Hi all, my bitch is due in 2 1/2 weeks and is going to be having her pups in her whelping box in the kitchen, which drops quite cold overnight.
I'm trying to source a heat lamp and wondered if there was any one in particular i should use for newborns, or are there any better alternatives for heat other than the lamps. She is a medium-large gundog breed and her box has quite a large floor space, so thought overhead heating best. Any opinions?
cheers.

hi :) i love mine used it with 2 litters just make sure its 5feet above the box floor ...if you havnt got 1 yet i got mine very cheap off the internet it was a chicken wedsite lol well selling stuff for chickens but i carnt remember what the site is called :)

I prefer an insulated whelping box (with lid) and a head pad.

www.chicken-house.co.uk

hi all, many thanks for your replys, will check the website out, cheers.

I'd use a whelping box with a lid, vet bedding, heat pad and also have an oil filled radiator plugged in near to the box to keep the ambient room temp up.

Goodluck! :-D

good idea with the oil filled radiator, as our kitchen has no heat source in it. Will look into getting one of those as well.
Regarding the heat lamp, have checked the website out but wondered what wattage bulb i should get as it would be the first time of using one of these, cheers.

If I was buying again I would buy one of those dull emitter bulbs as I sleep in with the pups and would appreciate a bit of sleep when I can get it :-)

If you REALLY want a heat lamp, then the dull emitter is the heat source to get. It's better for the pups' eyes as they start to open that a bright bulb, and better for the bitch too.  But a closed whelping box is much more efficient for keeping a litter warm.

The bulb I have is a red bulb so not particularly bright but any light at all keeps me awake.  I don't think a closed box would be warm enough through the night with no additional heat.

thanks westcoast, my bitch doesn't like being enclosed and won't enter anything enclosed, she has a plastic kennel which is very oversized and cost us a lot of money but she won't even attempt to go in, and she seems very relaxed in her whelping box she has at the mo.
will check out the dull emitter bulbs, thanks for your advice.

yes iagree the dull emitter !!! i sleep with mum and pups in my bed room so i found it easy to sleep (not that i got much lol)

thanks all, i plan on sleeping with my bitch also, but to be quite frank i could sleep through an explosion!
I'm sure all the excitement will keep me awake though, and i'm sure she'll be glad of the company as this will be her first litter and she may need re-assuring along the way. We have a huge kitchen, with no heat, so i may need a heat lamp as well LOL.
Will definately look into getting an oil filled radiator

I personally hate the heat lamps. I think they keep the heat on the bitch too much and the bottom of the box where the heat is actually needed is often cool. I prefer a heat pad.   It goes in one corner of the box and the puppies gravitate to it when they need more heat but the bitch can lie far away from it.

We all have our preferences :-)  Personally I am not comfortable with something they may able to be in contact with.  The lamb lamps produce a fairly localised heat in my experience and the mother and pups do not seem to find any difficulty in arranging themselves to take advantage or not in the same way as they would with any other localised heat point.

I have mine securely covered they could never get in actual contact with the pad.  

I tried to use a heat lamp with one litter , it heated the whole whelping box no matter how I hung it. ( Small breed small qty of pups)  My bitch kept jumping out.  Even raising it to a height that suited her then made the bottom of the box very cold.     The thought of the bulb possibly breaking also frightens me.

I can't produce stats but I have read and heard from others that the mortality rate seems to be improved with heat pads over heat lamps.

Heat "coming through them"  seems to be the best way of keeping the core temperature warm.   Just like an electric blanket.  My vet also noticed huge improvements using heat pads over heat lamps for bitches who have had C-Sections and survival rates on litters that have had herpes issues.

We all have our preferences   Yes that is why there is several choices :-)  Having used both though I have shared my experience.

I have two heat lamps if anyone wants them. One is an older one given to me free years ago the other I bought new and used for less that 48 hours. Free to good home. :-)

Im still undecided, but was swinging more towards the pad than the lamp - my next question is, should it be the size of the whelping box or smaller, the ones I've seen for sale are much smaller than the box, would this be ok?  Which then makes me wonder about the lamp again, as that would reach them all!  Where abouts are you from? I'd gratefully take you up on your offer if you were local to me?

smaller, then if its to warm they can get off of it and not over heat, a potential problem with the weather getting warmer

we had a litter on thurs and and we have a heat pad which is smaller than the whelping box, we did buy a red heat lamp but we havent used it. Our girl and pups are in the front room and its reasonably warm.

My heat pad is approx 1/3rd of the box. I think it is paramount that the heat pad is less than the box , at least 50% less  so that the puppies and the bitch can move away from the pad when they like.  It is one of the reasons the pad is favoured by some over the lamp.  The lamp just doesn't work for my set up.

> but was swinging more towards the pad than the lamp - my next question is, should it be the size of the whelping box or smaller, the ones I've seen for sale are much smaller than the box, would this be ok

I bought an expensive heat lamp - used once, and put away never to be seen again.  My breed is a lot smaller than yours, and only has one or two pups.  The lamp distressed the bitch - she was far too warm.

The heat pad I use is less than half the size of the whelping box.  I find that Mum moves away from it, and when she's not suckling, the pups automatically move over to the pad - heat is regulated by their weight.  Although, I also have central heating on 24/7 for them.  If I didn't have that, I would use an oil filled radiator.  Cheap enough to run.