We've also had some discussions about what room temperature to keep for newborn litters, and how fast the pups start to regulate their temperature. My current litter started out 17 - 18 1/2 ounces, and as I always had, I put a heat lamp over one corner. 24 hours later, the pups were all on the other side of the whelping box, so I took the heat lamp away. Room temp is 71. They are four days old today, and overnight one pup was complaining like crazy. After checking to make sure he was ok, and he didn't want to nurse, I put a wet towel in the whelping box and set him on top of it. He breathed a big sigh, stopped crying, and fell right to sleep before my eyes. The other pups have since found the towel and they are all sleeping on or near it too.

This is the earliest that I've had pups "graduate" to the wet towel. These are also the biggest pups I've had at this age. Todays weights (4 days old) range from 1 lb 13 oz to 1 lb 15 oz.

My thought is that the bigger the pups, the less they need heat, no matter what the age. What do you think?

I agree - my current litter (5 weeks old, only 3 puppies) had the lamp taken away on the second day, have a fan blowing on them, and occasionally had a frozen soda bottle put into their box, which they slept on/next to. I definitely think the bigger puppies need less heat, plus the quality of their coats make a difference as well.

I had 2+ pound puppies in January and they HATED the heat. Took the heat lamp away immediately because they were as far away from it as they could get and clearly unhappy with the temperature!

Never thought about it being related to their weight, but it is, of course, possible (and interesting!)

Bonnie

I've always found the amount of coat on the pups makes a big difference in how they tolerate heat.

If you see a lot of "wool" in their puppy undercoat sometimes they will run a good amount warmer. I also found whatever I was using for bedding i.e. a thicker lambswool type would make them warmer than a thinner one.

I never found it to be size at all, the smallest pup if coated heavily could be the warmest.

Using common sense usually works IMO and it sounds like that's being used.

Just my experiences. I'm sure each litter varies, our own or someone else's.