free-range

[leannem]

not sure where to post this.....so it's here....

Every night Harley wakes up at about 9pm, does his business, has something to eat/drink and then we bring him out for free-range time. We live in a small apartment and have him confined to the living/dining room area where he runs around for a few hours while we watch him adventure. We've recently tried putting his wheel/litter box and food and water in one corner and he uses his wheel and eats, takes off for a bit around the room and then returns. Has anyone ever just allowed a hedgehog to have free roam of a room? I've read that if the space they are in is too big they'll just poop everywhere (right now he is trained and only uses his litter box). Any input would be much appreciated!

P.S. now that it's summer the apartment is plenty warm all through the night, at least 22 C

[hedgielover]

I have let my hedgehog explore our front hall with supervision. He enjoyed climbing all over the pile of shoes belonging to my boyfriend and I. He's never just pooed everywhere but my apartment is pretty small and he was only in the hall way. The rest of the apartment is too full of mess, wires and hazardess furniture for him to explore without me following like inches away.

The first time we put him in the hall way was just after we got him (we got him in december and all we know is that he is over two years) he'd lived in a pet store all his life (they couldn't sell him) so he spent all most all of his time in his cage. He had never had a bigger space then the hall and he went crazy running around and exploring every corner. sometimes we even leave the bathroom door open and let him explore in there.

[basmati]

I've been tempted to let my hedgie free-range, for she has almost all the house when she is normally out every night for at least a couple of hours. The party just gets started when I put her back in the cage again, that noctural thing. When she is out, she is usually tidy, but I would be concerned about her being out over night on her own. I think there would be poop and urine everywhere, as the floor would be her running space. As well, I find with time, she becomes more comfortable exploring more and more, which, out of my eyes, she would get herself into trouble. I am curious to see if others free-range as well.

[memechan1990]

I always bring Coraline out to run around my living room under supervision of course, she doesn't look comfortable being out in the open though so I throw a blanket down and let her run around under it for a long time, she seems to enjoy it.

[Nancy]

Unless the hedgie is kept in one temperature controlled, 100% hedgehog safe room, free range is not a good idea. In a house or apartment there are so many places the hedgehog could get into and could be injured. Numerous years ago there was one on here that got up inside the stove and died. Same with a fridge, washer, dryer, couch, chair boxspring and the list goes on. Temperatures at floor level are also much cooler so to allow hedgie free range the room would have to be kept even warmer than one would require if in a cage at a higher level.

[FiaSpice]

I never free range because of the reason Nancy mentioned. I once let Litchi play in the living room, not "contained" in a playpen and guess were she went... straight under the couch. After that episode, I only let her in the hallway, supervised, all door shut with a coroplast to block her out.

[krbshappy71]

I love this forum. Searched "free range" and found what I wanted. I was toying with the idea of turning one entire bedroom into a hedgie room but now I can see how many pitfalls that could have. I will stick to the play pens for supervised play time. Thank you all.