New hedgehog owner with a few questions :)

[Cavepainter]

Hi, my wife and I are new hedgehog owners, we read up quite a bit on them, and just bought our first lil guy on sunday. I just have a few questions.

1) We are handling him every day cuz we want him to get used to us, but so far almost every day he has pooped on us when we have him. Is this a common thing? Is it just cuz we are new to him or he is still getting used to things?.. Or do some just tend to do that.

2) Also we have noticed he is losing some quills, they are about 1/2 an inch long or so. I remember reading up on quilling but i just forget when it is and the people at the pet store believed this guy to be about 2 - 3 months old. Anyway I'm going to be looking that up after I post this anyway..

3) And one last thing. This is kind of random, and if it is totally dumb or would be harmful to the hedghog, I dont want anyone to think I want to do something that would be bad for him. I was wondering: If I slowly changed his lighting schedule by like an hour each day, so that eventually I would turn his lights on during the night, do you think he would be active during the day? We live in a basement apartment so there is not a lot of light that gets in the room during the day.. but still some, if that would make a difference too. Again, I don't want to do that if it would be bad for him, it was just something I was wondering cuz I like to see him running around, he's funny lol.

4) One last thing lol.. Do they ever get to the point where they enjoy to stay awake for a bit during the day to explore or just to be handled? I'm just asking cuz this little guy is always grumpy when we first wake him up, once he's awake though he doesnt mind being held, all he does though is try to find another place to go back to sleep. Usually he climbs up my arm and tucks his face into my armpit and goes back to sleep lol.

If anyone is wondering about cage set up, I have a 4 foot by 2 foot enclosure that I built for my bearded dragon that I used to have. So he has lots of space, for heat I am using a ceramic heat emitter, I will be getting a thermostat very soon to keep the temperatures fully under control, but for now I am monitering the temps closely and they are staying right around 75 in the cooler side and 79-82 in the warm side. I have a big solid running wheel. For substrate I have softwood shavings, they are not dusty, a couple of inches deep everywhere. And I built him a lil house out of lego. He also has a pringles containter that we covered in duct tape that he likes to push around and play with. Food and water bowls too of course.

Overall I think he's awesome.. if only my wife and I could agree on a name.. :P haha

Oh here are a couple of pics, I know his feet are dirty, we just gave him a bath today and the pics were taken last night. Thanks for any help you can be![attachment=0:eyfi00zj]SDC10781-resize.jpg[/attachment:eyfi00zj][attachment=1:eyfi00zj]SDC10779-resize.jpg[/attachment:eyfi00zj][attachment=2:eyfi00zj]SDC10787-resize.jpg[/attachment:eyfi00zj]

[Nancy]

Congratulations

1) Pooping on you is normal for babies and they are poop machines. It lessens with age and most hedgehogs will try not to poop on you as adults but there are always exceptions to the rule.

2) He is right at quilling age which is why he is loosing quills. It could last as much as another month and expect there could be some grumpiness.

3) Do not mess with his lighting in hopes of him being up during the day. All you will end up with is a neurotic or unhealthy hedgehog. He needs adequate light during the day so if your apartment is not bright, you will need to leave a light on 12-14 hours per day to provide lighting for him. Not enough light can cause some hedgehogs to attempt hibernation.

4) He is a baby and new to you so give him some time. Babies sleep alot. Some hedgehogs will always be grumpy for a while after they are woken up regardless of what time of day. If you want him up for a short while during the day, get him up but don't try keeping him up all day. Most hedgehogs will adapt to being up for a short period during the day.

He is a cutie.

[Cavepainter]

Thanks a lot! That answers so much.

Ya I figured it probably wouldn't be a great idea to change his light schedule, but it didnt hurt to ask.

And for lighting I have a 4 foot flourescent light in his cage for during the day, so even when the room isnt bright, his cage definitely is! I'll try to get some pics of the cage soon too.

Thanks again!

[Shelbys Mom]

Aww he's so cute!!!!
I want him!!
I wanna lil baby boy. I got 2 girls.

They should put a warning label on them.

WARNING!: Hedgehogs are very addictive!

[Nancy]

I don't recommend a fluorescent light in or over his cage. They can buzz and squeal which will drive him nuts. Leaving a light on beside his cage or even a ceiling light on is all that is needed.

[Zalea]

1. Hedgies usually need to go potty when they first wake up, like people often do. Don't be insulted, he's just giving you presents--his appreciation for dinner. Letting him walk around the cage for 5 minutes or so after you first wake him up so he has a chance to go potty can help with this. But babies are definitely poop factories and it's likely to happen more often than not--sometimes it seems like they can't have more in there and suddenly it's in your lap anyway to prove you wrong. Like Nancy said, it often gets better as they get older and have more control. They also tend to poop when they get active, so if he's exploring he might go too.

