I just got my first Hedgehog today. I think I picked an almost perfect one. He's already run a mile on his wheel, he's already using the litter box, and he's not too huffy or quilly. He will readily climb from his cage floor to my hands. The only problem I can see is he climbs the sides of his cage and then doesn't know what to do so he just falls. It's a good foot and a half from the top to the bottom and I'm afraid of him getting hurt. I've tried adding padding to the floor, but he still makes a great big thump when he falls. Any ideas to get him to stop climbing??
Climbing Hedgie
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Get some plexiglass or coroplast and put it against the walls on the inside of the cage. Make sure that the glass goes up several inches so he can't get any kind of grip. Plexiglass...I'm not actually sure where you might find that, but you might go to some home improvement store and tell a store employee and they might be able to find you plexiglass or something else that will work. Coroplast you can get from sign shops, but I'm not sure if you can get a sheet smaller than 4' x 8'.
I'm sure others will post with more helpful advice but I wanted to give it a shot. See if you can get some kind of plastic (I know when people on here make C&C cages, they usually get this stuff called Coroplast, I think?) to line around the first couple inches of the bottom of the sides. This way it'll block him from being able to start climbing at all. Or if you really wanted, I'm sure you could just switch to a plastic bin as a cage. I bet you could deter him with some plastic on the sides though.
Congrats on your new guy. Post some pictures when you can! It's my favorite part of this site.
Congrats on your new guy. Post some pictures when you can! It's my favorite part of this site.
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If you can't get Coroplast or something similar you might be able to use craft foam (or duct tape to cover the lower holes if you have to, but I would watch that he doesn't chew on it), but it may need to be replaced frequently and it will obscure your view. Poster board might work as a temporary measure, but it will probably get nasty very quickly.
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i have heard of some people cutting plastic place mats or report covers into strips and weaving the strips into the cage holes verticaly so they cant climb.
I just wanted to warn you that, even though most hedgies grow out of the climbing thing, my 1 1/2 year old can climb out of a playpen with vertical bars :shock:dorasdaddy said:
If he's a really good climber, as Damian is, make sure you make whatever type of blockage tall enough. Sometimes if it's too short, it will actually help them climb higher.
You can also try to figure out a way to securely put cloth around his cage. It's not sturdy enough to support him, but then again, I'm sure it will get messy sooner or later. That being said, if you use liners, you could just throw it in the wash with them
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