# Shavings getting everywhere!!!!!



## Hedgielover411 (Jan 5, 2019)

Hey! So I’ve had my boy, Theodore for a month and a half and this is my first hedgie! I use wood shavings for in his cage. The problem is, they get EVERYWHERE!!!!!!! They always stick to my clothes which is kind of annoying and they get all over the house. Is there anyway to prevent this or is this just what happens with wood shavings? 
Thanks!!!!


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## Aj.t (Jan 29, 2019)

Hey there! I know exactly where you’ve been. My first hedgehog started out with wood shavings, but I too quickly found out that they got everywhere. Honestly, the best way to help the problem is to switch to either compressed wood pellets (which can get pretty pricy) or go the fleece route, which many hedgie owners will tell you. You can find fleece liners all over the web, but they too tend to be overly pricy, so my advice would be to make your own! But some fun pattern no-pill fleece and water absorbent pads (I use Uhaul brand moving pads), fold a pad in between two layers of fleece, and sew it shut! This way, you can wash and reuse all of your liners- saves money and resources! If you prefer wood shavings and can live with the trail of shavings, go for it. But if you want a cost effective, cleaner option, opt for fleece. 
Hope this helps 🙂


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## Ria (Aug 30, 2018)

Fleece liners are pratic and many owners love them. However they deprive the hedgehog of burrowing, which means you then needs to add a dig box to allow natural behaviour, however you will find that they still liner dive.
Woodshavings aren't great as a bedding either, as gets everywhere, can cause other problems if theres one or two sharp ones that get put in.
I have never heard of compressed wood pellets being used as bedding, I have heard of them being used as liter though. 
Animal safe dust free shreedded cardboard (finacard) its a great loose bedding and will only get everywhere if you pick it up, or your hog wants to bring its bedding along with it. I use feece strips in the hide, to make it a bit warmer in the winter. Its a reasonable price for what you get, always comes in large amounts, fleece strips are easy to make your slef using anti pill fleece. 
Another loose bedding is carefresh, however like woodshavings it can get every where. A lot of people use it more for litter, or dig boxes. It can also work out expensive when using for bedding, but not so much for litter or dig boxes. 
There are some people who go for a mor natural style with theirs, and use soil (brought from a reptile shop and safe for hogs) most mix it with a bit of sand (again brought from specific places and hog safe), and some others dont. They use a plastic sheet thing, that goes up the sides, makes it easier for not going everywhere. Price wise I'm not all to sure.


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## Hedgielover411 (Jan 5, 2019)

I saw online there was some animal safe paper type bedding, would that be good for hedgies or no? Also, at first he had a towel to line, but as he refuses to litter train and uses the box as a dig box, and the towel would smell so bad thanks to him peeing all over it (he lives in my room) Would the same thing happen with fleece or no?


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## Ria (Aug 30, 2018)

Yea the same thing would happen with the fleece as to the towl. By paper bedding do you mean something like whats in the picture ?? Or like paper shavings ??


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## Mecki (Nov 4, 2017)

Aj.t said:


> Honestly, the best way to help the problem is to switch to either compressed wood pellets (which can get pretty pricy) or go the fleece route, which many hedgie owners will tell you.


Not sure where you're seeing/getting wood pellets, but they are actually quite cheap -- unless you get them from a pet store. I use them for my rabbit's litter _because_ they are so cheap. From a hardware store, a 40lb bag only cost $4- $7. (Price varies depending on where you live)

For my hedgehog, I use the wood pellets in a tray under the wheel. The rest of the cage is fleece. I also have a dig box made of fleece which you can see in the attached photo.

@Ria, You were correct about my "dig box." Mecki has chosen it as his spot for sleeping during the day.


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## Hedgielover411 (Jan 5, 2019)

Ria said:


> Yea the same thing would happen with the fleece as to the towl. By paper bedding do you mean something like whats in the picture ?? Or like paper shavings ??


That's actually exactly what I was talking about. Is that safe for hedgehogs? Would Theodore try to eat it if I gave it to him? (He's tried to eat other things I've given him)


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## Ria (Aug 30, 2018)

Mecki I can't not laugh at this!! At least you know he likes it in there!!


