# Poop Wheel



## Forrester (Jan 2, 2012)

Well as you may have gathered from the title, my little Vivi's favorite place to go #2 is while running on his wheel.

I don't even think he stops running to do it!

I wake up in the morning and a thick layer of crap had been trampled into the wheel. He always has pooped caked into his feet and underside, which makes him a little stinker! I have to clean the wheel everyday, if I forget to clean the wheel then dried poop breaks off and clanks around his wheel which drives my girlfriend crazy. 

I absolutely love the little guy, had him for 3 weeks & he's very active and sometimes even playful (though usually he is content to ignore me and explore on his own) but how can I get him to stop frolicking in his fecal matter? 

Anybody else have this problem or possibly a solution?


----------



## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

They pretty much all do it. There are the occasional few that will pause to stick their butt over the wheel's edge, but for the most part it's unavoidable. Poopy wheels and foot baths are just part of being a hedgehog owner. :]


----------



## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

This is perfectly normal and happens to pretty much 99.9% of all hedgehog owners. 

You just got to clean the wheel daily, and you can also give periodic foot baths(with just enough water to cover his feet and wash the poop off) 

Welcome to the joy of hedgehog ownership. ^_^


----------



## Forrester (Jan 2, 2012)

I wasn't surprised the first few times it happened as I've had rats & other rodents that did similar. However I started to become surprised when it seemed like he only like pooping in his wheel. I can't find a single other dropping in his cage! The layer of poop around the wheel is so thick and so evenly laid its jaw dropping, it's not just like he accidentally poops in his wheel once and a while. No, this poop job is done with purpose, so strange.


----------



## CarlaB (Nov 16, 2011)

They poop (and pee) on their wheels because in the wild they poop and pee when they're out running about at night finding food and exploring. Your hedgie is 
completely normal in his elimination habits.


----------



## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

If you put a litter tray under (and kind of in front of) the wheel, some of the poop/pee will fall off onto that. But otherwise, yeah, the wheel is where most or even all of it will end up.


----------



## Forrester (Jan 2, 2012)

Thanks for all of the helpful replies. Makes sense when you think about what CarlaB said. I am going to attempt litter training him starting today.

I have his cage in my computer room and have hedgie proofed his room. I picked up a board I am going to nail across the doorway, high enough so he can't climb over yet short enough for a human to step over. Then I want to try and introduce a little open concept into his life, I want to remove the cage from its tray/base allowing him to decide when he wants to come in and out. I've built him little ramps so he can get in and out easily. By collecting his droppings and placing them in a kitty litter filled tray I am hoping he will become accustomed to pooping/peeing in a specific corner. Whenever I have him out of his cage he ALWAYS poops in the same place, I am hoping that he will continue to do so. With this experiment I am hoping that he will become bolder having the ability to choose when he want to leave his habitat, also having an entire room to himself will mean he can get more exercise without a wheel. Added bonus if he learns to poop in the litter! Less footbaths, maybe?


----------



## Waffles (Dec 26, 2011)

Invest in Larry's Carolina Storm bucket wheel. Insanely easy clean-up! Like, unreal. Definitely worth the money and time you'll save considering you can't exactly prevent the pooping/peeing on the wheel. I read that when they run, it loosens everything up, making them have to go potty. Since they typically just run and run in the wild and poop as they go forward, they don't realize that they're stepping in in within 2 seconds on the wheel. Larry T's- I'm telling ya! Can't say enough good things about it!


----------



## Torston (Aug 28, 2011)

Just a heads up, kitty litter can get stuck in his hedgie man bits, which is not good. Try checking around for a recommended paper based litter, like paper towel or yesterdays news.


