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newbie with hedgie behaviour

2807 Views 14 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  scarletastrea86, 
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hye everyone, im new here and just recently gotten myself a hedgie, well more like 6 days ago :) her name is Kookie Monster aka Kookie and she's going to be 3months old this 18th july... and on the first day i took her home from a breeder, she seems rather friendly, she even managed to snuggle and slept on my belly, but i realized that she likes to poop and pee on me rather than doing her business in her cage. then i took her back to my hometown (like 400kms away) in a car, and after that day, she sleeps a whole lot...even at night and only seem active just for a while..like when i take her out she would be running around, but as soon as i put her back into her cage, she would hide under her blankie...

but still altough her attitude towards me changed a bit...but her habit still remains..she would poop and pee outside the cage!!! :roll: more like every time i hold her....shes like a pooping machine when i hold her up...n what's odd is that, for the past 3 days (eversince i brought her back) she hasn't poop (maybe pee, but i coudnlt see them) in her cage, should i be worried? well she does poop, but ONLY when i took her out of the cage, other than that she would just sleep....

and since im still new, im still abit scared when approaching her to take her out...she would huff and puff and point her quills upward...should i leave her alone? most of the time i would still try to take her out, even when she tried biting me once or twice...even when i succeeded but then i would be a little put off when she starts peeing and pooping (again!) , so because of that i ahd to put her back into the cage.....as of right now...she's still sleeping..but did managed to play with her this morning for a while though....

well anyone who can help me out? i would really appreciate it :)

ps/ how exactly do i put up pictures in here? im terrible at this LOL :lol:
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From what I understand it is normal for baby hedgehogs to sleep all the time. Especially when they are in a new environment because it will be somewhat overwhelming for the first few months. Babies also poop and pee everywhere. If you start litter training it may help. Otherwise just put a fleece blanket down on your lap for your hedgie to sit on so she poops on the blanket instead of you.

You said that you don't see any evidence that she has been pooping or peeing in the cage. What type of bedding are you using? if you are using anything other than fleece liners (e.g. paper shreds, carefresh, wood shavings etc.) it would be very difficult to see if your hedgehog has peed. This is why most people on here prefer to use light coloured fleece liners for the cage.

Popping when you take her out is normal at first and she may always roll up. It sounds like she comes out to explore after a minute which is a good sign. If you want your hedgehog to be friendly you need to handle her even when she pops and rolls up. Don't back off because it will make her do it more often.

Congrats on your girl and good luck with everything
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Pine shavings or any sort of wood shavings are not a preferred bedding. Hedgehog's have issues with dusty or smelly bedding and shavings will have both. If possible it would be better to find somewhere that sells fleece fabric and just cut it to the size of the cage. You can get a bunch of liners out of the length of fabric you buy. If you can't find fleece, baby receiving blankets are a good substitute.

Royal Canine is not the best brand as it has corn in it which has no nutritional value. Kitten formulas are usually too fattening. Check the food and nutrition section for better substitutes and suggestions.

It's great that you picked her up, good work! I'm sure she'll start to come around even more if you keep it up.

I'm curious as to why you picked a bottle over a bowl. I know that there are pro's and con's to each choice but I think that it's generally accepted you should use a bowl. Hedgehog's have a harder time tilting their head on the angle they need to drink from a bottle and so don't get enough water from it (or not as much as they would from a bowl). Also hedgehog's can break teeth on the metal of the bottle nozzle. Did you choose the bottle so it wounldn't get filled with bedding? If you switch to fleece that won't be an issue. It's your choice but in my opinion a bowl is much better (easier to clean too).

22-27'c is a pretty big difference. If it's closer to the 22 end it might be too cold. 27 would probably be find but I know that air conditioning set to 27 is colder than heating set to 27 so it still might be too cold for a hedgehog. Hedgehog's can go into hibernation from the temperature dropping just five degrees so if it's at 27 most of the night and then goes down it could be a problem. Try to keep the temp in the cage stable.

Poop sounds normal to me.
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