hi!
just a little overview of what i do:
i keep them on a heat pad with the dial between low/med for the first 2 weeks. in the summer with the a/c going i keep it on med. in the winter, i tend to keep my house warmer cause my hubby is a big baby and says his toes freeze, so we keep the heat pad on low. i do not use heat lamps anymore. i have one. i used it once. my mommy would not get in the whelp box due to the heat coming down on her is what i think. i could never rest assured that i didnt have the temp too hot with the heat light. so i stuck it in storage. i put the heat pad on 1/2 of the whelp box so they can get cooled off if it is too hot for them. for the most part my babies always stayed on the heated part until 2 weeks. my vet said that they cannot regulate their own body temp until 3 wks of age, so at 3 wks with them getting a little more active and crawling around i make a point to turn the pad down to the lowest setting. by 3 1/2 weeks i dont keep the heat pad under their box anymore. up until 3 wks of age, i have somtimes turned it off during the day if mom is in with them and back on at night when our house temp drops. |