# Hedgie climbing cage bars!



## jayberrylee

I just saw my hedgie Fabio climbing the cage bars! Can he hurt himself doing that? Im really worried about him i dont want him to brake his leg or something. Have any of your hedgies done this?


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## Nancy

Usually they climb the cage when they are bored. Does he have a wheel? 

You can stop cage climbing by weaving stiff plastic in and out of the bars to a level of about 10" from floor. Plastic report covers or the dollar store stiff plastic place mats work great.


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## jayberrylee

Thanks he does have a wheel, and i think it was because i had just taken him out to play and he wanted to come out and play again. I was gonna take him back out but than i saw that he was starting to go back to bed.


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## hedgielover

Nancy said:


> Usually they climb the cage when they are bored. Does he have a wheel?
> 
> You can stop cage climbing by weaving stiff plastic in and out of the bars to a level of about 10" from floor. Plastic report covers or the dollar store stiff plastic place mats work great.


Hey Nancy

I just need a quick clarification if you don't mind. Do you have to cut the place mats to size in order to make them fit to weave them? If you do, do the edges get sharp? how do you stop the edges from cutting an ambitious climbing hog?

Thanks


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## Nancy

You cut the placemats so they fit tight between the upright bars. Here's a picture of it woven on our ferrets cage. 
http://s98.photobucket.com/albums/l...c related/?action=view&current=Fuzzycage1.jpg
With cages where the bars are horizontal rather than vertical, you'd be weaving from bottom up, rather than side to side like on the ferret cage. They don't cut their feet because they can't climb and won't be able to reach the top.


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## Kean

its best if u do the place meat thing
i had a hamster who always used to climb his bars to the top it was cute and i didnt think anything of it but then i went to check on him one night and he had fallen slipped between the floor bars (it was a two level cage) and broke his neck, he was alive but barely and died in the middle of the night, im never getting a 2 level cage again :x


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## LizardGirl

Kean, I had a very similar experience with my first dwarf hamster. She landed odd after a fall, broke her back, and died in my hands.


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## spikesmcgee

LizardGirl said:


> Kean, I had a very similar experience with my first dwarf hamster. She landed odd after a fall, broke her back, and died in my hands.


How terrible!  

Annabelle likes to climb hers, and I let her fall once. Hoping that it would teach her not to do it again...this seemed to work. However i will never ever let her do it again after that tragic ending!
I have an explorer hog...she gets into everything. Not even a fall off the bed slows her down.
The first and only time Annabelle crawled up her bars like that, was right after we put her back for bedtime. Your guess was right inline with mine, they clearly wanted back out.


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## ByeByeBeautiful1

bah my hedgie is doing this now and im freaking out because I can hear her doing it atm and im broke until Friday and im working tomorrow and its keeping me up because im worried.. >.< do u place the mats on the inside or outside of the cage? how exactly do u do it? ive never had a xcage animal before.


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## Vivalahedgielution

ByeByeBeautiful1 said:


> bah my hedgie is doing this now and im freaking out because I can hear her doing it atm and im broke until Friday and im working tomorrow and its keeping me up because im worried.. >.< do u place the mats on the inside or outside of the cage? how exactly do u do it? ive never had a xcage animal before.


Look at Nancy's post about the ferret cage. (just a post or two above) You'll see it there.


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## ByeByeBeautiful1

i tried it says the photos not there or something silly :/ im buying her a bigger cage tomorrow . I am hoping this will prevent climbing because right now i cant fit her wheel in with her litertray, food , water and hut even though the cage met the required measurements..... Oh well Im just hoping it will help maybe shes climbing cause shes bored. im more freaked out about when im at work for 8 hours and all last night i was worried when i heard her playing that id hear her fall or see her climb. i probably sound crazy  im just new


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## nikki

What size is your cage? You have to be able to keep the wheel in otherwise she's going to keep climbing for excerise. If you cant fit the wheel and hut both in I'd take out the hut and leave the wheel in and give her a blanket to sleep under.


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## ByeByeBeautiful1

Okay that's what I thought.... Ill do that tonight its 18 inches height 17 inches l and 15.5 deep idk it met the requirements and it even had a hedgie picture on it but theres a cage at petsmart I think for rabbits and it has a solid bottom not wire or mesh and its way longer so I think if I get her that one it will work better and fit all her stuff . I don't want a two story one in case of injury but they seem to be the most popular


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## momIImany

Isn't that an awful small cage? Most are around 30" x 45" and 15" high. (2x3 sq C&C cage).


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## nikki

If the bottom of your cage is 15 X 17 inches that's only 1.8 square feet. The cage should have at least 2 square feet of open space AFTER everything is put in it. The cage you have is to small even if you didn't put anything in it. The cage should be at least twice that size.


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## Tara

My SquishMitten was climbing his cage and one day I seen blood on the bars. He ended up ripping off 2 of his nails and I had to take him to the vet. Thankfully he is ok and I nursed his little paws with some meds the vet gave me. But I would watch out for a climber.


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## ByeByeBeautiful1

Yeah I read a book that gave me the measure ments I have a new cage for her it's the biggest one they had at the pet store that wasn't two levels. It's for a rabbit normally so I think this one will be big enought. I hope so I just want the best for her


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## Nancy

ByeByeBeautiful1 said:


> i tried it says the photos not there or something silly :/ im buying her a bigger cage tomorrow . I am hoping this will prevent climbing because right now i cant fit her wheel in with her litertray, food , water and hut even though the cage met the required measurements..... Oh well Im just hoping it will help maybe shes climbing cause shes bored. im more freaked out about when im at work for 8 hours and all last night i was worried when i heard her playing that id hear her fall or see her climb. i probably sound crazy  im just new


I have no idea why but my photobucket is empty. I can't find the photo of the fuzzy cage which best showed the plastic around the sides, but here is a photo of the FN after it became for the hedgehogs. It shows the plastic woven in and out of the bars.


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## heggiemomemily

*New Hedgehog Mom in Need of Help*

Hello everyone. I'm a new Heggie owner, her name is Cactus, and she has become a climber suddenly, usually in the middle of the night. I got her back in February and she's currently four months old. She's been quilling a little bit lately, so the only change I noticed at first (since bringing her home) was how much she was scratching. But the cage climbing just began a few nights ago and it's only getting worse. Her cage is not very tall, so most of her falls haven't been too scary, but as a new mom, I worry about every last thing that doesn't seem normal. And although the falls aren't from very high, the sound of her falling, again and again, is causing me to lose sleep. I've tried to put toys in her cage to occupy her and even play with her a bunch before bedtime, but she still eventually wakes up and begins climbing. I'm just very worried of her hurting herself before she gets the hint that climbing gets her nowhere. I'm also in the process of getting her a wheel to see if that will help. Any other tips would be fantastic though (maybe how to not worry so much about slight differences in her behavior...!

Thanks in advance.


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## Mr.Pricklesworth_Hedgehog

You should put plastic (or some form of wall) up the sides of the cage so she isn’t able to reach the bars and won’t be able to climb. She has a wheel to occupy her at night right? So she isn’t just looking for entertainment. 

Please check the dates before posting. This one was originally from 10 years ago. Start a new thread if you must.


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