# Confusion and concern



## rapple26 (Feb 15, 2014)

This is my first post on Hedgehog Central. I've been scouring this website looking for information for my new little girl. Molly is about 13 weeks old now, she was about 11 weeks when we got her. So as a new owner I've noticed a few things that seem odd to me.

Molly doesn't like her wheel...at all, she'll crawl under it, move it around, and sniff it, but she doesn't like to run on it. It's a solid bottomed green plastic wheel with a metal base. I put it in the play pen my husband and I made but she still wants nothing to do with her wheel.

Molly also doesn't like to sit still. Once I can get her out of her cage she is a non-stop moving little machine. She's quick and loves to move. I can understand to a point but I feel like I'll never be able to just cuddle with her. 

She sleeps a lot. We have her cage at 71-75 degrees at all times to make sure that she doesn't hibernate, but she still seems to sleep most of the day. A few times I've been able to watch her come out on her own and run around her cage, but I'm afraid she's sleeping too much.

She sometimes nips at our fingers. I've read a behavior book but she's not being aggressive about it. She sniffs then nips at our fingers and then she pops like we scared her. Will she grow out of that?

Finally, she likes to just lay about her cage sometimes. I've caught her just laying belly flat half in her hut half out. She doesn't seem to be in any pain, it's not too cold or too hot, but she just kinda spreads out and lays there.

Any help would be nice. Books only have so much information and I would like some advice from people who have hedgies as well!

Thanks!


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Welcome to the forum!

Babies sleep a LOT, and often in weird places or positions. So all of that is pretty normal!

She sounds like an explorer, so the refusal to sit still is pretty normal as well. If you really want to have some actual cuddles, try getting her out earlier in the day, when she'll still be sleepy. Get her covered up so she can burrow into a blanket or something on your lap and see if she'll settle down enough to sleep in your lap. Other than that, it's probably best to go along with what she prefers. You can lay on the floor while she runs around and as she gets used to you, she may come over to you more often to say hi, climb on you, or get treats.

Do you guys wash your hands with non-scented soap before handling her? If she's nipping but not too serious about it, it may just be "hey you smell interesting" nips. Make sure you don't hand-feed her treats, since that can encourage nipping as well.

With the wheel, is it an upright wheel (Comfort Wheel) or a flat one (Flying Saucer)? Could you show a picture or find one online that looks like it? What kind of bedding do you have? Sometimes with Comfort Wheels, if you have fleece bedding, they can be wobbly when hedgie goes to climb on them, so maybe she's tried that & it's spooked her from trying again. Check her nails as well, some hedgies won't run if they're too long. 

Do you have a light schedule for her so she's getting 12-14 hours of light during the day? And is there any light in her cage or room at night? This could include anything from heating light, nightlights in the room, or streetlight or moonlight from a window.


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## phoenix1964 (Jan 23, 2014)

The only thing I would add is in regards to the lying half in half out is that it sounds like something called splatting! The first time my girl did it it freaked me out! Many owners put a "splat stone" in their cages. Once you get used to it it is quite cute!


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## Annie&Tibbers (Apr 16, 2013)

Welcome to the forum! 71-75F can be a bit on the cold side for some hedgehogs; try cranking the temperature up a bit and see if she becomes more active at night.

Is she getting any light in her cage at night at all? Street light, moonlight, computer monitor glow, nightlight, light off a heat lamp (CHEs produce no light; reptile heat bulbs glow, which is why we use CHEs for hedgehogs), anything?

If you haven't seen it before, this is a really lovely care-guide for hedgehogs.


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## rapple26 (Feb 15, 2014)

Thanks! I've read the care guide, it was helpful. She's super active once we get her out of her cage and in the playpen. I was a little unsure if six feet per second was true until I saw her zipping around her playpen. Her wheel is an upright wheel with kiln dried pine bedding. I even take her wheel out of the cage and put it in her playpen, and she still refused to go into it. She is active at night, since we're also nocturnal (my husband works second shift) we get her out around 3-4am to play and she's all ready to go at that point in time. She's also active randomly throughout the day.

She gets some light during the day, but once we're up we just leave the light on in her room until a few hours before playtime. Since it's winter time, we all sleep through the natural light of day. At playtime, when we put her in her playpen the light is really low so we can see her but barely.

I can't really find a pic but I have the link for the wheel from Petsmart.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4191237&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No

She fits in it and everything. It's green instead of pink. I don't know why, but she hates it. She would rather run in circles all over her playpen then even look at the wheel.

Splatting did scare me. I read that in the guide, which wasn't in my book, so I feel better about that.

We make sure our hands are clean and unscented before we play with her. Husband forgot once after eating some chips and learned. She doesn't do it often, hasn't for a few days now, so maybe she just got used to us? One thing though, is she freaks out on our wedding bands. We have to be careful because she tried to attack his ring once. Is this a normal thing? Do hedgehogs not like metal?

Thanks for all the help everyone, I'm sure I'll have more questions and hopefully be able to post some pics of Molly.


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## phoenix1964 (Jan 23, 2014)

Have you seen her yawn yet? It's amazing how wide they can open those little mouths! Another thing which can be freaky is when they self-anoint ! My girl went berserker! falling around the place, licking her back, trying to lick her tummy!


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## Annie&Tibbers (Apr 16, 2013)

Quite a few hedgehogs have a strong attraction for metal, trying to steal or bite it when possible!


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## rapple26 (Feb 15, 2014)

So another question: how do you trim an energetic hedgehog's nails? They're getting kind of long and I don't want her to hurt herself on her nails. She has some stone things to climb on in both her cage and her playpen to help keep them short, but the nails seem to be growing faster than the stone helps. I don't want to hurt her, but she needs her nails trimmed..


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## Penny (Sep 23, 2013)

rapple26 said:


> So another question: how do you trim an energetic hedgehog's nails? They're getting kind of long and I don't want her to hurt herself on her nails. She has some stone things to climb on in both her cage and her playpen to help keep them short, but the nails seem to be growing faster than the stone helps. I don't want to hurt her, but she needs her nails trimmed..


^I have the same problem :|
It's a pain, my mom has to help me! What works for me is to turn her on her back and she freezes for 5 seconds. 
Then we have to trim a foot in those 5 seconds... *sigh*
I can normally trim one foot in a sitting, two is an amazing accomplishment lol


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## Annie&Tibbers (Apr 16, 2013)

I have to wake my guy up early in the evening and trim a few nails when he's groggy. We pretty much aim for one paw a night.


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## rapple26 (Feb 15, 2014)

OK now I'm really confused. I found Molly this evening sleeping on her side against the corner of her tank. She's sleeping on the heated side of the tank, not under her rock, out in the open. She's slept out in the open before, but she's just laying on her side. She doesn't normally ball in her sleep anyway, so I'm not worried about that, but do hedgies lay on thier sides? She gets all spiky when I move too close, which is also normal, but I've never seen her lay on her side like a dog before. Is she sick? Should I make a vet appointment?


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## phoenix1964 (Jan 23, 2014)

How is her eating and drinking? Is she still zooming all over the place? I think that lying on her side can be normal if all other signs indicate so. Our hedgie likes to try to squeeze under her wheel all the time.


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