# Wheeling Vs. Burrowing



## Haley&Henry (Nov 2, 2013)

My little Mumford is about 8 weeks old. He has a full sized comfort wheel in his cage that he does not seem very interested in. I don't think he has run in it at all. He seems much more interested in digging. When he is out of his cage, he just runs around and burrows. I took strips of fleece and flannel and stuffed them into his house. He is in heaven! However I am still concerned about his lack of wheeling


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## Annie&Tibbers (Apr 16, 2013)

Are you certain he hasn't used his wheel, or you haven't seen him use it & it is suspiciously clean in the morning? You might've been lucky and got a strangely tidy baby! You can dust a bit of flour on the running surface to check for tell-tale hoggie footprints.

Some hedgehogs are quite picky about the angle of their wheel, so you can try tilting it a bit (hard to do with a Comfort Wheel). I've also noticed that my Comfort Wheel is pretty flimsy on its stand, and when it bounces around too much, my small friend gets offended and stalks off. Weighting down the base, or attaching it to the cage side, can both help with stability.

Does he know how to use a wheel? Sometimes you need to train a tiny friend by placing them in the wheel, blocking them in with your hand, and gently turning the wheel so they get walking = moving. Do it in dim lighting and for a very brief time over a few nights -- be paying attention to make sure you're not freaking your tiny friend out by making him feel trapped/etc.


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## Haley&Henry (Nov 2, 2013)

Last night I tried putting him on his wheel again, like you suggested, and as always he just seemed like he had better places to be. Haha. However, this morning I woke up to a poop caked wheel. Not sure what caused the sudden change, but at least now I know he's running.


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