# Oh god, she's a climber... help!



## hogmother (Nov 16, 2008)

We just got Priscilla a new cage today - a beautiful cage not normally meant for hedgehogs but it had the option to remove the metal floor grate, which we've of course done, and fixable food bowls so it doesn't look like a food fight has taken place when we rise every morning.

pic of cage: http://www.zooplus.co.uk/bilder/hagen/v ... 2308_1.jpg
note: We got this one because we wanted to eventually make a second level (fenced off of course).

I woke up to these twanging noises to see miss Priscilla spread eagled on the corner of the cage, making her way up the side, her bottom feet about 6" above the floor. She fell when she saw me, and for a moment my heart stopped. I'm really worried now that I'll wake up in the morning and find her lying on the cage floor with a broken back or such if she keeps trying to climb walls, especially if she gets much higher. (It could be out of boredom as her new wheel hasn't come yet).

Do I need to worry? I've seen SO many cage options with a wire cage, and I'm wondering if this is dangerous behaviour for her to be indulging in, or whether once they fall once they learn pretty quickly not to do it again.

Please help!
- Worried Hogmother!


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## silvercat (Oct 24, 2008)

I've read this posted elsewhere (sorry whoevere's suggestion it first was):
pick up some of the clear plastic placemats/cutting boards (you can get them at the dollar store) & try weaving them through the wire so she can't climb.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

I really hate to say this, but that is not a hedgehog friendly cage. I'm sure you've probably removed the floor grid, but if not, it needs to be. The doors are not large enough to get a wheel in and out meaning that you have to take it off the base to clean the wheel. The base is brittle plastic and cracks rather easily. They are a nice cage for birds that don't have large furniture like hedgehogs do, but for a hedgehog and needing to be constantly dismantled to clean the wheel, the cage is not going to last. We see them already broken on display in the stores and that is not a good sign.


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## hogmother (Nov 16, 2008)

We DID think about the fact we have to remove the base to take out the wheel before we bought it, and on many reviews I have read that reaper's wheel just needs a wet wipe most days, meaning it won't be a daily open/close situation. We know we'll have to take the cage off the bottom but the plastic doesn't seem brittle to me. It seems to be the same plastic as a Rotastak cage I had in the UK in the early nineties for my hamster and it lasted years. 

As mentioned in my original post, we did take off the floor grate. 

Have you run into this specific cage broken often in stores? 

@silvercat: We will try the mat method. Last night I ended up putting her back in her old sterlite tub just so I could sleep without worrying... at 4:30am came another THUD so we need to lace up these bars with plastic TODAY.


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

Because the wires are so close together, an easier way would probably be to punch holes in the plastic, and tie them onto the cage, instead of weaving through the bars. 

You can easily secure with zip ties, or metal wires to tie the plastic on.


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

(Here is the link to the cage info- http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/birds/bir ... ages/43683 )

I'm sure you don't like to hear this again, but I have to agree with Nancy. The first thing is, it's way too small. (How do you fit a wheel in there?) It's only about 2 feet long, and even shorter in width. With that size, there's not enough room to make a ramp up the side to a second level. The CWS is fairly large, I don't even think it would fit in there with the stand...

I think just looking at the size would steer me to a different cage, without even looking at the other issues.


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## hogmother (Nov 16, 2008)

The cage (I just measured the floor space again to check the actual measurements) is 30" x 15". It is 21" high. The bars are 3/4" apart.

The CWS is, taken from website, "14" x 14" x 16" high for use with base. Without base 13" high"

That's half the back wall of the cage for the wheel, and half within which to create some more floor space. I want to make the cage 4.5 sq feet, meaning another 1.4 needs to be added on. Which is perfectly possible within the confines of the wheel being added. There's 10" additional depth to add a ramp to the second level... I know Miss Priscilla is a bit chubby, but she's not 10" wide!

My reason for posting was to find out if using a wire cage was dangerous, after reading over and over about people making C&C cages. Now I've learned the trick about using plastic placemats, I have the information I need now.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

I apologize. I totally missed where you said you took the floor grid out.

I think you will find that a second level is not going to work very well in that cage. That I can remember of it, and from the pictures, there is only 1 door. That means you will have to choose if the door is for the second level, or the bottom because you need access to both. To have the required fully enclosed second level, means you have to have a door where that level is. I don't know how easily the top comes off but if it does, that would give you access to the second level. 

Reapers wheels are large and take up a lot of space so you will be surprised how little you have left once the wheel is in there. I think you are going to find that in that size of cage, it will take up half of it which does not leave much room for a second level and shallow angled ramp.


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## hogmother (Nov 16, 2008)

There are 2 doors in the front of the cage that can work together or separately. There are also 2 doors either side of the cage which will fit miss Priscilla in and out if need be. This means we have access to the second level (which I am thinking will be a small sterlite box with the lid fastened and plenty of air holes) through 1 point, and the lower level through a choice of 3.


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