# Is it healthy a daytime heggie?



## valp162 (Nov 14, 2013)

Hi,
So I have an 8 month old heggie named Charlie and she makes an enormous amount of noise at night; digging and running and I read up that you can change their schedule to become daytime creatures. I was thinking of doing this but I have no clue how to do this or if it's healthy for her (or non healthy). I often read that it is bad to force them to be awake during the day but there's never any explanations as to why or the reactions she will have. Anybody have a daytime heggie? Or any tips of keeping her quite at night so I can sleep again?


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## abbys (Oct 13, 2012)

No, please don't do this. It's very dangerous to try and change their natural schedules. To start with, it will throw their whole rhythm off and the stress of it can compromise their immune systems. Put yourself in that position - imagine how much it would hurt you mentally and physically to change your entire natural schedule. Is there another room in your house you can keep her cage?


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Agreed with Abbys. It's not healthy at all to change the schedule of any animal to the opposite of what's natural for them. Like Abbys said, it's very stressful for them. Occasionally an animal will adjust their schedule on their own - there are some hedgehogs that get up for a little bit during the day on their own, and I know I've read of one or two that seem to have switched their own schedule around - if they've chosen it, it's likely not a huge deal, as long as they're getting the right amounts of light. But it does not work out the same way if you're forcing the change on them.

Is her running the noisy thing or is it the wheel? Commercial wheels like the Comfort Wheel are pretty noisy. Bucket wheels are generally very quiet and the noisiest thing is the hedgehog's feet pattering along on the wheel, which isn't too bad. What is she digging in that's very noisy? Could you perhaps prevent access (if she's digging under her liner, for example), or change something (add more fleece scraps if she's digging in to get comfy for bed, etc.)? Another room may be the best option too, if it's possible.


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## ceopet (Sep 20, 2013)

It's very cruel to attempt this with your hedgehog as already been said.

Can you move the cage somewhere else?


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## sarahspins (Jun 25, 2013)

I think figuring out if there are any ways to make her normal activity quieter is the way to go rather than attempting to change her behavior. If there are any things in her cage that are noisy (wheel, igloo being banged around, etc) that could be swapped out for quieter things, you could try that, but you are unlikely to "make" your hedgehog be more active during the day and less active at night, they just don't work that way.


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## valp162 (Nov 14, 2013)

I will definetly look into getting her more quiet at night then changing her over. Thank you for the information, i though i might be missing something.

Also, her wheel is probably the noisiest. Here's a picture of the one I have at the moment, should I get a quieter one? which are the best?

Also she digs at the corners, under her fleece blanket which is corrugated plastic cardboard, which somehow seems to come off very loud. Any suggestions to prevent her from digging there? I've tried to put heavier things on top but she manages to push them off and go back to digging.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

The pictures didn't work - have to upload them, either directly to the site when you post the message, or to a site like Photobucket and then link.

Either way, I'm going to guess it's a store-bought wheel. Like I said, the bucket and cake cover wheels are considered the best because they're virtually silent. You can buy them online from various sellers. We have some people who advertise in the For Sale section, under the Wheels tab. 

For digging, it may require some new fleece blankets, but if you can make the liners extra long, so they go up to the edge of the coroplast wall, you can clip them to the wall with binder clips. Some people also use another piece of coroplast that fits inside the cage with just a little bit of extra space, and they fold the fleece liner around that piece, then fit it down into the bottom of the cage so that the fleece is securely tucked between the insert & regular coroplast bottom. Either solution might be a bit labor-intensive at first to get things organized, but it should be easy to keep up once you have the hang of it.


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## ceopet (Sep 20, 2013)

You can also give her a pile of fleece scraps to dig around in, My hedgie seems to love hers, lately she's taken to instead of sleeping in her sleep sack Going under it and burying her self in her fleece scraps lol


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## Tongue_Flicker (Jun 11, 2013)

I have half-daytime hedgies. Usually still awake til 8am doing jogging and digging. I feed them then they sleep all day til 9pm when it's feeding time again. They then doze off and will wake up again around 2am onwards til 8am. Short daylight hour issues i guess.


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## Beloved Doll (Nov 21, 2013)

In addition to what everyone has already said, I have had some hedgehogs that chose on their own to be active during the day. However, they were still active at night.

I know it won't be this way for everyone, but for me, after some time, I got used to the sounds they made in their cages at night. I lived with it for years. After moving in with my boyfriend, and him getting allergies (to the point where he literally couldn't breathe), we moved the hedgehogs to another room. I gotta tell you, after so many years of hearing hedgehogs scuffling around doing hedgehog things, I found myself unable to sleep because it was so quiet in the room. It felt weird that I couldn't hear my hedgehogs and I was very uncomfortable with this idea of not having them in the bedroom.


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## Tongue_Flicker (Jun 11, 2013)

And besides, cage noises are nothing compared to keeping hedgies in huge glass tanks with ceramic water and food bowls where they will intenionally bump the bowls against the glass to attract attention or use it as leverage to try and reach the top haha (i know my mistake why it's noisy lol)


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