# trying to scratch through cage at night?



## lentil (Sep 24, 2012)

Hello!
I recently adopted a two month old hedgehog, and it has been working out great  I have had Lentil for about a month, and about a week ago she started a new habit. Lentil is very active at night, she runs ALL night long, eats quite a bit and drinks plenty of water. However, when she is about to go to sleep for the day (about 6:00-7:00 AM) she starts scratching the bottom of her cage non stop. It is especially maddening because of how unbelievably loud it is. I sleep perfectly fine throughout her running and loud eating, and it never bothers me. this scratching, however, will wake me up from the dead of sleep in the mornings because it is so freakin loud. If I pick her up in the middle of this scratching and put her in her little house (a twig hut with a hedgie bag inside stuffed with bedding) she will leave the house and go back to scratching in another part of her cage. I've tried putting newspaper under her bedding in order to get her to stop, but she just moved to another part of the cage. She also has started sleeping in the little areas that she has dug out. 
My questions- Has anyone else has experienced this? Are these just her natural digging instincts? I want to make her happy and satisfy her desire to dig, I'm just not sure how. Should I invest in fleece liners? unfortunately I don't know much about them. Do you think this is an attempt to shorten her nails? Perhaps I need to cut them? I just have no idea! Thanks so much!


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## AngelaH (Jul 24, 2012)

Thistle use do this when I used Carefresh bedding but not as extreme as you are describing, but it does sound like a natural instinct behavior, they like to burrow in to the ground or into places to go to sleep. Sounds like she is trying to dig and burrow. But you could be right, maybe her nails are bugging her and need a trim. What are you using for bedding now? Fleece liners are easy, I just went into a fabric store and got a few pieces that were double the size of my cage (so I could fold in half and have a double layer). Then you can cut leftover fleece into strips that can be dug through and moved around. Thistle still scratches on it a little, but its much quieter on the fleece!


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## Quinn (Apr 24, 2011)

I have the same issue with Sasha. It drives me nuts because he's a liner diving and he gets underneath and scratches the plastic. It's so loud so I know where you're coming from. If anyone has any idea why they do this or how to get them to stop, please share  .


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## lotusecho (Jun 6, 2011)

If you have a c&c cage, there's a really easy way to stop liner diving. If you have some extra coroplast laying around,cut it io the size of the bottom of the cage, then wrap your fleece around that! I used to use some tape to hold it underneath, but my hedgie has since stopped trying to pull it up so I don't use it anymore. It holds it nicely in place!


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## Quinn (Apr 24, 2011)

Great idea! I might give that a try. Sasha has been doing it for so long that I might feel bad lol.


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