# Felix's annoying new habit- liner diving and scratching cage



## lehaley (Jun 25, 2011)

Goodmorning everyone! 

Felix seems to have developed a really obnoxious new habit of liner diving in the past 2-3 weeks or so. At first I thought that maybe he was cold and was liner diving for extra warmth, but his cage temperature hasn't changed at all since I brought him home and this behavior is a new development. Just to be safe, I cranked the temperature up a bit more and he's still been going on diving excursions. I'm beginning to think it's more of a recreational behavior rather than a functional one.

I don't so much mind the actual liner diving, it's what he's been doing AFTER he's under the liner that has been driving me absolutely insane. For whatever reason, around 5:30-5:45 on the dot every morning, I hear him scratching away at the plastic base of his cage under the liner. Usually I don't hear Felix at all during the night, but the scratching is almost always loud enough to wake me up and I am less than pleased with being woken up an hour before my alarm is set to go off. :evil: 

Does anyone have any ideas as to why he's started doing this and/or how I can prevent the initial liner diving to eliminate future early morning hedgie wake-up calls? I've heard of people weighinb down their liners with large rocks and such, but I really would prefer not to add more clutter to Felix's cage and I honestly think he'd find some way to get around that. He's an incredibly persistent, stubborn little dude. When I was first making liners, I considered rigging up something with velcro to physically attach the liners to the cage base and decided against it for time reasons (I brought Felix home on short notice). Has anyone ever tried this?

I would really appreciate any suggestions, because these shenanigans need to stop. I know one hour of sleep doesn't sound like much, but when I'm on campus for 9 hours a day I really miss that one hour.


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## lehaley (Jun 25, 2011)

Sigh... WEIGHING down, not weighinb down. <-- Proof that I need my sleep.


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## lmg_319 (Oct 4, 2010)

My hedgie started the exact same behaviour about a month ago. I had a C & C cage for him, and he started liner diving and chewing on/eating his coroplast! I did not know they had such strong teeth. Thank god it did not cause a blockage in his intestines. Anyways, I ended up having to get him a new cage (a big rabbit cage). Now I cut fleece large enough to put it over the sides of the plastic bottom and put the wire top down on top, snapping it in place. He can't get under the liner anymore because I had the same fear that he would try and chew/scratch the plastic below. What kind of cage do you have? I know some people sew velcro to the bottom of their liners, or put heavy items in the corners.


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## lehaley (Jun 25, 2011)

lmg_319 said:


> My hedgie started the exact same behaviour about a month ago. I had a C & C cage for him, and he started liner diving and chewing on/eating his coroplast! I did not know they had such strong teeth. Thank god it did not cause a blockage in his intestines. Anyways, I ended up having to get him a new cage (a big rabbit cage). Now I cut fleece large enough to put it over the sides of the plastic bottom and put the wire top down on top, snapping it in place. He can't get under the liner anymore because I had the same fear that he would try and chew/scratch the plastic below. What kind of cage do you have? I know some people sew velcro to the bottom of their liners, or put heavy items in the corners.


Right now Felix has a rabbit/guinea pig cage (it's the Super Pet My First Home XL). I check the cage base daily, and it doesn't seem like he could be scraping off and eating any of the plastic. Actually, I haven't even found scratch marks. It must be some pretty strong plastic! I'm amazed that a hedgie could actually chew THROUGH coroplast. If their jaws and teeth are that strong, Felix better never develop a biting habit. :shock:

I really like the idea of just cutting his liners bigger so that I can tuck them between the cage base and the cage bars. However, I'm a broke college student so I'll have to just deal with the liners I already have made until fleece goes on uber-sale at JoAnn's again.  I might look into the possibility of velcro.

Would making him a dig box possibly help? Maybe he just likes to dig and I need to give him a less annoying place to do it. :lol:


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## Sar-uh (Sep 6, 2011)

[/quote]Would making him a dig box possibly help? Maybe he just likes to dig and I need to give him a less annoying place to do it. :lol:[/quote]

Maybe, but it didn't seem to make any difference for me. Petunia also dives under her liner and scratches at the bottom of the cage. I have a couple of corners with digging options, but she pretty much ignores them. I'm waiting on an order of mealworms to arrive in the mail, and then I'm hoping to hide them in her specified digging areas to see if that gets her interested.


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## lmg_319 (Oct 4, 2010)

I made Holden a dig box with fleece-he ignored it. So I tried one with aquarium gravel and he tried to eat it too! Almost broke one of his teeth. Now, I stick to fleece pinned up and non chewable things in his cage lol. Good luck! (Ps, is your liners aren't big enough, you can always put two in the opposite way and just put his litter box or something in the middle where the fleece meets, I have tried that before too.)


