# Thinking about getting a Hedgie



## lilchris28 (Mar 4, 2012)

I am considering getting a Hedgehog and wanted some information. I read the care sheets on here and learned a lot, but it made some more questions pop up. Here's what I learned. Hedgehogs should never come home before 6 weeks of age. If gotten from the breeder past 8 weeks of age, they should have already been seperated by genders. They are solitary creatures. Premium cat food is best (I was thinking about feeding Blue Buffalo wilderness chicken formula). They need a minimum of 2 ft x 2 ft (I have a cage that is those dimensions, but has 1 inch bar spacing, so I was planning on zip tying 1/2 in by 1/2 in wire over top of it). Aspen shavings are best, and there have been reported cases of ingestion with Carefresh, so that should not be used? Why do they not ingest Aspen? Cedar and pine should also not be used. Yesterday's New OK in litterbox? Must use a water bottle and a low food dish. Mealworms and fresh fruits/veggies should be offered no more than 2-3 times a week. They are somewhat lactose intolerant. They cannot regulate their body temperature well, but I've found varying info on what to do about that...?

Here's more questions... Male or female? Which is calmer? Which smells worse? How bad do they smell? Do they use the restroom as much as guinea pigs and rabbits? I read somewhere soft food is better than hard? Do you spay/neuter hedgies? Their teeth don't continuously grow right? Do they use hammocks or do they prefer sleep sacks on the cage floor? Anything else I missed?


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

Liners are actually considered the best choice. Aspen shavings are acceptable, but have some downsides. Water bowls are a better choice, instead of bottles, because the bottles have a small risk of chipping a tooth or catching the tongue, and in general they tend to not drink as much with bottles.

As for fruits/vegtables and mealworms, plenty of people include these every day, and some people feed their hedgehogs only holistic diets. A mix of high-quality cat foods will satisfy their dietary needs, but there's no need for the produce and mealworms to be limited to only a few times per week. I'd have to look at that particular version of Blue Buffalo, but the wilderness BB tends to be too high in protein. Their food should be under 15% fat (except for especially active hedgehogs, pregnant females/nursing mothers, or babies) and 25-33% protein. If the protein is too high, it can cause liver problems. Blue Buffalo is a good quality cat food overall, but depending on the exact percentages, it might have to be combined with something else so the overall percentages are in the right range. Most people use a mix of 2-4 different kibbles.

The cage needs to be warm. Generally 74-80 is the normal range of what's good for hedgehogs, though there shouldn't be that much actual variation in the cage's temperature. Some will like it more on the warm side or the cool side, it depends, but around 75-76 is a good place to aim for.

Generally they don't have much smell. The poop and urine can smell, but if the cage is cleaned regularly, there's not really much odor overall. There's no difference between males and females except for boys being inclined to engage in 'boy time', as well call it.

They're not rodents, so no, their teeth don't continuously grow, nor do they chew things the way rabbits and guinea pigs do. They do fine with normal hardness cat kibble, though their teeth can get worn down by it sometimes.

They shouldn't have hammocks. Any lofts in their cages have to be enclosed. Hedgehogs like to climb, but they're no good at coming down, and they also have poor depth perception. Because their feet and legs, especially, are very delicate, even small falls can do a lot of damage. They use various hideaways/houses on the floor of the cage, such as igloos, sleeping bags, etc.

I would definitely suggest looking around the forum, especially at the stickies in the various forum sections. Don't hesitate to ask any other questions you have! :]


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## lilchris28 (Mar 4, 2012)

Liners meaning fleece? I'm guessing they can't have corn in the food? What is recommended for maintaining that temperature? "Boy time" as in they love you a little too much?


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## lilchris28 (Mar 4, 2012)

Foods that I found that seem to fit.
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... =Lifestage
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... =Lifestage
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... =Lifestage (this would be exceptionally great if it's good because I get coupons all the time at my work)


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

Check out the stickies in the Housing/Accessories section. There's a lot of information about heating the cage. A lot of people use ceramic heat emitters (CHEs), but there are other options too.

There can be corn in the food, but it's basically a filler and not very nutritious. A lot of cat foods will have corn meal or something in there, but the first few ingredients should be meat (i.e. "chicken" or "turkey") or meat meal (i.e. "chicken meal"). All of those that you linked to are good choices, though the Wellness can be too rich for some hedgehogs. You catch on quick! Another popular brand is Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul, but that isn't stocked in chain stores.

