# About to be new hedgehog owner, I have a few questions.



## SpiltOJ (May 8, 2012)

Hi!

I'm about to get my new two month old hedgehog in two weeks, and all of this is pretty new to me. I've researched a ton, of course. But still, I think it would be easier just to have it all laid out in front of me instead of remembering all that I've read.

So a few questions.

I'm buying a C&C cage, but unsure about sizes. I plan on buying the 6x2 grid with the 2x2grid loft, which is suppost to be really big. Is that too big for a hedgehog? Should I get a smaller cage or is that a good size for him?

Second, what are fruits and veggies a hedgehog can eat? What brand of catfood do you suggest? What soft brands as well? I plan on giving him hard boiled eggs, cooked chicken, and crickets as treats.

What toys do you recommend?

What kind of cave do you suggest? A tent? An igloo with a snuggle sack? Or any others?

Should I buy both a flying saucer and CSW? Or will one make him just as happy?

Tips on litter training? It won't be too late to start training at two months right?

What other hedgehog raising tips do you suggest?


Sorry for all the questions, I just want to be as thorough as possible.


Thanks a ton! (;


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## Guest (May 8, 2012)

hi most of the answers to your questions cane be found in the stickies of the forum under there respective sections, ie, toys , catfoods, fruits and veggies , there is secions on all of these

as for cages bigger is better if you have the space 

a snuggle bag or a small blanket are good for bonding because it helps them feel secure. 

i would get a CSW ive heard flying saucers are hard to run on and the consensus here is the CSW is the best. 

Good luck and post pictures when you get the little girl/boy


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## SpiltOJ (May 8, 2012)

Oh really? I'll go look! 

Thanks!


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## TeddysMommy (Apr 24, 2011)

Hello  Welcome to the world of hedgies! You will love him, i'm sure ^.^ A cage can never be too big, but some hedgies might not climb the loft (Keep that in mind  ) 
Here is a list of cat foods that are suitable: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15
List of fruits and veggies: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=60&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=fruit+and+veggies
They also love meal worms, A LOT :lol: 
Some hedgies don't play with toys, but cat toys without holes and fluffies should be okay, as for the caves, the recommended choices are the waffle blocks, the igloos, and snuggle sacks (a variety of them are best.) I say go with the CSW, the flying saucer is rumored to cause joint problems and is loud-ish. I can't help you with the litter training, but they usually go on their wheels.

Good Luck :mrgreen:


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## SpiltOJ (May 8, 2012)

I would love to feed him mealworms, but unfortunately I have a phobia of worms. We have terrapins and special types of turtles, and when they were babies, we had to feed some bloodworms or chopped up earth worms with supplements. I couldn't be in the same room or I'd faint, haha! But, I also used to have a bearded dragon and a uromastyx lizard that required crickets, so I have no problem with live crickets. 


Is there anyway to train them to leave the wheel and use the litter?


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## Guest (May 8, 2012)

some will litter train others wont. but the majority of there poop will be while they are wheeling anyways so putting it under the wheel makes the most sense. often if you put the litter under the wheel they will learn to go there if there else where and need to go, but again some hedgehogs will never litter train.


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## SquiggyTheHedgie (Jul 26, 2011)

Very select few will actually get off their wheels to potty, and you'll find out soon enough that your baby will poop ALOT. You'll be astounded at how much comes out haha. Poopy wheels and the poopy feet that come after are just another piece of hedgie parenthood. You'll have to clean the wheel every day or every other day, same with foot baths. Best options for litter are either just a paper towel, or Yesterdays News is popular.

If youre gonna build a loft as part of your C&C make sure all the sides are enclosed so your hedgie wont take a tumble off the edge and injure itself. Hedgehogs have poor depth perception, so they'll walk off heights without a second thought. 