4. I wish Quentin would just sleep when he's in my armpit. Apparently mommy is really smelly and he likes to anoint with my t-shirt anytime he gets near my armpit. As for your little one, getting him up some during the day is fine, just don't keep him up for hours. Let him sleep in a hedgie bag on your lap for awhile if you want more bonding time. Most hedgies are happier if they get on a schedule and you get them up at the same time each morning/night, so you may want to do that and keep the during-the-day time to a minimum.

You definitely have an adorable little fellow there. I'm sure a good name will come to you soon.

[Nicole]

congrats on your little guy!
everyone has answered your questions quite well but I thought I would give a suggestion about the substrate. I'm sure if you explored the site you'll see that almost everyone likes to use liners. It's just a fleece or chorduroy(sp?) blanket that you can buy at Target or Wal-Mart or one of those stores, and you can cut it and get plenty of liners out of one blanket. Liners can benefit you and your hedgie, there's no possibility of mites or any respiratory problems. They save money and make it way easier to keep the cage clean (just throw them in the wash) as well as keep an eye on your hedgies health because you can see if there's any odd looking stool or blood in the liners. Just a suggestion, I know it's made it a lot easier for me

Oh by the way,
he's verryy adorable
have fun with your new friend!

[ReMz]

Originally Posted by Nicole

congrats on your little guy!
everyone has answered your questions quite well but I thought I would give a suggestion about the substrate. I'm sure if you explored the site you'll see that almost everyone likes to use liners. It's just a fleece or chorduroy(sp?) blanket that you can buy at Target or Wal-Mart or one of those stores, and you can cut it and get plenty of liners out of one blanket. Liners can benefit you and your hedgie, there's no possibility of mites or any respiratory problems. They save money and make it way easier to keep the cage clean (just throw them in the wash) as well as keep an eye on your hedgies health because you can see if there's any odd looking stool or blood in the liners. Just a suggestion, I know it's made it a lot easier for me

Oh by the way,
he's verryy adorable
have fun with your new friend!

Was going to post the same thing (and you worded even better and more detailed).

As far as my input goes:
1) Age contributes to this greatly. My guy is new to me, but 5-6 months and does not defecate on me.

4) I wake my guy up in the evening between 6-8 everyday. Granted he is older and wont be sleeping as long... .but I'm really working on getting him to be social around this time. However, he usually tries to run for any sort of burrowing/sleeping space right away if I wake him up (after a hissy fit after waking him of course). If I give him a space to sleep, he will huff at me and go back to sleep. If i move around too much, he puts on his tough persona. On some few recent occasions, he has fallen asleep in my hands.I've only had him for 5 days, and he is still "huffly" once he is settled, but the second he smells my scent I can snag him up in any position. He's learning that 6-8pm is more of a play time and has recently started to explore and run back to me when he gets to far. Amazing little guy.

So, they can adapt to your "training".... but be patient with it.

[ana]

I too have a comment regarding the poop thing...

Or, well, I'll share my personal experience anyway....

I noticed that our girl rarely peed/pooped in her cage and that she always waited for us to take her out - and then, well, you know, she'd be a little poop factory for the first 10 minutes or so.

Soooo... I bought a cat litter pan - a normal sized, cheap cat litter pan - and filled it with yesterday's news... Every time I'd take her out, I'd set her down in the litter pan and wait for her to do her thing. (She usually sits there, half-huffy about waking up for a bit before she goes... Sometimes it takes her a while, sometimes she goes more than once, etc... When she starts walking around and wanting out of the litter pan is when I know she's done.) I inadvertently litter trained her by doing this every night... Now, if I'm not home for some reason or can't take her out for her "walk" (time in the big litter pan) at the normal time, she just poops and pees in the litter box in her cage (which, in this case, is one of those rectangular cake pan covers, just a shallow plastic box, filled with yesterday's news). It may not work for everyone, but it certainly worked for our girl. Whenever I take her out, I check her litter pan for anything fresh just to make sure (if she's already gone, there's not much use in putting her in the big pan), then typically all she needs is a few minutes to wake up and do her business before she's good to go.

I'm such a proud mommy... The only mess she makes is food crumbs. :P

So, yeah, I guess it's kind of like "taking the dog out for a walk" only on a much, much smaller scale, lol.

[Cavepainter]

Thanks for all your input everyone, it's much appreciated. I'm thinking about going to get him a litter box today and a fleece blanket to try that out too. Thanks again.