# Sleeping at night



## PPCR (Jan 22, 2015)

My boyfriend and I are first time hedgie owners and have lot of questions. Paddington is 10months old and we brought him home about 6 days ago. This evening I came into our room a little after midnight and turned on the light and Paddington was just sitting in his wheel, not moving, just sitting and staring at me. Usually he would move or flinch but he didn't, which was really odd...and as I approached his cage, he didn't budge which was even odder. 

I took him out and he was really calm but proceeded to pee all over my sweater which was extremely weird to me. We played with him for about 20 minutes before putting him back inside his cage..and instead of running around or eating, he just went inside his igloo and we haven't heard a sound from his cage since.

Is it possible that turning on the light so suddenly could have put him in some kind of shock or could he be sick? Not sure if this matters but outside the wind is blowing pretty hard too so could it be possible that the outside sounds are putting him off? 

Hes usually really active from around 11pm until about 5am so we're really worried about his sudden change in behavior...can anyone please help?


----------



## CashmereSkeleton (Nov 28, 2014)

First off, I want to say that Paddington is a really cute name for a hedgie 

I've heard people say that their hedgehogs will not run on the wheel or that they stop running if there is any light around. If the room was dark and then suddenly became really bright that may have been a bit strange to him. Erin's light goes off at half 8, so I try to take her out just before that. I don't want to sit in a dark room with her and not be able to see what she's doing but I don't think it's fair if I let her cage get dark, she thinks it's safe to come out and then I take her into a lit room again. I thought that might be confusing to her. When we have her out, we're normally in the living room with just a lamp on rather than the main lights as they are too bright for her.

We had some terrible weather last week and the wind was whistling really loudly. It woke me up and I was nervous that Erin would be terrified. I did notice that she ate a bit less and didn't run on her wheel so I think the noises did scare her, but the next night she was back to normal.

He may have peed on you because he didn't get the chance to do it in his cage. He may have only just woken up. Erin peed on me once because my boyfriend took her out as soon as she woke up and didn't give her the chance to do it before hand.

Make sure that he's warm enough. Do you have a thermometer? Also, it's a good idea to weigh the food or count the pieces and then weigh/count again in the morning. Just because you don't hear or see them doing it doesn't mean they aren't eating. He might come out later at night when you are sound asleep and you just don't hear it. It's also a good idea to record how much they eat so that you can notice any changes.

Also I should mention that baby hedgehogs do sleep a lot.


----------



## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Some hedgehogs run and hide, other's stay very still, like staring down a T-Rex. :lol: He may have been scared and peed but most likely you probably caught him about to wheel which is when they pee and when you picked him up he probably couldn't hold it anymore. 

Definitely make sure to keep him warm and a thermometer is very necessary for your hedgehog.


----------



## MomLady (Aug 14, 2010)

Paddington (cute name:razz was probably just surprised and froze. 

Yeah, Nara would always run back to her igloo when you came in, even if the lights were off. 
If she was on her wheel, she'd stop wheeling and rock back and forth in it.

Once in a while she'd just keep running.

One time she was eating and she ran back into the igloo still chewing.  

It is completely normal for them to get up, eat, potty, wheel and then go back to bed and then get up again later--and do everything all over again. And it will vary too. Sometimes when I did my morning checks Nara would still be on her wheel at 5 am. 

As mentioned, it so important to have a thermometer in the cage so you know the exact temperature Paddington is feeling.


----------



## PPCR (Jan 22, 2015)

Thank you everyone for all the help! 

And such cute names for all your hedgies too! ??

Paddington did return to normal the next night, however we're experiencing a new and apparently unusual problem, so I suppose I'll start a new topic. Hopefully someone can really help us with this, we seem to have a very agressive Paddington....


----------

