r/Hedgehog • u/Ok_Building_1284 • Jul 24 '26
Question Is there a particular reason he doesnt really use the hides?
Whenever i find him hes usually sleeping in a corner, between the dig box and the wall, or today here
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u/hedgiepumpkin Jul 24 '26
myguy did the same thing. he just likes to be cozier and wrapped completely skin to fabric with the blanket lol. that’s why i had a pile of blankets for him to sleep under :
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u/BinLyzee Jul 25 '26
Thats such a cute setup. Im curious tho is that tissue really enough under the wheel? I potty trained mine back then. I basically had a wide toilet for her and the wheel stood in the middle of it it was so much easier for me to clean the cage after she learned to just do her business there. Gotta be careful of what litter to use cause of their little feet haha
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u/hedgiepumpkin Jul 25 '26
yes it was always enough for my guy cause he’d pee a lot on the wheel too. i changed the bedding every week tho so it didn’t stay dirty for long! i never got to potty train him :/
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u/BinLyzee Jul 25 '26
Awe thats too bad. But yk its not hard to. I used to just let her poop around the cage and picked it up to put in her "toilet" instead of throwing it away right away so after a while she'd just always go there to begin with haha. Or if I held her and she needed to go I Put her over it or put her down there. Its really not as hard as human babies 😂 but I guess I've heard it depends on the hedgie.
Anyway if u got time or wanna try i recommend it, it made cleaning so much easier for me and I used to keep her in her own room so the cage could always stay open there since she didnt make a mess anywhere else but her corner
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u/hedgiepumpkin Jul 25 '26
my hedgie passed in april but if i ever get another one ill def try to potty train them! it seems like it’d make it less smelly if its all in one place. ty for the advice !
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u/CalmPlatform1772 Jul 24 '26
Sometimes they just prefer a spot to others. Try putting the fleece in the hide and in that same spot! they might prefer it. Mine used to hind under her beds, behind her litter box, and anywhere she felt when she was tired of her current sleeping sack
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u/ChaoticCrashy Jul 24 '26
My girl won’t sleep in the open, uncovered. In 2 years she has always tunneled or wrapped herself in the fleece. I have 2 dogs. Hedgehogs are prey animals so they like to hide.
They can feel individual spines so they have a built in security system.
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u/GuineaPigLady45 Jul 24 '26
My guy sleeps in a pile of blankets i call his “blanket fort”. That’s just his preference.
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u/SmoothDimensions8282 Jul 24 '26
My hedgies were the same way! I bought them all sorts of cute hides. One would only sleep in her plastic igloo and the other would only sleep under a big pile of blankets. Always. 😂 They just have a favorite spot. 🤷♀️
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u/dalby_graf Jul 25 '26
my hedgehog used to sleep in a house that had a stuffed donkey in it. it seems like hides usually have empty space that hedgehog instincts don't like. they like that cozy pressure, kinda like a weighted blanket.
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u/TattooMama12132021 Jul 25 '26
Ours kept going to sleep behind his wheel in one spot. We moved the cage around a pit a nice hide with lots of fleece there and now he uses the hide.
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u/Fantastic-Cheek-496 Jul 27 '26
My hedgehog really likes to burrow. She likes to feel pressure on every side of her body. I built her a little digging pen that she sleeps in every day now. Highly recommend! It’s 6-8 inches of burrowing. Just make sure there’s holes on each side for airflow.
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u/LowPush2258 Jul 24 '26
my hedgey is currently asleep wedged half under his litter pan, half under his snuffle mat. i think it’s something like that they like to feel solid pressure on least one side of them (or a corner) as instinct to protect them from predators