# Digging help?



## Starshinepunk (Feb 28, 2019)

Pugsley seems to have a new found obsession with digging and tunneling. It all started with him liner diving but not long after that my liners from piggy bedspreads arrived making that impossible for him. But now everytime I bring him out for cuddle time he tunnels under anything he can get under (when he isn’t pooping on me lol) and he isn’t doing that he is constantly digging. I made him a dig box filled with fleece scrap squares, but he completely ignores it. I tried covering it to make it like another hide figuring maybe he didn’t feel secure enough to use it. Nope! He still insists on digging the ever loving **** out of his snuggle sacks, fleece tunnel, the bedding, my T-shirts, and well...everything.
I’m tempted to see if I get a dirt/sand/earth kind of dig box if that will help but I’m so scared of him getting stuff in his urethra or a URI. Is this just a phase (he’s 3 months old)
Should I just let him dig and just buy or see a surplus of snuggle sacks and bedding/liners (he’s dug holes through three sacks already and one was double fleece)?
On a plus side maybe all this digging on the right surface could mean no nail trimming? Lol I wish.


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## Ria (Aug 30, 2018)

They are a burrowing animals its natural for them to dig. But they like burrowing where they want, and all over the place not just one place. Hedgehogs will naturally liner dive, once you stop letting them they will try find other ways. In which this is one of them.
Its not a phase, he wont just grow out of it, its a natural instinct he has.


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## belties (Oct 2, 2018)

Ours does some of that too. I put a blanket over my legs on the couch and a large bath towel over that for her . After eating her treats she crawls to the edge and waits for me to lift the corner of the towel,under she goes and the digging and burrowing begins ! Some times she crawls out and heads for the pillow pile and trys to dig her way under to the other side. After she plays for a while and wears out she will curl up on top my legs and sleep till its time to go back up to her pen. Digging is a normal activity for them . Thats how they find bugs in the wild and they really seem to love it no matter how crazy it drives us.


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## Starshinepunk (Feb 28, 2019)

Thank you! So should I just make a big dig box for him? Not use the bedspread liners so he can liner dive? 
Of course now that I asked he doesn’t do it today but instead waited till bonding time to poop on me (still cracks me up) tunneled around for a while then crawled in my shirt to cuddle. No digging yet tonight.


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## belties (Oct 2, 2018)

Little Bit has a dig box that she use to dig in but now that she is older she uses it for a litter box. She also became a pack rat. If I give her a couple half sheets of crumpled up paper towels she drags them around at night and if she decides to sleep in a tunnel during the day she will pull one in each end to close off the tunnel. They are such interesting little critters.


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## Aj.t (Jan 29, 2019)

The funny thing is that Christina isn’t much of a digger. With that being said, I fill an old beanie with shreds of fleece and by morning they’re literally wverwhere and where is she? In her igloo? No I’m the beanie. So she seems to have a *reason* to dig at the fleece strips but it still keeps her entertained! That’s a pretty easy enrichment idea if you have fleece scraps and something like a hat to fill them in that way when he digs in the fleece he might find a reason, which would be a brand new bed!


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## Starshinepunk (Feb 28, 2019)

I might try both of those ideas...he just doesn’t seem very interested in anything but his wheel, food, water, tunnel, and igloo.
I might try filling up his tunnel with fleece for him to dig out.


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## Yukidama's mama (Apr 4, 2017)

It’s perfectly fine to make him a dig box using natural substrates like sand, soil etc just make sure it is the safe kind. A lot of people use play sand (just don’t want it to be dusty) and soil, make sure it’s organic so no fertilisers or pesticides have been used. Many people chose to do a naturalistic enclosure as it is more natural for them and allows them to dig and burrow to their content! it is also good enrichment. You can even put insects in there so he can dig them up! 

My boy is the same. I’m planning to do the naturalistic enclosure myself as my boy is an avid digger and burrower but he’s having health issues so it’s easier to monitor on fleece for the moment. I did switch him to paper bedding last summer and he loved to dig in that so that’s another option to consider too


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## Starshinepunk (Feb 28, 2019)

Any suggestions on good substrate and container? Should I leave it in his cage or just for play times?


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## Ria (Aug 30, 2018)

Gravel trays from garden centres, you could make your own out of cardboard to give it more room would both work as good containers.
The substares, I believe most people use a reptile soil, and sand mix - But I'm sure Yudikma'smama will tell you as she knows more about it than me !!
I'd see how he goes with it at playtime first, and then see about adding it to his enclosure for a full time thing depending how you feel


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## Starshinepunk (Feb 28, 2019)

Would bigger aquarium gravel be safe?


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## Ria (Aug 30, 2018)

If its bigger lthan cat/kitten litter (not the pellete ones) then I cant see why it wouldnt be safe. But wait for someone who knows a bit more to comfirm it


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## Aj.t (Jan 29, 2019)

Gravel wouldn’t necessarily be unsafe but rather a bit abrasive. At least if it was an entire dig box of gravel. I can’t imagine a hedgehog in the wild digging in a mound of rocks, but if you add some to a mixture it would most replicate the soil they’d encounter in the wild!


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## Starshinepunk (Feb 28, 2019)

Aj.t said:


> if you add some to a mixture it would most replicate the soil they'd encounter in the wild!


This was the plan, I just thought aquarium gravel would just make things a bit more colorful mixed with some safe sand or soil.


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## Aj.t (Jan 29, 2019)

YAS girl make it fun!!!


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## Ria (Aug 30, 2018)

Theres this soil called topsoil - I've been researching lol its desinged for animals that would need as a substrate and it totally hedgehog safe !!
Pro rep dessert sand - desinged for reptiles - is a good safe sand to mix into the soil too, not one with added vits and minserals though just normal dessert sand
Or kids play sand that has to be baked first is also a good one to mix with soil.

I did research to find this for you. Try looking on online reptile shops near you to find it.
Most people do it so theres more soil than sand, but some do it so its 50/50 

I love the idea of adding the gravel too. 
When you have it all set up show me what it looks like I'd love to see.


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## Starshinepunk (Feb 28, 2019)

Thank you so much Ria! I will start shopping around


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