# Litter box & Heat/Set up ?'s + insulation opinion



## rbr123123 (Dec 17, 2010)

Hello! (again~). Sorry, I know this is my third post and I'm trying to keep my questions to a minimum but I dont like making mistakes when animals are involved so being a first-time hog owner is requiring more prep than I thought it would!

Okay anyhows, I have 3 questions that I would appreciate getting answers for before getting my hedgehog (I have 2 weeks to prepare).

1. I've read everywhere about litter boxes but can't find the aprox. size estimation needed for a hedgie... I was going to make it small like 5 x 6 inches since I obviously want to keep as much open space in the cage as possible, but realized I dont really know their bathroom behavior to know if that's adequate space (like if they go in a tiny area or the opposite and like to walk and kick around like a cat first...etc) and same goes with the height of the sides (i dont know if they need it low so they back into it like a ferret or high because they need lots of litter and bury their stuff like some cats..etc).
So, can I have an idea of the estimated size range for the length/width as well as height appropriate please? Thanks

2. I got a CHE and one of those reptile clamp lamps from Petco and I am using a huge plastic storage tote as a cage. I would like to hear any suggestions at all as far as SAFE setup goes with this situation.... Mainly about proper and safe distance (it's under 100W) so that it's not considered too close for comfort to the hog as well as how to set the lamp up in relation to the bin without melting anything or catching it on fire..etc.
Basically, I was going to cut a square out of the top lid for ventilation and put metal mesh there to prevent escape..etc. It's not a cage so I have nothing to really clamp the lamp to and I thought of resting the lamp on top of the cage on the metal mesh but didn't know if the heat would melt the metal or make the metal so hot that because of conduction, the parts touching the lid will melt the plastic or somehow start a fire or something. Should I like, put a hole in the ceiling and have a long chord hanging the light in the air above the mesh pointing down like 3 inches above the lid or is there anything else that anyone has managed to rig up successfully that was in this predicament?
Any suggestions about the distance of the bulb and/or the set up possibilities would be helpful!

3. I take medication that makes me feel hot all the time, so I keep my room very cool compared to most people (esp at night during sleep). I got CHE and if the thermometer suggests it, will get an under tank heating pad to keep things warm. I'm using a clear plastic bin for a cage. My question is; Logically, do you honestly think that insulating the back wall of the bin will help keep the heat in at all? Or is that a waste of time and effort because it wont make any difference or not enough difference to matter? I thought it would but my fiance is telling me there's no way... so, yeah lol

Thanks again for any replies! =)


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## Nebular (Dec 28, 2010)

I can't say about about the CHE since I don't use one, but I'll answer what I can based on what I have.

I have a corner-style litter box designed for a ferret. It's a plastic triangle bin. The front is about 2" high which is shallow enough for my 7 week old hedgehog to step in comfortably. The back of the box is considerably higher than the front - about 6" high. The two sides are 10" and the angled front is 12" long. It's perhaps a little too big for him right now but given that he's growing, it'll be the right size down the road. He doesn't kick any of the litter around, but it gives him enough space to climb in, turn around, and climb out. This was the smallest box I could find that had a reasonably sized lip he could step over.

Rather than heating the bin with a CHE, I use a space heater to heat the room that he's in to 73F/22.5C. Personally I'd be a little concerned with a heater and a plastic bin, but from what I've read that's more of a personal concern than anything else. I don't think insulting just the back of the bin would do a whole lot for retaining heat given that warm air rises. If you wanted to heat just the cage itself, you would need something that emits heat from the bottom of the cage instead, but you'll also be heating the room to some degree.


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## silvercat (Oct 24, 2008)

My hedgie has two litter boxes, one in her cage & one in the corner of the living room for playtime. Both have regular cat litter (unscented, non clumping). Annabell likes to roll & dig in her litter. The one in the living room is a medium/large size triangle from the pet store (about 5 x 5 x7 maybe?). It works well enough though I need to watch it otherwise she will use the bathroom & then dig/roll in that spot. Or her bum might still be hanging out when she's inside. In her cage I have a baking sheet, about 6x8. Works really well as she has lots of room. She uses one end of it for the bathroom & the other for digging/playing


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## Olympia (Aug 4, 2010)

My hedgies are in cages made of plastic bins and I use CHEs. I hung them from the ceiling so that they don`t touch the bins` lids. The CHE clip is attached with a snap link (I hope that`s the right word) to a chain, that passes through a pulley that is attached to the ceiling and the chain comes back down and is attached securely to the wall near the cage with a closed hook and a snaplink. I then put an open hook on the wall so that I can pull on the chain to lift the CHE and temporarely hook the chain to the wall while I clean the bins or pick up a hedgie. It works really well but you have to make sure everything is very secure and solid so that it won`t fall on your cage and set a fire or hurt your hedgie. I made sure the pulley`s hook was screwed into wood on the ceiling and using a closed hook and an opened one to attach the chain on the wall insures that the CHE won`t fall into the cage even if the chain slips from my hands. It cost me about 40$ to set up each CHE that way. My lids are made of wood and metal mesh and I use 100w heat bulbs; the CHEs are about 1 1/2 inches above my lids and about 15 inches above the floor of the cages


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## Kenzi (Aug 29, 2010)

Something that none of you mentioned is the thermostat. It's 100% necessary to have one with the use of a CHE.

The thermostat plugs into the wall and regulates the power to the CHE fixture (lamp) telling it when to turn on/off. Its not the same as a rheostat (which dims the power).

Even if you cage seems like its a safe temperature with the CHE on 24/7, (without a thermostat) at somepoint, the temp of the room may drop or increase enough to do serious damage to your hedgie's health.

Here is an explanation of my CHE setup http://i55.tinypic.com/2hqxuld.jpg


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## rbr123123 (Dec 17, 2010)

Okay, 
Got a ferret litter box yesterday (she's tiny so hopefully she can crawl into it the first few weeks!), then bought a thermostat thingy today to replace the outlet timer so I wont have to worry about the insulation issue.
And I'm going to hang the lamp like you mentioned Olympia. (But I think I'm gonna have to build a little holding stand instead of putting a hole in my ceiling though~).

Thanks for the input guys.. It feels good to get my cage together before hand knowing that it's set up in the best interest for my little pincushion.
-Rachel


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## Kenzi (Aug 29, 2010)

rbr123123 said:


> And I'm going to hang the lamp like you mentioned Olympia. (But I think I'm gonna have to build a little holding stand instead of putting a hole in my ceiling though~).


viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1860&p=62042

You can see Mila's old setup. I used a stand from something else but it worked great! Now I have an oil filled radiator heating the room, but I plan to keep the CHE in place for my new baby Ebba.


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