# What Time Do You Wake Up Your Hedgie?



## Kaitlyn531

Hi everyone  I tried searching for the answer of my question, but it seems like every time I ever search for anything, most of my search words end up being "ignored" by the search engine :/ 

Winston is 7 months old now, but still doesn't have a "usual" wake up time. Although recently, he's been waking up around 11 or so, he goes pretty much right back to sleep unless I immediately get him out of his cage. Typically, the only way I've ever gotten him to wake up and wheel any significant amount is by waking him up while he's in his house and sitting with him in my lap every night for 30+ minutes. Otherwise, he just eats at his food and goes right back to bed. Usually, I DO wake him up every night and cuddle with him a bit, but my school schedule recently ends up making me pretty tired, where I skip on the cuddling some days. I still weigh his food to see how much he's eaten and track how much he wheels. Regardless of whether or not he wheels, he'll usually eats somewhere between 5 and 10 grams of food per night. On a good night, he'll wheel 1 to 1.5 miles on average, sometimes more.. But the nights that I don't wake him up on purpose, he won't wheel at all (or barely at all, less than .5 miles, tops). 

Right now, I have a timer set up on his cage light to turn on and off automatically. It usually turns off at 8:30pm and turns back on at 8:30am. I find that the earlier I wake him up, the grumpier he is.. But of course, the later I stay up, the grumpier I am when I wake up! Clearly, we have to find some compromise here.. 

So my question is.. What time do yo all wake your hedgies up, and would he get used to me waking him up earlier if I did do that? Is he still technically a "baby" and needs the extra sleep? Also, I've heard some people on here talk about waking up their hedgies around 6pm, but at that point, it isn't even "nightfall" in his cage yet. Any suggestions? Should I turn back his timer so it's nighttime earlier, or is that not really an issue? 

I am asking the almighty hedgehogcentral.com forums for guidance! _|""|O


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## xspiked

I don't know how much help I'll be.  

Bulu's only 2.5 months, so really a baby. Some nights she wakes up by 6:30 all on her own. Some nights she 'sleeps in' and I'll wake her by 8:30ish by moving her house, then turning off the lights and leaving her alone.


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## PJM

Winston sounds a bit like my Zoey. She doesn't run a lot. She will wander around her cage, eat, sleep. I have noticed that she will pretty much wheel only until I get her, then she's done for the night. So if I get her first, it's like .4 miles. If I get her second, it's over 1 mile. Go figure, I have no idea what she's thinking.

I'm an early bird, so keep that in mind... I turn on the light in their room @ about 5am. Turn it off @ 6pm. Give them am hour to wake up, go potty, etc. Then I get them starting @ about 7 pm.

Everyone's different, so I would try different things & see what works best for you.


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## Nebular

I usually get Norman up around 4:30pm or 5:00pm after I get home. I weigh him, record his weight and wheeling distance, then plop him down in my lap for snuggle time where he can sleep in my hoodie. Some nights he's out for a short while before I have to run out again. Other nights he's out with me until 11:00pm or so when I usually go to bed.


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## pearlthehedgie

We have Pearl's light on from 6 am to 7 pm. We wake her up between 7:30 and 8 pm by first removing her igloo and giving her a little time and then picking her up. She's only 2 1/2 months old right now. She hangs out and plays with the kids till they go to bed at 9 or 9:30.


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## KathyTNY

My Tiggy is over two years old - so my advice is coming from a "seasoned" hog!!! 

I get Tiggy up from anywhere around 7:30-8:30pm to come and be with the family in the livingroom in her playpen. The lights are on and we are watching tv and playing with her and her toys. Then around 9:30pm-10pm I let her climb into her snuggy sack and she comes and snuggles with me while I knit or work on my computer. I take her back to her cage at about 11:30pm - turn her lights off and she starts wheeling, eating and chlling in her cage. I see her go back to bed for a little bit and then she does it all over again. When I get up at 5:30am or 6:00am I turn her light back on and catch her as she is just crawling into her hut under her blanket for the all day sleep time.

Though maybe some info from an old girl would be useful to you even though yours is still a baby.

KathyTNY


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## Kiwi-Man

I get the boys up around 8:30 p.m. We all lounge for a half hour and watch tv. Then I feed them a snack. Around 10-ish they go back for their full meal and they play until 6 a.m. or so.


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## RalphsMum

We used to get Ralph up at 8pm, but now it's more like 9pm.
Seems he wakes up himself at 9pm so it made sense for us to just leave him until then AND he's not nearly so grumpy anymore


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