# Harvey's low activity



## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

hi all,
Harvey has been a low-energy hedgie most of the time with us. he has been to the vet several times, including recently--bracketing his brief URI last summer, he's been healthy. he eats like a piggy and his weight is quite nice... but there's no way in **** he'd do any exercise. he poops when he's out to eat his dinner and he's done for the night. :roll: we've tried stuff... changing the dining routine, repeatedly putting him on the wheel several times a night, etc. but there's a reason hedgies are known to be stubborn. :roll: :roll: :roll: 

so... at this point i'm worried about his legs getting weak. if you're wondering if we've tried a playpen and stuff, yes, we have--for a long time. Harvey isn't even interested in exploring his own cage, let alone a playpen. we've tried hiding treats in the cage, but i guess you know where this is going... no luck.

any ideas?


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## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

well, that was a conversation killer...


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## shaelikestaquitos (Feb 2, 2010)

I don't know what to tell you, fracturedcircle. I guess a lot of people are speechless here on the forum with this thread... Maybe Harvey is the ultimate lazy hog :lol: Perhaps you could get him to exercise by spreading food around his cage so he has to exercise to find enough kibbles to fill his belly?


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## ReginasMommy (Apr 13, 2011)

I'm not really sure what to suggest, other than taking him out and putting him on open floor space. Whenever I take Regina out for playtime, she always tries to scoot off to a dark corner or into a cardboard box if there's one on the floor. Maybe if you put Harvey out in the open (supervised of course), he would make a run for a dark corner, and then you could pick him up and put him back in the middle of the floor and let him run for it again, and repeat that for a bit. I don't know if he'd get grumpy from having his plans constantly thwarted, though... :lol:


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## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

shaelikestaquitos said:


> I don't know what to tell you, fracturedcircle. I guess a lot of people are speechless here on the forum with this thread... Maybe Harvey is the ultimate lazy hog :lol: Perhaps you could get him to exercise by spreading food around his cage so he has to exercise to find enough kibbles to fill his belly?


yeah, he's so weird. he's always alert (ready to bite :roll: ) and he doesn't put up with stuff if he doesn't like it, so yeah... laziness. so weird.


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

I was going to suggest the same thing Regina said. When Snarf is out he pitter patters to his sleeping bag or our bed. He books it and even running across the livingroom is a long way in the hedgie world. 

Could you hide insects in a larger area - the entire living area maybe - so he has to really hunt? You may have to show him where the are the first time but once he catches on he will have to work for them.


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## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

MissC said:


> Could you hide insects in a larger area - the entire living area maybe - so he has to really hunt? You may have to show him where the are the first time but once he catches on he will have to work for them.


we tried hiding mealies in his cage--he didn't care. i mean he loves mealies, but his hunting instinct is not so good... except when he bites. :roll:

i'm going to mess with his dining schedule some more.


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## susanaproenca (Aug 14, 2010)

Harvey and Pete must be related. She is SO lazy too. She does use the wheel though, when she has to poop. :shock: yup, she goes on the wheel, walk a few steps, poops and gets down. The wheel is her bathroom. :?


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## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

susanaproenca said:


> she goes on the wheel, walk a few steps, poops and gets down. The wheel is her bathroom. :?


he used to do that until he realized that my lap is much more comfy for the purposes of pooping.


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## susanaproenca (Aug 14, 2010)

fracturedcircle said:


> susanaproenca said:
> 
> 
> > she goes on the wheel, walk a few steps, poops and gets down. The wheel is her bathroom. :?
> ...


 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

susanaproenca said:


> fracturedcircle said:
> 
> 
> > susanaproenca said:
> ...


no, seriously. even when he poops during his evening meal and i put him on my lap thinking "ok. he's done, let's cuddle," he squeezes out another poop, no matter how small. :shock: just because.

so does Pete sleep a lot?


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## susanaproenca (Aug 14, 2010)

Pete's main interests consist of sleeping, pooping and eating. :lol: 

She sleeps a lot, she usually gets up as soon as the lights are off to eat. Then she proceeds to walk on the wheel and poop, and then it's back to bed. She gets up sometime in the middle of the night because I always get up to use the bathroom and I can hear her eating at that time. 