Teddysmommy covered the fruits and veggies lol. As for foods, most here like Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul, but thats being recalled for salmonella atm. I myself use Evolve brand Kitten formula and Wellness Indoor Health. Others like Blue Buffalo, Gold Kats n Flocken, Royal Canin Babycat is popular for babies because its higher in fat for their development and the pieces are small, Natural Balance Green Pea and Duck and various other flavors, and Innova. You'll want to be sure they have real meat as the prime ingredients, with no fillers. 

As for other hedgie raising tips, snuggle as much as possible except for the first day lol. Give them time to get used to the surroundings for a day or two. Gonna be hard to resist because of how adorable they are as babies :lol: But after that you should snuggle with your baby with a snuggle bag until they get used to you. There will be a lot of huffing and puffing, but dont let that daunt you. Even something like letting them snooze on you while you watch tv is valuable bonding time


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## GoodandPlenty (Feb 4, 2012)

You're talking about a mansion for a cage. If you've got the space, it would be terrific. I settled on C&C pretty quickly, but then had to decide on the size. I never considered anything other than two grids deep. I've seen pictures of a couple of very cool cages that are one grid deep, but quite a few grids long. Three grids deep would probably only work if the cage was the centerpiece of a room, which probably isn't very practical.

I started by thinking of going six grids long. Then I started thinking about floor space in the room, and providing liners for something so big. I reluctantly shifted down to five grids, and then settled on four grids long. That has worked out well. I have a six foot table that the cage sits on, and am very glad that I went with something I could get off the floor. I could have gone one grid longer, but am not disappointed at reining in the size.

Space goes fast. I have to admit that I don't know how people go smaller. The CSW wheel with a litter pan that I made for it goes in one corner. Her house in a second corner. Food and water dishes in another. A two foot PVC pipe with a 90 degree long-sweep bend takes up almost an entire wall along one length. After that, there really isn't much space left. I would have been disappointed if I'd gone just three grids long. (But this is me. I'm not knocking anybody else's setup.)

If you can manage a cage as large as described - terrific.
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Sophie doesn't have any interest in treats except for mealies. She loves mealies.
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Sophie has no interest in toys at all. I do have a passel of empty water bottles in her play area. Some nights she zooms around them like it's a road course. Other nights, it's demolition derby night and she's pushing them all over the place.
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In her cage, she has an igloo and the PVC pipe. She likes to hide in the pipe, but usually sleeps in the house. I put a starter pile of fleece strips and squares in her house, and a goodly stack outside the house. Most nights she will build a burrow in her house. Some nights in the tunnel. Some nights she ignores the fleece. At night, I keep a hedgie sack available if she doesn't feel like running around.

In this picture, you can see that she plugs up the ends of her tunnel pretty good.
http://www.serenebreezes.com/Sophie-images/Sophie-96.jpg

Here is all of the fleece strips and squares that I pulled out of her tunnel. She puts in real effort to build a nice burrow.
http://www.serenebreezes.com/Sophie-images/Sophie-98.jpg

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I love the CSW. It's all Sophie needs.
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I don't care for the litter pan that comes with the CSW and made a coroplast box just for it. I had litter pads made to fit. She does most pooping and peeing 'on the run', so whether she litter trains or not, that takes care of most of her poop and pee.

It is often suggested that when you wake your hedgie up, that you should give them a few minutes to poop and pee, and then take them out. That does not work with Sophie at all. She will find a place to hide and go right back to sleep. She does poop and pee pretty quickly after getting up, so I've taken to getting her out with a litter pad. I keep her on it and just pet her for a few minutes. She relaxes, does her business, and then it's safe to have her out. She hardly ever goes on me anymore.
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Handle them every day, even if all they do is sleep in your lap.
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## SpiltOJ (May 8, 2012)

Thankyou all do much! It helps a ton!

Yeah, I just realized that the wall I was going to set up the cage wasn't even near as big as I thought it was. Unfortunately I'll think I'll have to go with the 2x4 with the 1x2 loft. Which I'm sure should be enough room. The loft is definitely blocked off with another grid, then the ram has protector sides so that the animal doesn't go tumbling down. I'm buying it off the website, since I'm not very good at building haha.

Again, thankyou so much!


