Newborn piglets are attracted to heat and soft materials. Three experiments questioned whether newborn piglets show clear preferences between different infrared temperatures, types of bedding in the creep area, and determined space occupation at different infrared temperatures. In the first experiment, 10 piglets from each of 18 litters were distributed between three temperature treatments (6 litters in each): 26°C vs. 34°C, 26°C vs. 42°C or 34°C vs. 42°C. Another 18 litters were tested in an identical setup with temperatures of 30°C vs. 34°C, 30°C vs. 38°C and 34°C vs. 38°C. In a second experiment, an equivalent set-up with 18 new litters was used to test the choice between foam-mattress vs. sawdust, foam-mattress vs. water-mattress, and sawdust vs. water-mattress. During testing, we placed the piglets in a neutral arena to provide a choice between the two test chambers. The piglets were videotaped for 60 minutes, and the location of piglets were scored every second minute. In the third experiment, 10 piglets from each of eight litters were placed in an experimental creep area with three different temperatures: recommended (34°C) cool (4°C below recommended) or warm (4°C above recommended) at week 1. This procedure was repeated with recommended temperatures of 27°C and 25°C in week 2 and 3 respectively. Space occupation was then calculated based on digital photographs. The piglets preferred 42°C to 34°C and 42°C to 26°C (pair-wise t-test; P<0.01), but the piglets showed no other significant preferences. The piglets preferred sawdust to plastic foam-mattress (pair-wise t-test; P<0.05), and water-mattress was least preferred. A mixed model analysis of variance showed that space occupation increased with increasing infrared temperature in week 1 (P<0.01), week 2 (P<0.001) and week 3 (P<0.01). Area occupied by 10 piglets at the recommended temperature was 0.6, 0.7, and 0.9 m2 in week 1, 2 and 3, respectively.