# How did you potty train your hedgehog??



## hedgiehugs3 (Feb 20, 2016)

I have recently been trying to potty train my hedgie. She has a small litter pan that she can climb into with bedding a pet store recommended for potty training a hedgehog. It has been over a week and she still poops all over her cage and wheel. I took out her wheel for a few days, but I felt bad because she was getting restless and just spreading the bedding in the litter pan all over her cage. I move her poop from all over her cage into the litter pan, in hopes that she will get the idea. I also try and keep the litter pan near when she is out of the cage so I can place her in it when she starts to poop. Nothing seems to be working, she just burrows in her little pan and spreads it all over the cage. What worked for you?? 

Thanks!!


----------



## shinydistraction (Jul 6, 2014)

Honestly, I don't think most of us even bother actively trying to litter train. You can certainly try it, and she may get it eventually, or she may not.

What many people do is place a litter tray (i just use a paper towel and change it out daily) underneath the wheel so it can catch the run off. Hedgehogs do their business while they run, so its perfectly normal and natural for them to do so while running on their wheels.

How old is your hedgehog? If she's still young, that's probably why there is poop all over the cage. Younger animals don't have as much control over their bathroom behavior (think toddlers when they're going through potty training). It gets better as they get older.

Be sure to always leave the wheel in the cage unless there is a medical reason to remove it. That's their primary source of exercise and entertainment. Cleaning a poopy wheel everyday is just part of owning a hedgehog.


----------



## jillgonz (Jan 19, 2016)

I think it depends on the hedgehog.

I started off with no wheel in the cage, just the litter box. This was only for the first 4 days after we brought him home. I put a litter pan in a corner. It was like 20%/80% of him using the litter box versus his corner. So I put the litter box where he kept pooping and then he started pooping in it. 

When it came time to put the wheel back in, I had to move the litter box to the original corner because I was putting the wheel in the litter box and it didn't fit. And then it became like 60/40 of using the box versus his corner.

Then he discovered his wheel, and poops on his wheel and litter box only.

It was kind of a process, but he kind of just did it on his own. Even now once in a while, he'll poop right outside his litterbox. It's rare, but it happens.

Also, I don't know if this played a factor, but when we got him from the breeder, he was living on bedding. When we brought him home, we used fleece. And the bedding I put in the litter box was different than the breeder's that he was used to. I don't know if that plays a role or not though.


----------



## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

What type of litter did the pet store recommend?


----------



## Charlotte.the.hedgehog (Nov 15, 2015)

With Charlotte I just have her litter tray under her wheel with a paper towel. Any time she would poop or pee outside her wheel/tray I would put it in the tray and clean up the cage to make sure she wasn't smelling the mess anywhere but the tray. This meant changing the fleece daily, sometimes multiple times a day when she was young. By the time she was about 5 months old she was only going in her tray or wheel. When she first starts running at night she will get off her wheel to poop or pee in the tray. But after a few hours of wheeling when she's in the 'zone' she just goes on her wheel, but about half of the time she eliminates all at the beginning in the tray and her wheel is still clean in the morning, which is nice.


----------



## Tfarr199u (Feb 17, 2016)

I put gecko sand in a aluminum bowl when we first got our Hedgie and she started using it right away. She has never really pooped in her cage anywhere. I think it depends on the hedgehog


----------

