# How to potty train my hedgehog if possible!!!!



## Lexis6011

4 days ago i got a hedgehog from my friends boyfriends friend! I have never talked to him about his hedgehog so i feel a bit in the dark about everything! Gandalf is 2 years old, him and i are just starting to get to know each other, we are not at the point where i can pick him up, and he still curls into a ball when i first put my hand near him to let him smell me.

Gandalf is a poop on the wheel type of hedgehod, he poops everywhere!!!!! it makes his cage smell really bad. i was told to take toilet paper and just pick the poop up. and one a week clean out his whole cage. I have split his cage into two differnt parts in a way. under his house is a blanket, the water dish and food dish also sit ontop if the blanket. then on the other side of his cage i have cotton like wood shavings on the floor! they absorber a lot and he seems to love them! ontop of those i have his wheel.
if you have any ideas on how to better set up his cage please let me know! im willing to try it!

I have heard that you can potty train your hedgehog, and i have watched youtube videos showing how well potty trained they can be! i want to know if i would be able to train my hedgehog to be potty trained. he is 2, so i am worried it is to late to teach him, but i am willing to try, it would be much easier to just change the littler box other than scavenging through his cage to find all the poop.
Let me know your thoughts!

also: he drinks out of a water dish, its what came with im when i got him, will it be easy to switch him to a bottle? 

Thanks


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## JulieAnne

I would suggest switching to fleece...it's easier to clean, I think. I put payer towels under Prims wheel so the poop falls on the paper towels and I just throw them away and replace them every day. Why are you wanting to switch him to a bottle?


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## hedgieglue

I'm not against the shavings, as long as they're not pine or cedar. But I would switch to fleece as well. It's soft, fashionable, and VERY easy to clean. It also reduces the risk of respiratory issues and harbored mites!
I also prefer a water bottle over a bowl, because my hedgehog tends to knock his foodbowl over when he's fed up with me. Just imagine what he'd do with a bowl of water! Switching to a water bottle from bowl might be a little difficult...so I wouldn't switch the bowl out unless you absolutely have to.

And you really can't potty train a hedgehog. Axel was great about using his little cardboard litter box for a bit, then I added his wheel and he poops all over that thing now. But I lay papertowels under the litter box so he doesn't track his poop everywhere :lol:


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## stringmouse

I think pretty much all hedgehogs poop on their wheels. The trick is to try to catch the excess poo and urine by putting a paper towel or litter tray underneath it. If he is pooping elsewhere in the cage, you can try to encourage him to go in the tray/on the towel by picking up his droppings and putting them there. But the truth is some hedgehogs will just go in one spot, and some just wanna go wherever they feel like it. 

And if there is no problem with him using a bowl, I would just stick with it.


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## alexvdl

If you do switch to fleece, you can still use a tray underneath the wheel to catch his poop and urine. Reginald likes his kiln dried pine in there.


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## jngy slate

hi i think these videos will help. the more you just scoop your hand up and pick him up the easier it will be to do and the less youll jump if he gets all prickly. hedgehogs will mostly be grouchy in the morning, and if you try to pick them up from behind (where they cant see you) they'll usually ball up or raise the quills on their head.


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