# Hedgehog safe brand soil/dirt?



## IMAMONSTERHAHAHA (Mar 6, 2013)

Hi I'm planning on building an indoor garden for my hedgie, there's too many fleas outside and lots of stray cats and winter will be here soon. I want her to have a little nature inside the house. I need to know what brand of safe and organic soil I can use, any help?  Please and thank you!:grin:


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

I'm going out on a limb here with my knowledge. 

I just built a living terrarium for my crested gecko and there are some things to look out for and what to do for live plants. 

One of the things to do is buy organic soil, you can find this at nearby gardeners or nurseries. Make sure it doesn't have perilite in it or fertilizers. Periilite is the small white round things often found is potted plants and potting soil. Then you will want to find safe plants or grass to put in your garden. There are tons of list out there for animals. I would avoid anything pokey or sharp or to hard. Wheat grass is a great easy to grow inside grass and its non toxic if eaten. When planting whole plants be sure to rinse the dirt off the plant root to get off anything that was in the soil already and give the leaves and stalks a good rinse to make sure no pesticides are left on them. 

Have you thought about watering and lighting needs? A way to do indoor watering is to place a layer of hydrow balls, leka or sometime kind of rock on the bottom. Then place a layer of mesh material on top. The place the soil on top and plants your plants and grass. When you water, the excess will drain into the drainage layer and you won't over water your plants. If you hedgehog pees on it as well it will be purified by the natural processes of decay in the soil as well. 

Lighting will be needed. Glass blocks nearly 95% of natural sunlights uvb and uva light which plants need to grow. Some do well with simulated light from regular light bulbs. If you don't mind spending a little extra money, I would use a compact fluorescent lamp or two and stick them over your garden for 12 hours a day. They put off very little heat. If you need to warm it up for you hedgie they make uvb bulbs that would also work, just make sure you don't fry your plants. 

Before planting anything, check to make sure nothing is harmful if ingested and that it doesn't give off a powerful odor. Also, check lighting requirements for plants as well so that they don't need if they need a lot of sunlight. Tropical plants are best for low light but often need a decent amount of water. 

Good luck and I would love to see pictures of this when you are done.


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## IMAMONSTERHAHAHA (Mar 6, 2013)

*Thank you*

I love this answer so far, I never knew about wheat grass, my baby is a curious one and will take a bite out of anything, she likes mint so far, I will definitely try this method! Thank you so much!!:grin:


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