EDIT : 3.5x2. My bad.


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## GoodandPlenty (Feb 4, 2012)

I bought Sophie's C&C also. It did cost me more, but was well worth it. I still had to do a lot of jiggering to get it right. Probably spent most of three days until I worked everything out. If I had to do it again I might build from scratch, but that's because I know a whole lot more. A good rule of thumb: Anything that I do for the first time - no matter how 'easy and simple' it is for other people - is going to be a nightmare that takes twice as long and costs twice as much as it should.


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## SpiltOJ (May 8, 2012)

Would it be cheaper just for me to buy the supplies from her? Her Coroplast is pretty cheap, and so are the grids. I could actually make an L shaped cage, buy a loft and a put it on one end. That would give him TONS of room.

Is it really that hard to actually make a cage? I've watched some videos on how to cut the Coroplast, and it doesnt look too hard...


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## coribelle (Jan 20, 2012)

I made my own cage, and for me it was VERY simple, albeit a little time consuming. I think as long as you think about what you are doing, you shouldn't have any problems


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## SpiltOJ (May 8, 2012)

Awesome!I think I might just build my own.

I really do want as much room as I can get for my baby as possible.


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## SquiggyTheHedgie (Jul 26, 2011)

My bf and I built Squiggys C&C in a night. We ordered the grids off amazon and while it was arriving in the mail we made a layout of how many grids we would need, the amount of space it would take, and the dimensions of the coroplast we would need. What we came out with was a C&C of 3x2 grids, the part that Squiggy is in is lifted off the ground with the area below it for storing his things. The picture below is of how it came out. The extra "cube" in the corner is to make up for the height of his CSW, its only slightly taller than the side grids. The blue cage on top is his old home, a Super Pets My First Home for chinchillas.


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## SpiltOJ (May 8, 2012)

Awesome! Does your hedgie have enough room in that size cage then?


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## SquiggyTheHedgie (Jul 26, 2011)

Oh he has tons of room haha. He has space for his wheel, igloo, tube, snuggle bag, stuffy puppy, food and water dishes, and extra space to just move around. And it only takes up a small portion of the room.


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## SpiltOJ (May 8, 2012)

Do you put covers on your cage? I most likely will have to build mine with some covers, since the car is going to be pretty far off the ground.


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## SquiggyTheHedgie (Jul 26, 2011)

Well Squiggy has developed cataracts, and can no longer see. But before that I used to cover his cage with a light, darkly colored blanket once it was time for his light to go out and simulate night time. Now though, he only sees shadows and can vaguely distinct between night and day based on when his light is on or off. If his light is on he will sleep. Once it turns itself off thats when he decides to wake up. But he will occasionally get up during the day for munchies or a sip of water.


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

Cages should have lids on them for safety, even a hedgie that has never climbed could try at some point and a fall could be dangerous.


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## GoodandPlenty (Feb 4, 2012)

Animals can be very inventive. 'Impossible' is not a word to be bandied about. I have 12" walls with a smooth surface. On her hind legs, she can only reach 9". But what if she climbs on top of her igloo? Or her PVC tunnel? Or invented some way of shimming up between wheel and wall?

You can only do your best. Last week, Sophie was in her play area and anointed. A lot. She was twisting and turning, flopping over, with foam all over . . . . I couldn't imagine what new smell or taste she had found. On hedgie cleaning day when I was vacuuming and dusting and inspecting her play area, I found a piece of Good & Plenty with most of the sugar layer gone. I'd managed to drop a piece where I couldn't see it. Thankfully, she didn't eat the thing, but that answered the anointing question.


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## SpiltOJ (May 8, 2012)

Whoops, autocorrect must have changed cage to car! Baha!

Yep, I planned on building a top to it with the grids


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## kailey lane (Apr 7, 2012)

i have c&c cage that is 2x3 and has a 1x2 loft.it is plenty of room for my girl! it only took me a few hours to put together,honestly c&c cages are the best ever you'll get great advice from this siteim still learning.good luck with your baby!


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