# Litter training questions



## MaxQ (Dec 17, 2012)

Hey all,

I have a couple questions about litter training.

1) I just started mixing in a new kind of litter into my Hog's litter pan. We're switching out from the last of the stuff the breeder sent us home with--something called Dry Den that apparently only comes in huge bags at the feed and tack store. Since we only have one hedgie and storage space in our apartment is at a premium, I just don't see a reason to buy enormous bags of litter. Which brings me to my question: I bought something called Eco Straw (http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/products/type/largepicture?picture=705&object=1566) and Max decided to try and eat (? Maybe?) and anoint himself with one of the pellets. Is this bad? Should I remove the eco straw litter? It seems pretty benign and I haven't seen him do it since, so I'm not sure.

2) My guy is just about two months old and...well, he's messy. Not like I wasn't expecting that, but I'm wondering if I should even bother keeping the litter pan in his cage at this point. He doesn't reliably use it and it takes up a lot of space in the cage. How many of you use litter pans in your cages? Do the hogs use them more as they get older? Or will a messy tyke always be that way? I spot clean the cage every day, so it wouldn't be that big of a deal to get rid of it. I don't think it's really saving me any work at this point anyways.

3) I was thinking of trying to find a small tray to fit under his wheel and just switch over to using that as a litter box. It seems like that's a pretty popular set up with the saucer/bucket wheels. Do any of you use that strategy? Do the hedgies actually go there, or does it merely catch the poo that flings off the wheel as they run around at night?

Thanks!


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

Litter training hedgehogs isn't really "training" at all - it's more like taking advantage of things they'll do anyway. The vast majority of hedgehogs will 1. poop and pee while running on the wheel, and 2. avoid doing their business where they sleep. With that in mind, some strategic positioning of the tray goes a long way. Put it under the wheel, and put it (plus the wheel) at the opposite end of the cage from where the primary sleeping spot is - or if you find that your hedgehog has a preferred area for pooping, use that as a guide. You'll want something to catch the runoff from the wheel anyway, and there's going to be a natural accumulation at the wheel, which is much the same as the idea of relocating droppings to try to "teach" them where to go.

Babies are messy, and they poop a lot. The cages of babies are definitely more messy and need to be cleaned more often. It's a phase - you'll definitely see the mess decrease as your hedgehog gets older. How consistently they use a litter tray or how often they leave wayward poops elsewhere in the cage will depend entirely on the individual hedgehog - they can range from neat freaks to complete slobs. But, for a typical hedgehog, you should be able to get to the point where they use the litter tray 80-90% of the time.

For trays that go under the wheel, the two basic options are a tray that goes only under the "bucket" part of the wheel, positioned between the legs of the wheel stand, or a tray that goes under the whole wheel. I much prefer the second option. I find that a lot of my hedgehogs, when they do their business not while running, will do it behind the wheel or around the legs of it, so having a tray under the whole thing works a lot better. The ones I make look like this:










For the litter, it's fine if it's just anointing. The rule of thumb for introducing something new like that is to monitor your hedgehog closely for the first few hours. If you see repeated chewing on it without anointing, that's more likely actually consuming it, so the litter should be removed. I just use washable liners for my trays, but I know Yesterday's News and Carefresh are among the common litter choices.


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## MaxQ (Dec 17, 2012)

Thanks moxieberry!

It looks like he was just anointing himself with the new stuff. It did have a very strong smell coming out of the bag, so I'm not really surprised. I haven't seen him go for it since that first time. I've changed the set-up around a little bit so that the litter tray is under the wheel and I'm already liking that much better. His cage is a little on the small side and the old litter pan took up almost 1/4-1/3 of the floor space. Max seems to approve of this new arrangement as well, now he can push his toy car around more.


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## shkwade (Dec 19, 2012)

If you decide eventually that you want to put a smaller litter pan in Max's cage I just use paper towel as litter. At first my hedgehog kept pulling it out of the litter box and then doing his business. I'm not sure what that was all about. Anyway I started picking up his poops and putting them in his litter box ontop of the paper towel. This seemed to work a small miracle because now Henry always uses his litter box. I hope this helps!


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