# Really strange



## LindsayJenna (Dec 23, 2015)

Chloe's been fine in her cage since I got her it's a good size cage, lots of space for her to go but all night she was trying to get out of it. I have a c&c cage and she was trying to push herself through the squares all night. Any idea why this might be happening/what I can do to prevent it? I don't think she'll be able to get through but I'm worried she'll try and get herself stuck...


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## nuttylover (Jun 5, 2015)

Does she have a wheel? Toys? Usually they try to escape because they are bored; and most are uneasy if the cage is not cluttered as they feel vulnerable.


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## LindsayJenna (Dec 23, 2015)

Yep I have a dig box, some fleece balls and a wheel. However she never uses the wheel for some reason


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## Charlotte.the.hedgehog (Nov 15, 2015)

How high is the coroplast that goes up the side? also how many squares are in each grid? There should be nine, if there are fewer they may be big enough for her to squeeze through.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

What kind of wheel do you have & how big is it?


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## morganstep96 (Dec 11, 2015)

I also built a c&c cage for my hedge! The first night we had her in she escaped! We think she climbing out because there was some poop at the top where she climbed over!


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

You need a lid, hide-and-go-hedgie is not a fun game. What you have in your cage won't prevent a determined hedgehog from escaping, in fact it can help them. You need a lid, there is really no way around it. If you have escapees with a lid, then you get to do modifications.


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## hedgielily (Dec 31, 2015)

Our Lily was put in her cage right after we cleaned it with just bedding and she climbed the walls literally. Once we put all of her stuff (wheel, igloo, food, water bowls, and her fleece she was fine. Quick question, whats a dig box? Thanks!


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

Quick, easy, diy/crafty dig box on the cheap. 
Get a plastic shoe box from the dollar store or Walmart. It's a buck. 
Then cut a hole that your hedgie can get in and out easily. 
Fill it with fleece strips, ping pong balls, safe lightweight toys, plastic fish tank jewels, things like that or a combination of them. 
They are great for hiding treats in as they have to work for their goodies.


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## hogwildhedgies (Jun 18, 2014)

Sounds like you've got yourself an escape artist! That's what we call them in our herd. In our breeding room, we use the extra large sterilite totes and on the majority of their cages, we use no lids as it makes cage cleaning, feeding, and checking up on all of our hogs so much easier. When you have 40+ like we do, life can be a pain in the neck. And it's not something we worry about too much because our herd has their own room. But if you only have one hedgie and you are keeping it in a common area with wires & household products, it's so much safer to have a lid and it really isn't an inconvenience when it's just the one cage. The lid may be harder to do with a C&C cage but it is doable. Our Flemish giant rabbit had a massive C&C with a lid (just the C&C squares connected via zip cords on one side, and a few clasps on the opposite end for closing & opening. Super easy to just swing open like any other cage door). 
In the meantime, make sure your hog is occupied. Of all of our 40 something hedgies, we only have 2 that try to escape and need a lid. They are very hyper and move a lot in their cage. To keep them entertained & content to remain in their cages, we have to give them some special treatment (sorry other hedgies - I know it's not fair!). They get extra toys. Balls are always a hit. Your recyclables can also make great toys. Any kind of cardboard containers (I.e the boxes our coffee K-cups come in and the boxes our ziplock bags come in) provide hours of entertainment. Hedgies scratch the cardboard for some reason and have a blast doing it. Tunnels are infamously a hog favorite as well. You can make tunnels out of paper towel rolls or wrapping paper rolls (always unraveled or sliced vertically), PVC pipe, and even a paper cup with the bottom sliced off. They also roll around and shake in anything cylindrical (Chinese soup containers, the plastic red Folgers tubs, etc). Wheels are always the best things to help us keep our spastic hogs content. Sometimes we give them both a standard wheel and a flying saucer disk so we can get a grasp on which they prefer, or just to keep them twice as entertained since there's something else to run on when they're bored of the first one. Extra bedding and fleece for burrowing helps a bit too. The more stuff they have to burrow in and tunnel in, the more entertained they are. You'll notice what they're playing with and what they aren't and then you can focus on the toys that really keep them entertained and give them as many of those things as possible. 
If your hedgie ever does escape, make sure you immediately take safety precautions. Unplug any wires in the room. Make sure there's nothing dangerous that they could eat or get into. Watch your step as they tend to burrow and hide in tight, dark places. It's common to find them hidden under sofas, under beds, in shoes, curled up inside laundry piles, etc etc. Best way to find an escaped hedgie is to wait until the sun goes down, turn the lights off, put out a few bowls of food in the center of the room, sit down and wait to hear her crunching on her kibble. 
I would say your number one priority should be to make a lid for your cage, and number two should be to fill that hedgies cage with as much entertainment as possible. Good luck!


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## morganstep96 (Dec 11, 2015)

To prevent my hedge from crawling out I went to my local hardware shop and bout cheap laminet flooring, I paid $.48 cents each and zip tied each one to the sides. I also got a big piece of chloroplast (which is the bottom) and stuck the laminet squares on it


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

Don't be surprised if your hedgehog can escape even with the tiles. I have a 6 week hedgehog climb out of her cage and into a plastic waste basket that was 13 inches tall. There was nothing she could use to help herself up the side and the sides were smooth glossy plastic, nothing to get traction on.


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

I swear they levitate when we aren't watching!


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