Hedgehog setup

This will allow you to check and control the temperature. The base of the cage will need to be lined with one of the following materials; shavings, fabric, or paper. Wood shavings are the most favorable option as they are safe and readily available from the majority of pet retailers.

They may not appeal to some people because they can be a little messy. Alternatively, you may choose to line the bottom of the cage with some fabric. As it is softer, it will be more comfortable for your hedgehog and it can also be cleaned and reused. Furthermore, you also have the option of using paper shavings.

As they absorb urine fairly well they do not need to be changed as regularly as wood shavings. The bedding will influence how comfortable and secure your hedgehog feels when they are in the cage. It is important to note that certain types of bedding can be quite harmful to them. Gravel, cedarwood, and sawdust are harmful to hedgehogs, and because of this, you should avoid introducing them to the cage.

The material that you line the cage with can also double up as a bed as it is likely that most hedgehogs will burrow into it. Some owners may also add a sleeping pouch or wooden house on top of the material that has been used to line the cage. This type of housing will provide your hedgehog with an area to retreat to when they want to feel safe and rest. Food and water play a crucial role in the survival of your pet. As hedgehogs have poor eyesight it needs to be easily accessible.

You should also have 2 different bowls, one for their soft food and another for their hard food. Speaking of burrowing, what could give hedgehogs the best pleasure of burrowing other than tunnels! Yes, this is an upgrade from PVC piping. T-shape tunnel with cotton plush as inner material allows hedgehogs or any other small pets to dig deep and sleep within. If you like to pamper your pet hedgehogs, you can find these plush tunnel caves with different shapes and sizes here.

Cardboard is the cheapest alternative that you can find around. They are lightweight and are easy to dispose off once they are dirty. Then just create a new one. Cardboard like wine or shoe boxes can be customized to whatever shape or size you like. They work very well with substrates and fleece. Just throw a fleece underneath and you will see your hedgehog burrowing into the cupboard for their nap. But just so you know, the hedgehog may urinate or poop in the cardboard.

So you maybe have to lift it up to see once a while and change them when necessary. Now, these are the 4 commons hideouts most owners use. There are plenty more. You can always head over to Amazon or Etsy to find more varieties of hedgehog hideouts. For me, I prefer to use a fleece sack as you can take them out of their cage while they are asleep and have some bonding time with them while they are in the bag. So every hideout their own pros and cons. You might want to try them all out too as they are not expensive.

Hedgehogs really love to have fun. Throw in some toys for them to play is a great way to keep them fit. Hedgehog love running on wheels. You will find them running on wheels in the middle of the night. The active ones can run miles on the wheel in one night.

Wheels you want to get should be the largest wheel size. You want them to measure between 11 to 12 inches in diameter and between 5 to 6 inches in running width. You will also need at least 16 inches of height space in your cage or container to fit the wheel in.

These wheels are durable and easy to set up. You can even DIY on your own. They do not use spinning bars or axies hence lower noise. Bucket-wheel is my personal favorite. I am using one of those myself. The noise produced from the bucket wheel is really softer compared to previous wheels I was using.

Here is an example bucket wheel that is suitable for small pets. These wheels are similar to bucket wheels except their pin is made of plastic and they may break easily after several uses. But what is so great about the comfort wheel is that their treads provide traction for hedgehogs to run on so they tend to prefer comfort wheel more than bucket wheels.

You can check out the best seller for comfort wheel here at Amazon. These wheels provide hedgehog privacy while they exercise. And you know how hedgehogs love their privacy. Put these wheels side by side and your hedgehog will choose the wodent wheel over other wheels any day. They may start treating the wheel as their permanent litter box. Also, they can be pretty difficult to clean as you have to dismantle the wheel in order to clean its interior.

Here are some suitable options for wodent wheels. These are metal wheels that are made of metal mesh. They are definitely more durable but the gaps between wire mesh can potentially hurt your hedgehog if their tiny feet gets trapped.

So word of advice, use a solid bottom wheel like the ones above instead of wire mesh ones. Even when gaps are small, your hedgehog nails can still get stuck. If you are planning to still go for wire mesh types, do go for wire mesh wheels with smaller gaps like this. This is one of the most widely use toys and are hedgehogs all time favorite.

They love squeezing their heads into toilet paper tubes but sometimes they squeeze their heads in so hard that they get stuck. To solve this problem, cut the tubes so that they are shorter.

A good gauge is to cut it in half. This way even if they get stuck they can still breathe. And coming out from a half tube is must easier. These critter exercise balls are a great way to protect a hedgehog while they are exploring their surroundings while giving them good exercise. You can get a critter exercise ball of about between 12 to 13 inches.

That is more than enough space for them to safely run within it. Some hedgehog might not use them. On top of that hedgehog may poop while they run. It can cause them to drench themselves in their own poop. The ball also does not provide good ventilation and the slits or tiny opening on the ball can rip off hedgehogs nails if they get stuck in between. So whether or not it is good, still it depends on your hedgehog. I have seen hedgehogs having a good time in those balls, I have also seen ones that ignore them totally.

For exercise balls, get those with larger holes for ventilation. Exercise balls with larger ventilation will also help them to detect food scent. This way you can place food outside of the exercise balls to entice and trick them to start moving from within the exercise balls.

Dig boxes are a great way to encourage exercising and promote a fun time foraging for insects or food. Check out this complete dig box setup for sale on Etsy :.

All you need is a simple plastic container from Amazon and fill it up with some cheap fleece strips from Etsy. Some examples include stuffed animals, fleece cubes, fleece strips, tunnels, cardboard, dry leaves or grass are all good materials to use for burrowing or snuggling. Most of these items listed here are really cheap. Always make sure to wash any stuffed animal, fleece cubes and strips every week to keep them clean. Setting up their home can be tedious but definitely fun and enriching.

Especially if you are planning on building a DIY home for your heggies. Carpet Python Vivariums. Boa Constrictor Vivariums. Lizard Setups Bearded Dragon. Panther Chameleon. Spiny Chameleon.

Rankin's Dragons. Spiny Tail Monitor. Blue Tongue Skink. Chilean Rose Tarantula. Mexican Red-kneed Tarantula. Indian Ornamental Spider.

Pinktoe Tarantula. Emperor Scorpion. Tortoise Vivarium. Leopard Tortoise. Indian Star Tortoise. Red-footed Tortoise. Yellow-footed Tortoise. Grey Tree Frog. Red-eyed Tree Frog.

White's Tree Frog. Fire-bellied Toad. Animal Specific Foods View All. Bearded Dragon Food. Snake Food. Crested Gecko Food. Chameleon Food. Leopard Gecko Food.

Tortoise Food. Amphibian Food. Exotic Mammal Food. Garden Wildlife Food. Wild Bird Food. Exotic Bird Food. Powdered Foods. Live Food Subscription. Brown Crickets. Black Crickets. Bean Weevils. Aquatic Livefood. Frozen Multimammate Mice. Frozen Rabbits. Frozen Guinea Pigs. Frozen Gerbils. Frozen Hamsters. These essential items are important in maintaining a safe environment for a hedgehog, allowing them to have enough space to roam, exercise and sleep in comfortable surroundings.

Both starter kits are good options with the only difference apart from one being plastic cage based and the other a vivarium is the heating options. Deciding to go for the plastic cage option is what we did. We felt this was not only more cost effective when compared to the vivarium option, but gave us the flexibility for us to move the cage around, especially when we had guests and needed to move the cage along with our hedgehog to one of the bedrooms temporarily.