It's very hard to get her to move though. If I try exploring, she will walk very slowly for 2 minutes and that's it. And just like Harvey, she won't tolerate things she doesn't feel like doing. If I try to move her to get her to walk more, she will just plop down and ball up and huff and puff, and she can do that for hours if I let her. Her wheel odometer always reads less than 0.005 miles, at first I thought it was the odometer but after repeatedly testing it I know it's workin just fine... :roll: 

How old is Harvey? Pete will turn 3 around August (I don't know the exact date,) so it's not that she is old! :?


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## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

susanaproenca said:


> How old is Harvey? Pete will turn 3 around August (I don't know the exact date,) so it's not that she is old! :?


he'll be two in June. he's a rehome, but i tracked down his breeder and she found the record. i feel better knowing it's not just Harvey.


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## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

Harvey the Blondie Sloth..


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## KathyTNY (Jan 21, 2011)

My two year old Tiggy can be awfully lazy, BUT she does run like a freak at night. She has a Mom-pooch from having been bred two times. Anyhow, saying that to say this:

I get her to move around a little bit every night by putting her in a small plastic toddler wading pool I got at Walmart. I fill it with tubs, jingle balls, worms, empty tissue box for her to go in and out of and just safe toys for her to touch and smell etc. She gets that silly tub stuck on the front of her face and she goes round and round the edge of the pool proudly waving the tub in the air....... it gets those little hams a movin'!!!

Kathy


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## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

just wanted to say that we're making some progress. Harvey is *very* scent-oriented, so putting him on/around new things gets him going.


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## susanaproenca (Aug 14, 2010)

fracturedcircle said:


> just wanted to say that we're making some progress. Harvey is *very* scent-oriented, so putting him on/around new things gets him going.


That's good to hear! Go Harvey, go! 

We had had Pete for 6 months now, and I had a odometer installed to her wheel since day 1. I had never seen it register anything higher than 0.010 miles, and I know the odometer works just fine. Well, Saturday the girls had their first pinky mice and that night, Pete ran 1.008 miles!   I was so impressed!


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

Wow! That makes me wonder if there was something missing -? Like maybe she needs extra protein. I think it would be interesting to see what happens next time she gets a pinkie. 
You go Pete! :lol: 

I'm interested in what works for Harvey too. Maybe I can perk up our plump little Zoey.


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## susanaproenca (Aug 14, 2010)

PJM said:


> Wow! That makes me wonder if there was something missing -? Like maybe she needs extra protein. I think it would be interesting to see what happens next time she gets a pinkie.
> You go Pete! :lol:
> 
> I'm interested in what works for Harvey too. Maybe I can perk up our plump little Zoey.


It makes me wonder it too. I'm repeating the menu next weekend again. Last nightie she had mealworms, waxworms and crickets, and just walked on the wheel a little bit. Go figure. :?


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## KathyTNY (Jan 21, 2011)

fracturedcircle said:


> susanaproenca said:
> 
> 
> > she goes on the wheel, walk a few steps, poops and gets down. The wheel is her bathroom. :?
> ...


 :lol: :lol: :lol: I love that!

I am going to jump in here now because I am finding that my retired Momma Tiggy (who I believe is definately 3 years old if not a little older) has started to slow down in her activities - she use to do her pooping and peeing on her wheel but now she has taken to doing it all in the kiddie pool I put her in for her nightly exercise. So she comes out to go in the pool around 9pm - she does her business then she does play with her tube and papercup going round and round for a few minutes but then she sticks the tube on her head and splats. She is done with her pool time. She then stays out and snugs with me in her fleece hat till I put her in her cage. Up until a couple weeks ago she would go in her cage, eat a little and then wheel a little...... all night long. Now she is not wheeling (or I don't think she is......the wheel is clean in the morning.....). I have tried everything..... her nails are good, she eats and poops and pees good.......... I am wondering if age is what is going on with her. How old is your pog? How are his nails?

Kathy


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## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

Kathy--Harvey is almost two yrs old. but he's always been like that, more or less (we got him when he was a year). his nails are regularly trimmed--i even keep a journal to make sure they get trimmed every two weeks.

Susana--was it a live pinkie or frozen?


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## susanaproenca (Aug 14, 2010)

Frozen. I ran the plastic bag they came in under warm water to bring it to room temperature.


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