# Making Auri a bit more comfortable



## msredhead (Sep 28, 2012)

So we switched from Carefresh to a fleece liner after Auri's litter passed away (  ) and I have to say that she just loves it! We put her wheel on a cookie sheet and put Carefresh in that to keep her poop contained (which is working amazingly) and she doesn't much seem to mind that either. Her cage looks great, and while she still tracks the bedding onto the fleece, she hasn't spread any dirty things onto the fleece.

One thing I am curious about is if she is warm enough in her igloo when she sleeps. With the Carefresh, she used to lay on her side or belly flopped down with her legs sticking out to sleep (super cute). Now she sleeps tightly in a ball and I worry that she's not warm. Her cage is at 75-77 degrees all the time (which is the same as it's been since we got her home), and the thermometer is attached to the cage at her level behind the igloo. We leave a fleece blanket over the cage with only the front left open for ventillation, but also to protect against drafts just in case.

When we thought she was having an issue with having just a blank fleece lined floor, we took some fleece and cut it up into strips and put a handful in her igloo, but she just shoved it all to the side and lays on the liner and still in a tight ball. Are there any suggestions? She's being her usually silly girl self, a bit more sassy than usual (I gave her a post-pregnancy bath and nail trimming) but I just attributed it to losing the hoglets, getting a bath and a clean cage. 

Since we are just dying of the heat in the house, we are heading out this weekend to get a CHE and lamp for her cage (with a temp control option of course), so maybe this will help. She's always warm (don't worry, we check her a lot lol), and plays with her toilet paper tube and stuffed hedgehog, eating is fine (she recently got a taste of some fresh apple and loved it), and everything seems just normal. I guess I am probably being a paranoid hedgie mom, but I just want her to be comfortable.

Does anyone have any suggestions?


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## sparkmanr (Aug 29, 2012)

The only thing I was going to suggest before you mentioned it is the extra fleece strips. Milo shoves half of them out of his house as well. Maybe try just a piece of fleece cut large enough to fit into the house and big enough for her to crawl under if she wanted to and stick it in there. That's another option. Milo sleeps in his house half the time and the other half he crawls under or in a hedgie sack I typically leave in his cage. He's typically always balled up. I think if everything else is normal then she should be just fine.


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## msredhead (Sep 28, 2012)

That's a good point lol, I didn't even think of! I'll try that with the other piece of fleece we have lying around. She does love laying in the fleece we have on our chairs. She crawls up in it! I thought maybe her igloo was too big, but I don't know if she would fit in a smaller size one. Trial and error I guess! Thanks!


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## sparkmanr (Aug 29, 2012)

No problem, it's definitely trial and error. I just put Milo's house back into his cage because his first night home he used to to escape with. He was so small he squeezed through the holes in his C&C cage. He used the house to get above the coroplast walls. It was a scary moment to realize he wasn't in there. I finally decided he was too big to get through the holes now and so I put it back in. He likes it it seems. I haven't had Milo that long so I'm definitely still trying to figure out the whole hedgehog thing. He's so jumpy and hissy. He started quilling a week after i got him and he turned into a huffing, hissing, jumping, jumpy hot mess every since then. I'm trying my hardest to be really patient with him but i wish he would be less scared of everything. I guess for the most part I haven't had him that long and it's just going to take him extra time. If i could get him to stop pooping next to his food and water bowl I would be even happier. LOL


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## msredhead (Sep 28, 2012)

Lol, silly boy. Have you tried moving his food and water? If I have Auri's anywhere near her wheel she'll poop all over it! 

Auri has been a bit huffy lately, but I think she's quilling some, too. She is a food mongrel, so I tend to bribe her with treats and it does well! :lol:


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## sparkmanr (Aug 29, 2012)

I have moved his food bowls to three different locations in his cage. No matter where I put the bowls he poops next to them. He's silly. What type of treats do you give her other than mealies? Just curious.


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## msredhead (Sep 28, 2012)

She actually hates mealies if you can believe it. 

We switch it up... I give sometimes give her pieces of apple or banana, and she loves wet cat food (I make sure to get approved hedgie kinds). She also loves little tastes of yogurt and cottage cheese (but not a lot). She gobbles up fruits, and likes carrots sometimes. When she was nursing, we gave her some baby food squash and she loved it!


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## msredhead (Sep 28, 2012)

So Auri just seems to hate the fleece in her igloo... after I was getting a little antsy about her sleeping in a ball, I moved the fleece to the side for her, and now she sleeps on her tummy with her back legs out and super relaxed (barely covers her nose!). So I guess she just wasn't a fan of sleeping on the fleece much!


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Glad you got it figured out! They can be so picky sometimes. :lol:


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