# Hedgie always getting dirty



## jennayrich (Mar 4, 2012)

Hello!

I am a proud new hedgie owner  I've had hedgie for about 3 weeks now and she is about 10 weeks old. She is finally get accustomed to her new home and absolutely loves her comfort wheel. I decided to house her in a sterilite plastic bin due to it's ease. At first I used wood shavings for bedding but she didn't seem to like that very much and it would get everywhere so I switched over to fleece liners. She seems to like them a lot more and so do I but lately I've had a problem with her getting poop on herself. When I wake up in the morning, I'll find she's gotten poop on herself so I have been giving her a lot of baths lately and I'm worried about drying out her skin. 

I'm not sure if she's getting it on her from using her wheel and going to the bathroom on it or because the poop just sits on the liner and she accidentally picks it up walking around. I change out the liner every day but I think she is getting it on herself during the night while I am asleep. Any suggestions?


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## shaelikestaquitos (Feb 2, 2010)

Where exactly is she getting poop on? Lots of hedgehogs get poopy feet or poopy boots from running on their wheel. There isn't much you can do other than give them regular foot baths instead of full baths. With a foot bath, you fill up your sink/tub with warm water up to their tummies, and let them run around to loosen the poop off their feet. You can do those everyday and it's not that big of a deal.

If she's getting it on her back, maybe try using a wet wipe instead of giving her a bath.


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## stringmouse (Feb 3, 2012)

If she is just getting on her feet, it's from eliminating while running on her wheel. If it's on her back she could be pooping in her sleep or rolling around in poo.

Like shaelikestaquitos said, you can give her a foot bath every day with just enough water for her to get her feet and belly wet. Then you can just give a full bath once monthly, or as needed.


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## jerseymike1126 (Jan 20, 2011)

i don't think a day has gone by without my hedgehog getting poop on himself, nothing you can do about it really and it is normal


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## jennayrich (Mar 4, 2012)

She's gets on her feet and also on her back/quills. Not sure how she's getting it on her back cause it happens at night while I'm asleep. Usually I'll have to give her a full bath because a wet paper towel won't get it out of her quills and I don't want to leave any of it on her. 

I appreciate all the comments, the foot bath is a great idea. She doesn't like walking around on the wet paper towel so that's not too successful usually.


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## lehaley (Jun 25, 2011)

jennayrich said:


> She's gets on her feet and also on her back/quills. Not sure how she's getting it on her back cause it happens at night while I'm asleep. Usually I'll have to give her a full bath because a wet paper towel won't get it out of her quills and I don't want to leave any of it on her.
> 
> I appreciate all the comments, the foot bath is a great idea. She doesn't like walking around on the wet paper towel so that's not too successful usually.


Felix occasionally gets poop on his back as well and for the first few days I had him, I couldn't for the life of me figure out how he did it!  More likely than not it's from going on the wheel and having poop that was stuck on the top of the wheel fall down on them. Super gross, but unfortunately there isn't much to stop it. Does she seem to like digging/burrowing? If she does, you could always make her a dig box filled with cut up strips of fleece from your liner leftovers. That way she's rubbing the icky stuff somewhere else and you won't have to give her such frequent baths.


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## jerseymike1126 (Jan 20, 2011)

I use a tooth brush. You dont want to keep giving baths, it will dry out the skin


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## jennayrich (Mar 4, 2012)

Yes, I think it's from using her wheel and somehow the poop gets on her back from that. She does like to burrow after she uses the wheel so I will try that with strips of fleece. Usually she burrows under the fleece liner now and it doesn't have too much effect. I think if anything it just gets it squished into her quills more. 

I use a toothbrush and aveeno oatmeal shampoo for her baths but she's been getting it on her so often I hate doing it because I don't want to dry out her skin. And at the same time I don't want to leave it on her either! Guess theres really not a whole lot I can do about it, I just feel bad for her!


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## alyssinreality (Jan 18, 2012)

Have you tried just getting the toothbrush a little wet and scraping the poo off her back like that without fully putting her in a bath?


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## jennayrich (Mar 4, 2012)

No, I didn't try that just because I thought it wasn't really getting her clean. Guess there's no harm in leaving out the aveeno shampoo and just trying to scrub her a bit with water. Thanks!


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