Yes that is safe for hedgehogs - Its similar to the care fresh bedding I mentioned.
I very much doubt that Theodore will try to eat it, he will sniff it, possibly lick it the first time but they explore with smell and taste mostly, I wouldn't worry about him eating it really even hedgehogs that are known for trying to eat everything don't try eating that sorta stuff


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## Mecki (Nov 4, 2017)

Hedgielover411 said:


> the towel would smell so bad thanks to him peeing all over it (he lives in my room) Would the same thing happen with fleece or no?


Not exactly. The idea with fleece is that it wicks moisture. It is the opposite of what a towel does which is absorbs moisture. Fleece allows the urine to go through the fabric to an absorbent material below. The fleece stays dry and it takes a while before the odor in the absorbent material below gets smelly. When it does, it just gets washed.


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## Hedgielover411 (Jan 5, 2019)

@Ria Okay, that’s good to know. Maybe I’ll try that as it would be easier to pick up off my floor (I have carpet so I can’t just sweep it up) The only reason I was concerned about it was that I gave Theodore something that was that seemed somewhat similar and it looked like he was trying to eat it, and almost did eat some so I thought he might do the same.

@Mecki That makes sense that it wouldn’t smell so bad (thank you aj.t for the tip). If the paper bedding doesn’t work out then that seems like a good alternative. Also you have a rabbit? I have a rabbit too!!! I thought that was a fun coincidence, since I’ve never known of anyone else with a rabbit and a hedgehog 

Thank you to everyone for your advice! I’ll try out different things to see which one works best!


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## Mecki (Nov 4, 2017)

Hedgielover411 said:


> @Mecki Also you have a rabbit? I have a rabbit too!!! I thought that was a fun coincidence, since I've never known of anyone else with a rabbit and a hedgehog


Haha. Yes, I've had rabbits for years. My signature line shows a link to my rabbit care website as well -- in case you ever feel like browsing about. :grin:


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## Sandwich's Mommy (Feb 15, 2015)

My hedge came to me with wood shavings too. They were very stabby to her and made her sneeze. After doing research (this was 5 years ago) I switched her to animal safe paper. I alternate between carefresh and critter care. She also has a fleece liner OVER the litter in one corner of her cage, where she has self litter trainer. She only goes on the fleece, makes for easy clean up. She did have fleece liners while recovering from surgery and hated it even with dig strips. She would just go under the fleece. But that only lasted until she was healed enough to go back to paper. Love the paper, theres no smell. It's easy to clean and its inexpensive.


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## Shaymin_Lover (Jan 27, 2019)

I read that using wood pellets as the bedding for the whole cage isn’t recommended... I didn’t really look into it much though


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## Mecki (Nov 4, 2017)

Shaymin_Lover said:


> I read that using wood pellets as the bedding for the whole cage isn't recommended... I didn't really look into it much though


I don't know about that either. I think I've seen some cages with all wood pellets but it doesn't look too comfortable for walking or lounging.

I've been using them in the tray below the hedgehog wheel. (Well actually, I am mixing them with some leftover paper pellets that we had from my son's rats.)

For the week and a half that I've had my hedgehog, I've found the fleece remarkably easy. Mecki likes to hide/sleep in his fleece/pompom hidey house _or_ in the long fleece tube in the back of the cage.


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## BaileyDriskill (Feb 3, 2019)

My hedge came home with recycled newspaper bedding and it got EVERYWHERE. We were vacuuming every day! So we stopped using it about a month ago and honestly I bought some really soft Jersey pillow cases and that’s what I’m using now. I lay one down at the bottom of his cage and put his bed on top of it and then put one more over the bed so he can lay under it. The only one that really gets pooped or peed on is the one on the very bottom, so every few days I’ll take it out and wash it. If you buy a few of them you’ll have enough to switch out while they are being washed. Fleece is probably better and I plan to try it soon, but the pillow cases were just a quick fix for me. And yes, he will chew the fabric at first and maybe annoying with it, but after smelling it and tasting it he will stop!


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## PeteyTheHedgie (Feb 26, 2019)

We use a double layer of fleece & it works really well. We bought enough to use 1 everyday of the week, so we have some clean while we wash the others. We wait till fleece goes on sale to buy, We cut up strips & make a pile of them & he like to burrow in them.


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## Emc (Nov 18, 2018)

If you ever did want to go down the fleece route for the lack of mess, I really like the Guineadad liners. They have liners available with a burrow pouch, so the animal is less likely to burrow under the actual fleece liner itself. You can also pop a loose fleece blanket on top of the liner so that they can burrow in that and again, by providing that they should be less likely to burrow under the liner itself.


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