# Not getting enough darkness



## nessariel (Mar 3, 2010)

When we were in our old house, Winston was in the TV room, and would come out around midnight, even if the TV was on, as long as the lights in the room were out. This room was very dark because it was in a basement, and the one window was small and covered by thick, dark curtains. I'm not sure how long he would stay out, but he got at least 10 hours of almost complete darkness. His light goes out at 10pm, and on at 8am.
Now Winston is in the living room of the new apartment, and he doesn't come out until it is pitch black and absolutely silent. If I'm in my bedroom with the light on and the door closed and am listening to music quietly, he won't come out, no matter how late at night it is.
His room only has blinds over the windows, and there are lots of windows. Because of this, it starts getting light around 5am, and I can hear that Winston is no longer up as of 5ish each morning. (My insomnia means I'm very aware of when he's out and about. ) I've tried covering his cage with a towel, but I'm afraid to cover the whole cage for ventilation/CHE catching on fire fears, so the whole cage can't be covered, and he won't come out. Our apartment is really small (connected open kitchen and living room, two bedrooms and a bathroom, all on one floor), so there's nowhere else that I can put him. If I'm up in my room until 2 am (which happens sometimes), Winston only has 3 or so hours where he'll be out and about.
I'm worried about him not getting enough time to do his little nocturnal thing. I plan on moving him into my bedroom once I get a quieter wheel, but even then there will be the noise and light from my computer until around midnight/1ish, and it gets light around 5:30. Does anyone have any advice? I'm really stumped.


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## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

How long have you guys been in the new place? I wonder if he's staying in more because its a new place. If he was coming out before with some light but now he isn't it almost makes me think he's still not 100% used to his new home. Its hard to say with ways to make the cage darker, maybe you could see if one of those folding screens would work that way it stands independant and you can still get ventillation and not worry about a fire hazard.

Hope he gets back to his normal self


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## nessariel (Mar 3, 2010)

We've been here for a month, as of Monday. I've only had Winston for a month and a half total, so he's lived here longer than he lived in my old place. Temperature is the same, his cage is set up the same... :? I'll try to find those screens. I almost want to set up a curtain around his cage, but am unsure of the logistics. I'm worried that this lack of activity time is going to make him depressed.


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## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

If you want to go with the curtain idea one way I can think of that would be cheap and easy would be to put some eye hooks in the ceiling because they leave little holes that won't be easy to spot when you take them out. Then you can thread thin gage wire through and let it drop to the height of the cage and attached a shower curtain clip. then you can clip your curtain on them and set it out a little ways from the cage and attach in a circle around it. Plus the whole set up would be cheap and easily dismantled and you could probably make the circle of clips with 4 or 5 wires with clips attached.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

One of those folding screens would work well. I used to use one when I was breeding to give a more private area to the mom's and babies. They can be pretty cheap some places or you can make your own if you are at all handy. 

If is cage is on a table, a piece of black or dark coloured coroplast could be used to make a 3 sided self standing cage surround and there would be no worries about it getting near the emitter and it would also allow space for ventilation.


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