HOW to litter train

[zoologist]

Hey y'all,

I know i've asked this before in the former forum before it closed but i never got a real answer.

I'd like to know HOW to litter train your hedgie. Not whether or not it can be done. I understand that some hedgehogs can be, and some can't and i am prepared for Cloud to not be one of the hedgehogs who like to poop in a container, but i'd still like to try.

So those of you with trained hedgehogs, how did you do it? Was it on a reward/punishment system? just putting the poopies in one spot? watching your hedgehog to see if i had a favorite corner and putting the litter pan there? different types of litter?

As it stands now, Cloud poops everywhere in the cage. Which is fine, i don't mind cleaning it up. But, if i could get him to poop in one spot, that would be great.

Also, Cloud poops whenever he is out of the cage. is there anyway to break this habit too?


thanks

[sebian]

Originally Posted by zoologist

Also, Cloud poops whenever he is out of the cage. is there anyway to break this habit too?

When you wake him up to take him out to play, let him hang out for a bit in his cage (like 15 minutes-ish) instead of taking him out right away. They're like humans and usually need to go to the bathroom as soon as they get up and out of bed.

As far as the litter thing is concerned. I'm not very sure. We have litter pans and our guys usually just go in them and poop in their wheels. We've never tried anything special, although I'm more than positive there's a few tricks you can try.

[zoologist]

whenever i wake cloud up for play time and leave him to his own devices in his cage he just goes back to sleep!

[sebian]

Hehehe

Well you can try a couple of things:

-Wake him up and take anything that he can snuggle with and his igloo (if you have one) out of his cage. That way he has limited options of either eating, drinking, running on his wheel, or.. well pooping. All of which is good!

-You can also just remove him from his cage with nothing to cuddle/hide in. We have a playpen at home that we put one of our guys in when only one of us is home to watch them (3 can be a bit overwhelming with no help when everyone's awake and you're tired ). I think I got it for like $12 online. If you don't want to buy one/don't already have one, perhaps you can block off an area? One way or another, he'd still be moving, trying to find something to hide under. After a couple minutes make sure you give him his cuddle-something back so he doesn't get too stressed out..

I don't think you'd mind so much if he got all of his pooping out as much as possible (even the most trained guys have accidents) in one place, whether it be his cage, litter box, or a quarantined part of the floor... Just be sure you clean everything up really really well!