Vivarium Questions :)

Firstly welcome to the forum
A viv that is 36" is the smallest you should go, obviously the larger you can go the better for the animal. If you had one with the glass front you would need to add extra vents to it as there is not sufficient in a standard viv for a hog, or you could change them for mesh doors.
The ideal way to heat the viv is by ensuring the room itself is at the correct temperature but I know that isn't always possible.

hello & welcome to the forum! have absolutely no useful input cos i use the zoozone- i just wanted to be friendly & say hi!

never apologise for wanting to get ti all right for hoggie! its great that you want to be prepared. as long as the viv is out of direct draughts & sunlight it should be ok. the bigger the better is usually the avice- if it fits & you can afford it get the biggest viv, i have a ZZ2 for my guy. i dont have a a CHE as i have a heat mat & a snugglesafe (neither of which he uses!!) so id check about that- but i do have his mat on all the time to ensure heat is available when its required but has the disadvantage of not evenly distrobuting the heat like a ceramic heater will. hope this helps a bit, im sure somebody with lots more experience will come along soon

Hi there

My viv is about 40" long i think.

I have a heat mat under the house in my viv which is linked to a thermostat. You can set the thermostat to a temperature and if the temp drops below that temp (mine is 23-24 degrees c) then it comes on - its very easy to use and i can give you the link to the ones on ebay that some of us on here use.

I dont have central heating in my room as my room is in the attic and i live in an old building, but i do have a portable heater up here which is next to the vivs. However - due to the heat i havent had to use it yet as ive only had my hog since Weds and its been boiling since then.

Also to be on the safe side, you could get a snuggle safe heat pad which is microwaveable for trips to the vets or other emergencies

Hope that helps for now, keep firing the questions =D And welcome to the forum
xxx

I have 4 foot vivs and as we don't like the house heated at night I bought an advanced heating system. It is a black box you put on the wall at the back of the viv, it has a ceramic heater in it and a built in thermostat (I also have a seperate digital themometer just as back up to check temp). It was just over £80, looks better than the ceramic bulb and worked out cheaper than buying all the bits separetely. I bought it last Nov and has been great.

Heya,

I have a 48" long viv which is in the living room and it has a CHE. The only problem with windows being opened during the day etc you would need to be careful of temperature fluctuating too much. The CHE is pretty good and keeps the viv at a nice constant temperature using it in combination with the thermostat. Other people do not like CHE and use a combination of heat pads and oil filled radiators to keep the room warm. Each have their pros and cons it is just about deciding which one is better for you. The thermostat is useful as some have a digital display to show the temperature. As it is summer there is the bigger problem of keeping the viv cool rather than warm so it would be best to probably get a thermometer and measure the temperature differences during the day and night. When it gets closer to winter and temperatures are dropping it will be easier to determine whether you need a CHE or another form of heating. I agree with CJs recommendation regarding a snugglesafe disc as these are very useful if you need to go anywhere which requires heat and last for hours!

It depends on where you are getting your vivarium from. Brandygirl69 makes them and will be able to put in an extra level if needed. Good thing about buying a customised viv is that you can get it to the right size to fit the area wanted. As for extra levels, I used a ferplast bunny house in combination with a wooden platform to make my two levels.

Sorry for the random thought patterns, things crop into my head as I am typing!

Before I forget if I haven't said it already, "Welcome to the forum!"