my post to link one as an example