[Grouchyhog]

I've had my Hedgehog, Oscar for five days now. Everything seems to be going great with him, except for that he defecates EVERY time I take him out of his cage...

He goes to the bathroom in his cage in the same place all the time without me potty training him.

But no matter how long, or what the conditions are, he just seems to poop everytime I take him out.

Any answers on why this might be?

 

[dorasdaddy]

Most likely it is due to the fact that he is young and hasn't learned bladder control or that you aren't the litter box...lol At any rate, there are several posts on the board that deal with this very issue. You can find lots of great info here. And let me be the first to welcome you to the boards and congratulate you on your new little one.


Chad, Amanda & Dora

 

[Nancy]

That is typical of babies. They are poop machines and their favourite place to go is on you. Don't worry, he will grow out if it and you will learn to recognize when he is going to go and be able to put him in his litter box. Babies can also poop 5 or more times in a row and just when you think he has pooped all he can possibly hold, they manage to squeeze out another one. :lol:

 

[Grouchyhog]

haha thanks for the replies.
I was getting worried about the amount that was coming out, and just how many times in a row he would poop.
The employee at the pet store told me pretty much everything I need to know, exclude the...pooping. (I assume so I would still buy him) which I of course would have anyways, but I would have been a bit more intimidated? by him if I knew from the start he would poop everytime I picked him up
I couldnt find any breeders in my town, so I went to several pet stores around, and one of them had 3 hedgehogs they told me were several months old, and they looked pretty sick
But I got Oscar from one on the south east end of town, and they only had one in who was 7 weeks old and who theyd only had for 8 days and he's now a very happy hog...though it's hard to tell with his constant bowel movements (Sorry if ive gone on too long)

 

[nikki]

i hope you don't mind me asking..but what kind of food are you feeding your hedgie?

 

[Grouchyhog]

"hedgehog Food" by Vitakraft.
The pet store was feeding it to him, so I bought a box

 

[nikki]

I think I read in another thread that you're going to change the food you feed your lil guy. That's great as Vitakraft is crap...lol. You may find that once you have him on proper food with less fillers he may poop less.

 

[LizardGirl]

Yes, he should poop less when on a better food. There isn't much digestable content in Vitakraft, so it all goes straight through.