# New Hedgie sleeps a lot!



## EinsteinsMama (Jan 18, 2012)

Hey everyone! I'm new to HHC and wanted to introduce myself first. My name is Jenn, I'm married to a wonderful Coastie, and currently living in a zoo! :lol: My husband and I rescue animals of all breeds, mostly working with neglected and abused basset hounds. 

That aside, I'm concerned about our new little hedgie Einstein. He is only 7 weeks old and I know babies sleep a lot, but he seems to always be sleeping with the occasional getting up to eat drink and poop. If I take him out of his cage, I give him a minute or two to wake up and we play on his blanket, but he usually falls asleep on my lap wrapped in his blanket. The temperature inside his cage is 76 degrees, and it is very roomy and open so he has a ton of air movement. I took him to my veterinarian and he informed me that he is in excellent health and I shouldn't be too concerned unless he isn't eating (which he is) and is pooing well (tons of it, never diarrhea lol). He took him in the back and listened to his chest, which he said everything was fine.

I'm only concerned because I know they are nocturnal animals, but he is always asleep. I've talked to a few people in which they told me that he's probably up while I'm sleeping at night, but I have severe insomnia which is why my husband brought home our little guy and I hardly ever sleep at night, just a few hours during the day.

His diet mostly consists of organic cat food with extra protein, a couple of mealworms a day, and he really loves organic baby food carrots (which I only offer him very small amounts, no more than ten minutes a day). Could the organic stuff have something to do with it? Someone tried telling that to me, but I couldn't find anything about it in my research.

Other then his constant sleeping, he is completely perfect. We are still bonding, but it is going along perfectly. He never quills when I pick him up, his favorite snuggle pouch is my robe pocket, and he loves to crawl inside my robe and sleep on my right shoulder. We're in the middle of litter training and it seems to be going very well. He doesn't run on his wheel (I did buy the one with the solid wheel to avoid any foot injuries), but I do let him run around on his blanket. I don't like the idea of the exercise ball because I didn't want him to run in his feces, and when my friend brought hers over to try it out on him, he just laid in it and shook so I took him out. I knew he was scared.

Apologies for the long novel, but I'm a proud mama! lol. If anybody has any advice or has had a hedgie that has done this, I would greatly appreciate any tips on how to make him more awake.


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## Tania (Jan 7, 2012)

My little guy is going through the same thing. The vet said he is perfectly healthy but that babies sleep more, especially when they are quilling. Mine uses his wheel, eats well, poops very well but loves to sleep. 
Hopefully this is just them being babies.


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## EinsteinsMama (Jan 18, 2012)

Thank you Tania!  I'm such a worrier, and my husband said I was probably over worrying. I just read that some babies can sleep up to 23 hours a day which seems to be the norm for baby Einstein. He doesn't really care for toys, he just wants to snuggle which I'm all for <3


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## hanhan27 (May 12, 2011)

Exercise balls should not be used for small animals. Their toes and nails can get caught in the slits in there, and the general consensus here at HHC is that it can't be very much fun running in your own feces & urine (since hedgehogs eliminate while they run). Good idea not using it. I would just get rid of the thing, lol.

By organic cat food with extra protein, how much protein do you mean? The recommended protein is lower than 35%, and a lot of us shoot for even lower protein percentages as too much protein in their diet is known to cause kidney & liver problems. I personally have 4 types of cat food in my hog's kibble mix and I don't go any higher than 33% protein.  I don't know enough about organic food to be able to give advice on that, but organic food isn't necessary for our hedgies. They are just fine with a high quality cat food with a fat percentage right for them (chubby hedgies should be fed 10-12% fat, skinny hedgehogs sometimes need a 20% fat content in their kibble to maintain a good weight, etc), low enough protein percentage, and high quality ingredients (you want meat or meat meal for at least the first ingredient).

On to your main question haha.  Einstein is only 7 weeks old, so it's completely normal for him to sleep a lot. Like you said, oung hedgehogs sleep up to 23 hours a day. It's similar to how human infants sleep so much. He is young and growing, and like Tania mentioned, they tend to sleep more when they are quilling. Nothing to worry about. He is behaving like a normal baby hog.  As he gets older, he'll probably start to spend more and more time playing, eating, and wheeling during the night. My Mildred is about 9 months old and she's awake and active for 4-5 hours a night, between 8:30pm and 6am. But, just in case, I wanted to let you know that some hogs refuse to come out of their sleeping spot unless there's no light and no sound in the room. Mildred is like that :lol: I can't even use one of those tiny reading lights that you clip onto your book when I'm in bed because I know she won't come out for the night until all the lights are off. 

It sounds like you are doing a wonderful job with your baby.  And it's great that bonding is going so well! Keep in mind that quilling is really painful for our little ones and it can make them very grumpy, so be prepared for a small backslide in bonding while he's going through quilling.


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## EinsteinsMama (Jan 18, 2012)

Thanks hanhan! 

The protein level in the kibble is 30%; I wasn't aware of the dangers of high protein for hedgies! Thank you for telling me that! The fat percentage is at 18%, so I figure that is pretty good. He's not overweight, nor is he unhealthy skinny. :lol: My household is filled with organic foods and materials and I try to do the same for my babies. 

It's actually very weird right now, he's up and about dragging his teddy bear around his cage and it's noon! I'm not one to complain! I'm just glad he's happy! <3


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