# Artificial turf in place of bedding?



## Niffler

Hey guys C: 
I'm doing an experiment and I want your opinion. 
For the past few weeks or so, I've noticed some changes with little Sancho, and needless to say, I got pretty worried. His ears were severely tattered, and I would've attributed that to the dry skin he gets, but it was so sudden that I didn't understand what happened. There was no real quill loss, so I didn't suspect mites. I also noticed he was acting really passive, (since he's not the most social hedgie in the world, I failed on that part :l,) and I got even more worried as well because not only was he displaying all these symptoms, his eyes were getting puffy and pink. My first thought was t take him to the vet, but the closest one to us is an hours drive away, and they charge $50 dollars for the visit and unfortunately with how tight our money is right now, it just wasn't an option. So the next best thing was to research things that could be wrong with him. I had read on here that olive oil, and flax seed oil usually do wonders for a hedgie's tatters (but he didnt let me rub it on since i wasnt very good at making him comfortable with me) but after a few weeks they've healed dramatically. There's still a few tatters there, but they seem to be going away.
Symptom #1 check. 
I was also worried about his lethargy, and one of the things that stood out to me was that he tried to hibernate, or at least that's what I thought. He had been sleeping more often for a few days, and whe I went to go wake him up and check on him, he wouldn't wake up unless I actually went in and picked him up(which is unusual because he'd wake and huff up at the slightest noise when he was alseep). I couldn't feel his belly cause he was balled up. My attempted solution to that was to move him from the center of the house, (where the temperature during the day is at round 70 degrees fahrenheit) to my room (where the temperature during the day is almost 10 whole degrees warmer, thanks to the fact that there's a giant window that faces the sun. ._. ) But it seemed to have worked out well, because he's running on his wheel more frequently and his appetite has increased which makes me happy because I felt he wasn't eating enough.
Symptom #2 check.

Which brings me to the last symptom, and the most persistent. I noticed it a few weeks ago, and it's been pretty steady and it hasnt gotten worse, but it seemed that his eyes had gotten pink and puffy around the edges. At first I thought it was an infection because it seemed that it was so swollen, but it's gone down since last week. I thought it could've been allergies to the new aspen bedding I had him on (we ran out of the pine he usually has, and it was the cheapest option at the time) So I put him back on the pine bedding. It had gotten a little better, but not by much because you can still tell that the skin around his eyes is still puffed up and pinkish. 
After a week on the pine, I had decided that I'd remove the bedding altogether, and see if that's what was really the case. This brings me to my experiment.

We have a puppy, that we had tried to house train using those potty patches of artificial grass for them to do their buisness and be easy to clean and reuse. The puppy, unfortunately never caught on to the idea of using the 'potty patches' so they were cast away in the backyard never to be used again. While I was cleaning his house today, I noticed that while Sancho was roaming around, he liked to hang out on the patches of artificial grass amongst the patches of real grass. Because the turf is originally meant to be easily cleaned, and for safe use around pets, I figured I'd place a bit of the turf as a floor for Sancho's cage. The grass itself is pretty sturdy plastic, but relatively soft so it wouldn't be to uncomfortable for his little paws.

He seems not to now what to do with it, and I just wanted to see if my idea was as crazy as it sounded.


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## stringmouse

Great job dealing with the first issue. As for the temperature, you should actually increase it to about 75 and keep it steady there.

To solve your third there is a very simply solution: fleece liners! They are easy to find/buy/make and are completely washable and safe and comfy for a hedgehogs feet. They will do the same job as the artificial turf you suggested, but will be much more comfortable for the hedgehogs sensitive feet.


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## Niffler

Thank you!

And I would've gone directly for the fleece, but my parents have an issue with weekly washings of poopy sheets using the same washer as the one we use for our clothes :C If it wasnt for that little detail, I would've used the fleece sooner.


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## ShutUpAndSmile

Well you shake out fleece and the poop falls off. Only thing would be pee. 
Just remind them that when you were a baby they put your clothing in the wash which I'm sure had pee and even some poop on it lol
Usually to make sure the wash is clean I'll run it empty with hot water and soap especially if I did my snakes laundry.


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## QuilbersMom

Niffler said:


> Thank you!
> 
> And I would've gone directly for the fleece, but my parents have an issue with weekly washings of poopy sheets using the same washer as the one we use for our clothes :C If it wasnt for that little detail, I would've used the fleece sooner.


can I make a weird suggestion shake off the fleece for the poops but when you shower Put the plug in and after your done put the fleeces in the water you have saved to rinse them before using the washing machine.I personally don’t use any detergent with my hedges fleeces so I use this method and place them through the washing machine on just water cycle. Maybe offer your parents money for the extra waterusage but alsoexplain you have rinsed them without increasing the water usage


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