Liners are often fleece, which is the easiest way to do it yourself because you can just cut out sections of fleece without worrying about the edges unraveling and creating loose threads (which are dangerous for their feet). Some people will sew them, either a combination of fleece and flannel, or something similar with a more absorbent material in the middle. Whatever works for you, yes, fabric ones.

Boy time isn't so much loving you a little too much, just themselves. Basically they'll masturbate. Some more than others, and often it's a phase when they've recently hit sexual maturity. A lot of times it's not something you'll be very aware of, except maybe for occasional 'substances', but behaviorally it's the only difference.


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## lilchris28 (Mar 4, 2012)

It's not that I catch on fast, but rather that I work at Petsmart and have to make food recommendations all the time. I've also had a cat and ferret with food sensitivities and had to shop around to find a food they could handle. My go-to foods for dogs and cats are always Wellness, Blue Buffalo, Nutro and Innova, though there are some Petsmart knockoffs that are decent if money is an issue, but I didn't see any that seemed like good hedgie food. I liked when I read the ingredient list for the only Hedgie food we sell... It listed about 8 ingredients and then said "and more"... I was like "wow... yeah about that..." What about Spike's Delite? That was an actual hedgie food that was recommended to me. I was looking at the "Pet diet" formula.

What do you know about "whisper wheels"? Are they safe?

My male rabbit, Emmett, did that for a while. I had to keep lubricating it with this stuff I got from the vet because it would get stuck out and dried out and... it still makes me cringe to think of his discomfort. I got him neutered and it calmed down, but didn't completely go away until I got my females spayed and moved him to a different room. He thought my male Chihuahua was his girlfriend too.


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

I've never heard of a whisper wheel, and didn't find anything when I tried to google it. Can you give a link to one?

Unless there's something new out there, the only safe store-bought wheel is the comfort wheel, though it can be noisy. The best wheels for them are bucket or cake topper wheels, which are easy to make, and there's also someone on here who sells them - though personally, instead of paying 30 + shipping for a premade wheel, I opted to spend 15ish for the supplies, do it myself, and put the saved money toward other things for my hedgehog. :]

Honestly, a lot of petstore employees don't know very much, so kudos to you for being well-informed about quality foods, etc. The commerical hedgehog foods out there range from 'so-so' (but not comparable to a quality cat food) to downright awful ones that contain ingredients such as seeds/dried fruit/raisins that hedgehogs absolutely shouldn't have. (I actually visited a local store I hadn't been to before, a day or two ago, and saw a container of hedgehog treats with sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, and raisins in the first 5 ingredients.) Of the commercial hedgehogs food, Spike's Delight and the Vita Exotics one are at the top of the heap, and they can be okay when included in a mix with better cat foods, but if you have the cat foods available to choose from, I would say just don't bother with those anyway.

I haven't heard of anyone having any particularly bad problems with the boy time. The stuff is known to be very hard once it dries, though.


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## lilchris28 (Mar 4, 2012)

http://hedgehogsbyvickie.com/whisperwheels.htm

What size comfort wheel? I found a 9 month old female for sale nearby. Said she's timid, but will still let you handle her. She's salt and pepper.


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## alyssinreality (Jan 18, 2012)

Those wheels by vickie seem to be good. They look the same as the CSW that Larry makes. Except his have better colors


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## lilchris28 (Mar 4, 2012)

What is CSW?


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

The CSW only comes in clear  
http://www.carolinastormhedgehogs.com/t ... wheel.html

The CSBW comes in several colors  
http://www.carolinastormhedgehogs.com/s ... wheel.html

If you buy a Comfort wheel get the giant one it's 12inches.


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## alyssinreality (Jan 18, 2012)

Haha sorry for the misinformation! I don't distinguish between the two very well unless I actually go to the site and look at the photos. I kind of just group them all into one.


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

alyssinreality said:


> Haha sorry for the misinformation! I don't distinguish between the two very well unless I actually go to the site and look at the photos. I kind of just group them all into one.


 No worries!  and thanks for mentioning the wheels to the OP.


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

Yeah, Larry's wheels are definitely pretty!

They need a wheel that's 11-12 inches in diameter. Ours is 11 because that's the normal size for a bucket of that size (5 gallon). I think the comfort wheel is 12? Not sure, but they tend to have an obvious size difference from the next one smaller, so you want the one that's around a foot. It looks huge compared to baby hedgehogs, but they can use it fine and they grow into it.


