About to be new hedgehog owner, I have a few questions.

[SpiltOJ]

Would it be cheaper just for me to buy the supplies from her? Her Coroplast is pretty cheap, and so are the grids. I could actually make an L shaped cage, buy a loft and a put it on one end. That would give him TONS of room.

Is it really that hard to actually make a cage? I've watched some videos on how to cut the Coroplast, and it doesnt look too hard...

[coribelle]

I made my own cage, and for me it was VERY simple, albeit a little time consuming. I think as long as you think about what you are doing, you shouldn't have any problems (:

[SpiltOJ]

Awesome!I think I might just build my own.

I really do want as much room as I can get for my baby as possible.

[SquiggyTheHedgie]

My bf and I built Squiggys C&C in a night. We ordered the grids off amazon and while it was arriving in the mail we made a layout of how many grids we would need, the amount of space it would take, and the dimensions of the coroplast we would need. What we came out with was a C&C of 3x2 grids, the part that Squiggy is in is lifted off the ground with the area below it for storing his things. The picture below is of how it came out. The extra "cube" in the corner is to make up for the height of his CSW, its only slightly taller than the side grids. The blue cage on top is his old home, a Super Pets My First Home for chinchillas.

[SpiltOJ]

Awesome! Does your hedgie have enough room in that size cage then?

[SquiggyTheHedgie]

Oh he has tons of room haha. He has space for his wheel, igloo, tube, snuggle bag, stuffy puppy, food and water dishes, and extra space to just move around. And it only takes up a small portion of the room.

[SpiltOJ]

Do you put covers on your cage? I most likely will have to build mine with some covers, since the car is going to be pretty far off the ground.

[SquiggyTheHedgie]

Well Squiggy has developed cataracts, and can no longer see. But before that I used to cover his cage with a light, darkly colored blanket once it was time for his light to go out and simulate night time. Now though, he only sees shadows and can vaguely distinct between night and day based on when his light is on or off. If his light is on he will sleep. Once it turns itself off thats when he decides to wake up. But he will occasionally get up during the day for munchies or a sip of water.

[nikki]

Cages should have lids on them for safety, even a hedgie that has never climbed could try at some point and a fall could be dangerous.

[GoodandPlenty]

Animals can be very inventive. 'Impossible' is not a word to be bandied about. I have 12" walls with a smooth surface. On her hind legs, she can only reach 9". But what if she climbs on top of her igloo? Or her PVC tunnel? Or invented some way of shimming up between wheel and wall?

You can only do your best. Last week, Sophie was in her play area and anointed. A lot. She was twisting and turning, flopping over, with foam all over . . . . I couldn't imagine what new smell or taste she had found. On hedgie cleaning day when I was vacuuming and dusting and inspecting her play area, I found a piece of Good & Plenty with most of the sugar layer gone. I'd managed to drop a piece where I couldn't see it. Thankfully, she didn't eat the thing, but that answered the anointing question.