# Suddenly grumpy Hedgie



## MrHoward (Jan 29, 2016)

Hey all! So I'm a little concerned about Howard's sudden mood change. A few days ago I had switched him from his Rubbermaid cage to a new wire cage with the dimensions of 30L*18W*16H. He absolutely loved it, was running around, checking his new wheel and was on it constantly during the night! Now, the last day or two he's been particularly grumpy. I should add that he's only 4 months old. But he's eating/ drinking as normal, just not as active at night or during the day. For instance, the first night in his new cage he ran on the wheel forever and was covered with poop in the morning. Now he ran last night but not for nearly as long and when I woke there was no new poops on his wheel as when I went to bed. When I go to pick him up he huffs and puffs at me and it takes about 5 min for him to unball when he used to have no problem at all doing that. He seems a little more hesitant and on edge. Could this be a sign of quilling? I had seen some quils in his old cage. Hibernation?? I have a 75W infrared nocturnal heat lamp sitting on top of the cage and he has a warm belly. Any input would be great. He just out of no where got incredibly grumpy a day or so after his cage change.


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

New wheel, new cage, and most likely new bedding. That's a lot of new and changes. 
It could easily be stress. 
Anytime a hedgehog has a sudden behavior change a vet visit is always reccomeded. They will act as normal as they can for as long as they can to avoid being eaten in the wild. Basically if your hungry, you would go for whoever puts up the least resistance. 
Also it is highly recommended when bringing a new animal in the home that they visit the vet, basically a well pet exam and start a relationship with the vet earlier rather than later. 
You also want to giver serious consideration to getting a proper heat set up. It should be totally independent of light.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Yep, my first suggestion is change the heating set up, particularly with his decrease in activity at night. They can see the light coming from any lighted heat lamp and it tends to keep them from going about business as usual, which makes them grumpy. If you just got the lamp, I'd take it back to the store & get a CHE set up - you need a lamp fixture that is rated safe for ceramic heat emitter bulbs (they get much hotter than other heat bulbs), the CHE bulb, and a thermostat to control the lamp & turn it on & off as needed to keep a steady temperature. Make sure you get a thermostat, not a rheostat - thermostats turn the lamp on & off on their own, rheostats only dim the lamp at whatever setting you put it at & won't adjust for room temperature changes. You also need a digital thermometer so you can be sure of what temperature the cage is staying at. You don't need to get that at a pet store - you can typically get them cheaper at Walmart & home improvement stores.


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