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

You could make your own wheel as well and save some cash. At the bottom of this page you will find three D.I.Y. links  
http://www.mihog.org/products.phtml


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## lilchris28 (Mar 4, 2012)

Why does the one have a litterbox under it? I'm confused. I'd rather pay the money and have one premade, and plus, I don't have any tools.


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## coribelle (Jan 20, 2012)

Lots of people like to put litter boxes under the wheel to catch all the poos and pees that run off. I personally have had no success with it - my Kazooie does ALL of her business on the wheel, and that is where it stays. There hardly is ever any runoff. Some have more success with this than I have, I think hahaha 
Many hedgies will use a litter box like a cat, and some never catch on. I think it is all up to personal opinion.
The CSW comes with a litter box simply because the base of the wheel can accommodate one as it is much bigger than the CSBW.


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## lilchris28 (Mar 4, 2012)

The cage I'm looking at is 30x18 and 14 inches high. Would this wheel (the one w/o the litterbox) work in this cage and still allow plenty of room?


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## coribelle (Jan 20, 2012)

I think Larry has the dimensions of his wheel on his website. The cage I have now is 18wx30lx18h and the CSBW fits perfectly and there is still plenty of room. On the highest setting the wheel measures 12.5 inches, so you're fine height-wise too. 
I do, however, intend to upgrade to a C&C in the fall. But I think it should do perfectly


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

lilchris28 said:


> The cage I'm looking at is 30x18 and 14 inches high. Would this wheel (the one w/o the litterbox) work in this cage and still allow plenty of room?


The CSW with litter pan needs a cage around 15 inches tall to fit. The CSBW will easily fit that cage it's a lot smaller. I could make the CSBW stand bigger to fit the litter pan if you'd like, just give me an email when you are ready to order [email protected]


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## lilchris28 (Mar 4, 2012)

Here is the girl I'm considering. Does she look okay? I don't know what to look for other than if she looks healthy.

































Here is the cage I am getting. It's 30x18x14H and has 1 in x 1 in wire spacing. Is that ok?
http://martinscages.com/images/full/hh-95.jpg

I was going to get some sort of locking crock dishes for the cage so she wouldn't be able to tip it over. These are what I was looking at, but I need to email them and find out how deep they are.
http://martinscages.com/products/accessories/bowls.htm

This is the shampoo I already have for my rats. Is it okay for her?
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... lmdn=Brand

And then I'm going to feed Blue Buffalo Freedom Indoor Cat food and the Innova food I mentioned earlier, mixed together. I was going to have some liners made that are two pieces of denim with quilt batting sewn in between. Would that be ok? I was worried fleece may end up stuck on her quills? One more question... If they like to burrow, how will she do that with the liners? Oh and I'm going to get one of the green sparkly bucket wheels 
....And the CHE and porcelin lamp!....And I need 4 inch PVC for her to hide it... AND a PVC frame to hold down her liners!


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## vasogoma (Feb 25, 2012)

She is gorgeous


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

If it were me I'd find another cage, some people may like them i'm sure but IMO there are a lot better cages available.  If you look through this thread you will see some examples of a lot of cages
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1860&start=0

I would not use that shampoo either, most of us here use Aveeno. I like the powdered Aveeno soothing bath treatment but it seems the wash is more popular with other hog owners. 
http://compare.ebay.com/like/3502363784 ... s&var=sbar

Walmart sells a store brand that is a little cheaper Equate Bath Treatments with Collidal Oatmeal.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Equate-Oatmea ... t/10320783

The hedgie looks pretty good from the pics to me.


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## coribelle (Jan 20, 2012)

I second what Larry said 

Also, a lot of people here use small ceramic dishes for food and water. You can get these anywhere from the dollar store to a pet store. The hedgie looks amazing and very well-tempered


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## raerysdyk (Oct 21, 2011)

I would be a little concerned about using denim. Denim doesn't dry very well and if your hedgie has an accident outside of their litter box (which it more than likely will) the denim will remain wet for a long time. The dampness can make the hedgie chilled and possibly lead to upper respiratory infections or hibernation. Fleece pulls fluid away from the surface- so in my opinion is a safer option. I've never had a problem with Brillo getting fleece in his quills- just make sure to wash fleece liners before actually using them in the cage.


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## lilchris28 (Mar 4, 2012)

For those who haven't seen yet on my other post... I PUT A DEPOSIT DOWN ON A MALE BABY HEDGE!!! I'm sooo excited !!

AND I bought my wheel today from you, Larry.  Will I have it by the 7th of April?


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