# Is Insanity Normal??



## hercsmom (Jul 6, 2010)

Hi guys,

Not sure if this post belongs in behaviour, but it seemed most fitting.

This morning I was up a little earlier than usual, and I happened to catch Herc in his pre-dawn routine, which made him look like a crazy person! He was running full out on his wheel (which he never does in front of us, if we come into the room he stops). He would run for about a minute or 2, then hop off and do a lap around his cage. Then, he ran into his pigloo for about a minute and peeked out at us from under his blankie. He just kept repeating this pattern, run on the wheel, do a lap, peek out of pigloo.....back to the wheel, run run run....you guys get the idea. I watched him for about 15 minutes doing this (which I have to say was actually quite entertaining to watch). A couple of times he ran over to his tp tube and flipped it up in the air, like a little bull at a bullfight!

My question is this....Is this normal hedgie behaviour? He actually looked like he had lost his mind! Or, is he somehow bored and acting out? In his cage he has a wheel, a dig box with fleece strips to play in, a tp tube, little ferret tennis balls he loves to push around, and a clean empty pill bottle with the cap on he likes to push. Do I need to give him something more stimulating, or is this completely normal? Thanks guys! :lol:


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## Puffers315 (Apr 19, 2010)

From what I've observed from my own guys, seems pretty normal.

Hester when running on her wheel will jump off, run to her loft tube and go up, sometimes grab some kibble and maybe water, sometimes doesn't touch it and just goes back down and jumps back on the wheel, goes for a few minutes, jumps back off, goes and checks her house, goes and checks her food, back to the wheel, checks house, checks food, wheel, check house, check food, wheel and so forth.

Loki I've only observed via camera in the past week does roughly the same. Wheels, jumps off, does a lap around his cage (he cares not for the loft so he doesn't have one), back onto the wheel, jumps off, maybe grab some food or water (right there across from his wheel), back onto the wheel.

So I'd say its either normal or we have insane hedgehogs.


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## zorropirate (Aug 13, 2010)

... I think Herc is normal, as well this pretty much sums up Daisy some nights when I peek at her too. 

Sometimes when I've woken her up in the afternoon she'll also run a lap, run on her wheel a bit, run through the tube, then eat, then.... well you get the idea, I think some hedgies are just active spazzy kooks!! Sometimes even my midget cat gets these absurd bursts of energy and runs about like a loon.


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## Sheryl (Sep 9, 2010)

I wish I knew if that was normal. I'd love to see what he's doing in there but Wilson freezes like a deer in the headlights if we interrupt his nightly activities.


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

My Xavier,Gambit and Emma do the same thing :lol: I would have to say it's normal behaviour for alot of hogs and nothing to worry about.


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## hercsmom (Jul 6, 2010)

Thanks everyone!

So it seems like all hedgies are a little insane, and that's the norm. Good to know! :lol:


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## Olympia (Aug 4, 2010)

:lol: My Zoé has those crazy energy outbursts too! Her cage is 2 sterilite bins connected by the short sides so she can run the entire length of the 2 bins. She`ll wheel a little, go in and out her playing tube, run to the other bin and check her house, food and water, then run back to the first bin around and behind her wheel and start again with the wheeling. She can do this for long minutes and she runs pretty fast and in a figure of 8 pattern when she transfers from one bin to the other. :lol: I was kind of worried the first time she did this because my other hedgie, Clémentine has never done anything remotely like that. She`s a really calm and dignified hedgehog.


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