# Sleeps alot, doesnt eat much :(



## crazyjoezx (Feb 28, 2010)

Well its been almost 2 weeks that I had Atom for...and he still seems to be on a light dight ..
his daily mix of food is IAMS kitten food (soon to be replaced with less fatty) with ultra blend ( http://ozbo.com/262198-H-Hedgehog-B-In-B-Oz.html ) i found out he likes to nibble on cooked carrots so i usually line the plate with a few slices of that and some sun dried cranberries (haven't "seen" him eat any of them yet) ...
anyways point being he only eats maybe once a day, usually at night when i go to bed..which is around 2-3am..some times i think he waits for me to turn off the light and go to bed..
sometimes when im hoding him in a shirt i will place a kibble right next to his nose and he will eat it, or ill hold the water bottle and he drinks from it (his cage has a open dish for water bc he bites at metal part while drinking)

and sometimes when i wake up hes still sleeping in the same place i left him the night before.
..then when i get home hes still sleeping, even through the late night...should i be waking him up ? sometimes when i do try he will just run in his house or under the clothes we have in his cage and go back to sleep, there been times i would wake him up then take out everything from the cage but his wheel/water/food and that tends to make him a bit more active but in a while i feel thats kinda mean... Hes 4 months old..so they need this much sleep at this age? 
last Saturday he was awake with my daughter exploring in her room for a few hours durging the day..but then when he went to bed he slept all day and i think most the nite in to sunday

between the eating and sleeping im worried about him...should i be?..


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## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

Babies sleep a lot so this sounds normal. I wouldn't try making him be awake when he doesn't want to be, a lot of times as they get older they will start being awake more and active. I think another part of it is because 2 weeks is still very early and it takes them awhile to get settled in. If it seems as if he's not eatting much I'd count the kibble just to make sure he is eatting. Another thing is he may not be eatting as much because going out of his hide makes him feel vulnerable and he's still getting used to his environment. You can try putting some of his food in his bed with him and see if that helps. When I have had company the new noises made mine eat less so I just put his food bowl near the entrance of the Igloo (offset so he could still get in and out easy) and drapped one of his little blankets over the door and bowl. It worked good and his eatting picked right back to normal. Just be careful of blankets and scraps near the water bowl because there was an instance where mine got a corner of a blanket dunked in the water bowl and it will end up siphoning the entire contents onto the liner lol.

Hope this helps. Congrats on your new hedgie and welcome to HHC


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

Alot of hedgies will only come out and be active if its totally dark in the room, so if you're up with the light on, he probably won't come out. You can try covering his cage at night so he comes out earlier. Dried, even sundried, cranberries are not good for them. Hedgies shouldn't get dried fruit of any kind as it can get stuck in their teeth and the roof of their mouth. If it happens when no one is around they can end up clawing at their mouths and do damage to themselves.

The not being active during the day is normal, I rarely see any of mine out of their houses during the day unless I take them out to cuddle. Hedgies are very very nocturnal.


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## krbshappy71 (Jul 17, 2009)

If the light is on until 2-3 a.m. I'm guessing he is confused as to when it is nighttime and when it is daytime. I leave the light on from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m consistently every day, even if I stay up past 9 p.m. Like clockwork they come out to eat, drink, wheel for different sessions all through the night. Even if I stay up later than 9 p.m. on the computer I turn off the room light so they know its time to wake up.


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