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## Rainy (Jul 27, 2011)

Harvey does the same thing and tips his water and food over. Then not only do I have a huge mess to clean up, but I'm thinking, "is he cold from being wet? How long has he been without water? etc, etc, etc." So, I thought about it and made his liners with wall, like a fitted sheet. The sides are 11 inches tall so he can't (or maybe he just hasn't figured out how) dive underneath!  Then I bought a storage container from the dollar store, cut a hole in it, put the lid back on, made a "dig box cozy" and stuffed it with fleece. I thought then he can feel smushed and still lay on plastic if he wants. It's been a week and so far, no problems. Liners are in place, water is still in the bowl, and if Harvey's ticked off, he at least hasn't pooped on me.  :lol:


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## shawnwk1 (Jul 8, 2011)

i've noticed with my boys they usually do it for two reasons. one...they are bored. in this case i change around their cage (i have many many toys, tunnels, and such and change them periodically to keep them stimulated) do the hiding crickets thing around the cage. and have added a new level to their cages so they are bigger and have more room and are less bored more often. 

two...they are hot. they tend to liner dive if for some reason the sun is coming through the window making the room a couple degrees warmer or whatever the reason it's warmer in there. in this case i just turn down the temp a degree or two on the space heater and put them in their sleeping boxes and then and only then will they stay in there. so i guess they just like the coolness of the bottom of the cage (even though they have tile in their cages they can lay on to keep cool if needed :roll: ) 

they've never been able to tip over their water and food dishes though because i have ones that are heavy enough they can't move them (they will spill just a little bit every once in awhile, but that's the extent of it) so they stay put.


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## lehaley (Jun 25, 2011)

Rainy, Harvey is absolutely adorable and I LOVE his cage set-up. So cute!

Shawnwk1, that's really interesting that you think it might be because they get too hot. Here I was thinking he was trying to get under the liner for extra warmth! I probably made the problem even worse by turning the temperature up a bit more if this is actually the case. (Although I'm not entirely sure if it is, since at the time he always seems to do this there isn't much natural light coming through the window he's nearest to.)  It's also VERY possible that Felix is just bored. So far I haven't had much success in finding toys that he seems to enjoy. He hasn't shown much interest in TP tubes. I filled an old pill bottle with some rice and occasionally I hear him moving it around, but I can't be sure if he's playing or if it was just in his way. He also has some PVC pipe, but I think it's become more of a hangout area than something to play in. I might try tempting him to dig elsewhere and make a dig box to hide meal worms in and maybe try to find more toys he might be interested in. 

All I know is, Felix needs to quit depriving an already sleep deprived college kid of her beauty rest. This morning I heard him going at it and yelled "Felix, ENOUGH ALREADY!" and he actually stopped. I was shocked, but I know this victory is only temporary. :lol:


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## shawnwk1 (Jul 8, 2011)

try this one. big hit for my boys (even my picky one that doesn't want anything to do with toys). you can even change out treats you put in it to kinda change it up a bit and keep him interested in it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00357M8S2


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## Littlehogs (May 19, 2011)

My boys (Spike & Bandit) started doing the same thing in their cages. Scratching the bottom of the cage around 4AM. Drives me crazy. Spike was the worst, but I also bought a large fleece piece of fabric from the Walmart sewing area, washed it and lined the cage with it (overlapping it over the edges) this has stopped the digging. Once I got Spike to stop, now Bandit is doing it. I had a quiet night last night


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## hanhan27 (May 12, 2011)

I used fabric velcro in Milly's first cage (sterilite bin) and it was great. We never encountered liner diving issues until I upgraded to a C&C and was too lazy to velcro the cage and her liners haha. The velcro stuck really well to the bin and the fleece. I recommend it


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## shawnwk1 (Jul 8, 2011)

never tried the velcro thing myself, but i hear that some take well to it and will leave it alone after that, but others are so persistant that even velcro won't stop them (that would probably be my stubborn boys lol) and they even start chewing on the velcro.


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## lehaley (Jun 25, 2011)

shawnwk1 said:


> never tried the velcro thing myself, but i hear that some take well to it and will leave it alone after that, but others are so persistant that even velcro won't stop them (that would probably be my stubborn boys lol) and they even start chewing on the velcro.


Sounds like something Felix would definitely do. :roll: He might be the most stubborn animal I've ever encountered.


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## shawnwk1 (Jul 8, 2011)

Lehaley with such a precious face as Felix's there's no way he's stubborn lol. Nah actually he looks pretty onry in that pic lol.


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## MissIvy (Sep 10, 2011)

Since a couple of weeks Joey's doing the exact same thing, and not only for a minute or 10, 15, but for an hour. Usually he starts 2 hours or 90 minutes before I have to wake up and stop just 10 minutes before my alarm'd go off (as if he's saying 'whahaha, your snoring keeps me awake, so I'll just do... THIS *scratchscratchscratch*), evil lil hoglet... :x 

I tried the velcro too, but Joey's very, VERY persistant in waking me up the bad way. He doesn't have many toys, since he just doesn't seem to be interested in them or get the clue of the toy. I tried to cool my room (bedroom, where he's staying as well), heat my room, re-arrange his toys/tubes and fun stuff. I don't have the dig box yet, since I'm still looking for aquarium gravel that's big enough for him not to think it's his kibble. I hope that will work.... 

Untill then I think I'm going to buy earplugs or sleep with my Ipod in to get my much needed sleep.


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