----------



## HedgieGirl519 (Oct 21, 2011)

Forrester said:


> Thanks for all of the helpful replies. Makes sense when you think about what CarlaB said. I am going to attempt litter training him starting today.
> 
> I have his cage in my computer room and have hedgie proofed his room. I picked up a board I am going to nail across the doorway, high enough so he can't climb over yet short enough for a human to step over. Then I want to try and introduce a little open concept into his life, I want to remove the cage from its tray/base allowing him to decide when he wants to come in and out. I've built him little ramps so he can get in and out easily. By collecting his droppings and placing them in a kitty litter filled tray I am hoping he will become accustomed to pooping/peeing in a specific corner. Whenever I have him out of his cage he ALWAYS poops in the same place, I am hoping that he will continue to do so. With this experiment I am hoping that he will become bolder having the ability to choose when he want to leave his habitat, also having an entire room to himself will mean he can get more exercise without a wheel. Added bonus if he learns to poop in the litter! Less footbaths, maybe?


I don't think that is a good idea...at all. Hedgehogs can climb over high things if they really want to.

How will you heat the entire room? They need their cage to be around 76F. If he gets cold he won't know where to go.

What if he doesn't know how to get back to his cage and get dehydrated? They do quickly if they have no water.

Ramps have to be 100% enclosed because they have poor eye sight, fall and get hurt and can die.

He's in your computer room so that means there is things that he can hide under or get hurt. What if you can't find him?

A hedgies main source of exercise is their wheel and they would choose that over walking around. They run for miles each night. You can't stop them from pooping on their wheel, they poop while they run and don't care that they are stepping in it.

Even if you litter train him he will still go on his wheel when he runs.


----------



## Forrester (Jan 2, 2012)

Thanks for playing the devils advocate HedgieGirl519 

Some good points you have raised! 519? Are you from Windsor, ON? (Don't answer that if you don't want to , thats where I grew up is all and I thought it might be an Area code!)

I have a 150w heat lamp mounted over his cage, as well as a space heater with built in thermostat control. I have an independent digital thermometer right next to his cage so I know what the temp is at all times. My computer is a beast of a machine with a custom built liquid cooling system that actually helps keep the room warm. Average room temps are 73-78. I have placed the tower on the desktop to keep all the cables mounted in the back out of reach and taken great care to suspend all cables out of reach (took a great number of cable ties) My plan is to keep a food bowl and water dish inside habitat as well as outside of it. Seeing as I will have removed the cage portion all that will be left of the habitat is the tray so if he falls it wont be more than a few inches, though the ramp I have built quite wide so I don't think this will be an issue. I am more concerned about him trying to climb up the side of the cage when he is out side of it, I have seen him climb quite high up the side of the cage only to fall. I have taken great care to hedgie proof the room so there is no where he can hide that I can't find him. We have been using this as his play room for quite some time now so I have had a chance to hedgie proof it by trial and error. He will still have access to his wheel however when he is outside of his cage he seems to have developed a favorite pooping corner. I hope to enforce / encourage use of this corner by adding a litter. It is my hope that by introducing this open concept idea his habitat will become where he spends his days and that he will come out and play / explore the room during the night, thus encouraging use of the litter box. My plan is still to place yet another wheel outside of the cage (in case he cant find the one in his habitat for some reason) I expect that he will continue to poop while running but for each time he goes in the litter that one less in the wheel to clean right?

Vivi is quite an active fellow, I work with programmers from 8pm-12am in India every night so I have been letting him roam the room while I work. He darts endlessly from one side of the room to the other, I littered the room with toys (Crumpled paper balls, Toilet paper tubes, tennis balls etc) but he never pays them any mind. He just explores the entire room then explores it again like it's his first time seeing it ( I am beginning to suspect that he may have a relatively non-existent short term memory and REALLY is exploring it for the first time over and over again) I always feel guilty putting him in his cage at 12 am as by then he is usually in full on party mode. I am also hoping that by giving him access to the room whenever he desires it that he will eventually get bored with exploring it and start developing a curiosity towards the items I place in it. 

I'll post some photos of the room once I set it up tonight. 

Has anyone else tried this sort of 'open concept' habitat before? Any experiences, insight or precautions would be helpful!


----------



## jerseymike1126 (Jan 20, 2011)

my original wheel would just load up on poop, larryT's wheel helped a lot. still get some poop in it but not as much and also much easier to clean


----------

