# cleaning cage andis heat necessary?



## em_suga (May 7, 2010)

Hi! Two quick questions..
Clearly I am a new hedgie ower, I have questions all over this forum ha.

My first question is, the 30 gallon tank that Meena came with needs to be cleaned. Big time. I have her in a temporary smaller cage while she is staying in my dorm room (and making sure to play with her for at least an hour and usually much more so she gets her excercise) But the big cage that her previous owners gave me...well...it looks like it hasnt been cleaned for awhile. Kinda stinky. What chemicals can I use to clean it, if any? 

Also, I see a lot of forums about heating the cage. Is this necessary, or is this just for households that get a bit chilly? My dorm room is nice and toasty warm and Meena is always active and warm to the touch. Also, the house I am moving in to in June has heat included in the rent so there are no worries on heating it well. So....to heat or not to heat?

Thanks for your help!
Sorry I was so long winded...


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## Puffers315 (Apr 19, 2010)

Cleaning - I'm also somewhat new to the hedgie game but from everything I read, most owners at least here use a 50-50 mix of water and vinegar. Don't use anything that has a heavy scent or perfume.

Fish Tanks are not highly recommended for hedgehogs as they do not provide enough air flow for them, if you continue to use it, make sure to keep it clean of poop and pee, otherwise your little guy will have to breath it, which isn't good for them. Tank wise that's probably the smallest you'd want a hedgie to be in, anything smaller and there just isn't enough room.

Heating is -highly- important to them, even if the guy or breeder you got him/her from said that their hogs were bred to be immune to heat differences, its basically bull. If your dorm room is a steady 75'F or more than you are safe in general, but each hedgie reacts differently to temps, some can be fine at 72'F while others might try and hibernate at that temp. And as they get into old age, they typically need more warmth.

Also note that glass tanks are somewhat hard to heat, there's the possibility of overheating or even cooking the hedgie if you don't have the right equipment. You're going to want to grab yourself the following supplies.

- Thermometer, most use an indoor/outdoor digital one as you can place the 'outdoor' probe in the bottom rear center of the cage/tank and then have the indoor reading unit on top, to give you an idea of top and bottom temps.

- Heat Lamp with a clamp - These are found in any pet store or even home depot / lowes.

- CHE Bulb, aka a Ceramic Heating Element, its not an actual light but kind of looks like the top of an electric stove encased in plastic. It provides heat without the light. But do not use this unless you have a...

- Thermostat, recommendation is the Zoo Med ReptiTemp 500R which you plug the heating lamp into. This allows you to set a specific temp you want the cage to be, and it will turn the heat lamp with the CHE on and off to keep it at a steady temp. There are cheaper models of this which do not indicate actual temp, its more or less just a dimmer switch and without the specific temp setting means the CHE will run all the time, so it could make the tank way too hot.

Last, LIGHT is important to a hedgie even though they are a night dwelling creature. You don't need a special light, just anything that gives off light and it should run on a 12 to 14 hour schedule. Otherwise if the hedige doesn't get enough light, it may think its winter time and attempt to hibernate, which is a really bad thing for them.

Hope this helps.

PS - A cheap alternative to a fish tank is using a large steralite storage container that's found at Walmart, I forget exact size but in general you need 4 square feet of space for the hedgie. Most people get two of them and connect them with a four inch piece of PVC pipe. One is used for their sleeping hut, food and water while the other one usually has toys and their wheel, a wheel is important for your hedgie as they can travel in the wild anywhere from 5 to 15 miles a night. I recommend a cake style wheel such as the Carolina Storm that LarryT offers here, its a great product. The storage bins are used over a fish tank because you can cut air holes into the side to allow proper air flow.

If you got the money than my personal recommendation would be the Ferret Nation 141 or 142 cage unit. They also offer one called the 'Critter Nation' but do not get it, despite the fact they list them for use with hedgehogs. The cage bars are setup where a hedgie may climb them and fall, where as the Ferret Nation version is setup just right to disallow climbing.


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## tie-dye hedgie (Dec 19, 2009)

I agree with Puffers315 100%!  
Please get a different cage and heating lamp as soon as possible. 
What kind of temporary cage do you have your hedgie in?


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## em_suga (May 7, 2010)

Thanks so much for your advice! It's so great to have this forum available for those that are just getting started!
When I found out that Meena's previous owners used an aquarium as a cage I was disappointed. I have read that they aren't the greatest cage for all the same reasons that you advised. Also, they are so heavy and hard to clean! So I have been looking in to getting her a different cage. Thanks for the suggestions of the Ferret Nation and also for letting me know what cages to stay away from! 
Also, I will start looking in to some heating devices. After reading about hibernation, it sounds very scary and I don't my little girl to try that out! A heater is definitely on my list of things to buy! I can't remember if you wrote your personal recommendation?

Everything you wrote was very helpful, thanks so much!


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