I have a litter due any day -we are on day 59  i normally use heat pads but have been reading wesite about heat lamps so have also ordered  heat lamp with dimmer and infra red  bulb.

Would you use both or just one during first few weeks

> Would you use both or just one during first few weeks

Please don't use both, you'll make it unbearably hot for the Mum who will already have a racing metabolism.

Unless your house is kept very cold a heat pad, on part of the area where pups will lie, will provide the choice of heat v no heat.

'Bad mothering' is often just down to the fact that the breeder has made the whelping box too hot. 

I agree, I certainly can't see a need for both sources of heat...I use a microwaveable heat pad, usually lasts longer than 12 hours...I have 3 so interchange them...I put them in aone corner, leaving mum the chance to setle away from the heat if she wants to...I prefer that as there is an area kept cooler...I always think overhead heat/light is uneccassary and no control! The heat lights that I've seen give off a lot of light/glow...I prefer to keep day as day and night as night to encourage an appreciation of quiet times, all the best, Dawn (let us know when they arrive!)

> I always think overhead heat/light is uneccassary and no control!

That's the very reason I wonder about using a pad! :-D  The overhead light can be easily controlled by raising or lowering.  Mines on a sort of jibbet that Hubby made.
Generally it is simply a question of raising a little every few days to match their growing ability to regulate themselves.

> The heat lights that I've seen give off a lot of light/glow...

Yes, mine is like that but I believe you can get ones that give off no light and I shall look for one if I ever have another litter.

I think ive gone a bit overboard on this litter.I have used heat mats in the past but as im awaiting the arrival (dont think they want to come out ha ha)
keep reading this website and thinking i need more.so decided to buy heat lamp now.i think i might use it for the first week during the night then use the heatmat during the day
i was never this nervous having my own children i feel physicaly sick

With smaller breeds the whelping box is quite small a heat lamp hanging over is permenant heat.  a heat pad temperature is quite low and the puppy can move onto and off it as they wish.

I have never found the heat lamp suitable with my breed personally.  Too high you lose the heat you need and too low it is too hot in my opinion and the bitch over heats. When you get the position right for the dam the box is too cold at the bottom for the puppies. The bottom of the box is the important area of heat for the puppies. 

I guess when you have tried both it makes it a lot easier to understand the benefits and downfalls of both options.

I think one of the biggest mistake people often make is over heating litters. I did it for my first litter without any doubt.  Terrified they were cold.  A heat pad for the first week in a reasonably warm house and then just at night I find works best .. Of course unless it is really cold outside /in the house.

i just have a heat lamp at one end o the whelping box and then pups can gravitate towards it if they want.....or away from it if they want. To be honest id imagine in ost folks centrally heated homes a lamps fairly uneccessary but we have to have it as our "dog room" where the pups are born is a really cold room with no heating....actually our whole house is cold with no heatin!!! :)

> Too high you lose the heat you need and too low it is too hot

You do need to check throughout the day that it remains right but at least it is infinately variable which is useful as the ambient temperature changes over the day and night.
I suppose it is different for my slightly bigger breed as I do not find it difficult to arrange a warmer area for the pups that allows the dam a cooler area.

So a heat lamp at night would be a good idea.Iwas thinking that as the heating is not on of a bedtime that would provide a nice heat for them.The heatmats are good but i was reading that the whelping box temperature should be 80 degrees and if i remember rightly the box was not that hot when i had puppies before with the pads.(just want to get things right)

Think that is probably the reason Isabel :-)  the smaller breeds with small whelping boxes are covered quite a bit by a lamp. My little heat pad is only about the size of a A4 bit of paper. Definately no bigger.  Even at 1 week old my pups will be between 12-16 ozs depending on birth weight.

I've never used any extra heat as I feel that the living room is definitely warm enough.  Only time I've used a heat pad is if the pup has been slightly sickly, or after a C-section and mum isn't up to being with them permanently.

I had a heat pad which went under the bedding, covering about half or 2/3 of it, that way mum & pups could choose if they wanted warming or not.

i find when you put the heatpad under the vetbed  you cannot feel any heat

Try standing on it! The heat pad is only hot when something is on it..if you get my drift! I only use a pad, in my large breed Mum is generaly too hot anyway and with a pad she can avoid the hottest part of the box. I find to place it in the middle is good as Mum always goes in and lies along one egde or another but the puppies lie in the middle and suckle so they are always on the warm bit?
I agree with the statement that too much heat makes for poor mothering, I keep my lounge at a contant 72 degrees night and day for the first 2 weeks then gradually cool it down, now at 4 weeks my pups have no heat at all and still spread themselves out to stay cool. I do have a large heavy coated breed though so not nesesarily the right thing for smaller shorter coated breeds. Don't be tempted to Overheat though, If pups gather in a heap they may need a little more but if they spread out they are just right. And if Mum is comfortable she will spend more time in the box thereby reducing the need for too much extra heat.
Aileen

i agree completely with merlot.

The pads are designed to only give off the heat when pressure is applied by a puppy laying on it.

I also only use a single heat pad and place in the centre of the box as my girls always lay along an edge of the box, that way mum keeps comfortable and puppies can choose if they want the heat

Good luck with your babies :)

> Don't be tempted to Overheat though

I agree. We don't use a heat pad or lamp with our large breed pups but then we have under floor heating. We actually have to turn it off in their room if the bitch is having to leave the whelping box. Still it depends on your breed and temperature of your whelping room. It sounds as if you usually manage just fine.
Good luck, hope all goes well.

I wouldn't use any heat for a litter of healthy boxer puppies reared in a warm room but I would most certainly use a heat pad for a litter of tiny Cavaliers. At around 2-6 ozs and often several days early, they really do need a little extra support.