Few thoughts on my new hedge

[First.time.hedgie.mommy]

Okay so I've had my baby Lulu for 2 1/2 weeks now and she is 12 weeks old and I absolutely adore her. Some thoughts on her though.
> I noticed she was never wheeling, I tried everything. Then when I put the wheel in the bath with her I noticed that it was too small for her. So I ordered her a Carolina storm wheel. Is that a good one?
>also lulu has an attitude, she is huffs at me pretty hard when I get her out of her cage but eventually calms down. But if I hold her for too long she stresses out and ends up pooping everywhere. (Not green thought)
> since she isn't wheeling it looks like she's putting on some weight, so will she thin up when I get her new wheel in there.
> I have never seen her self-anoint, is that okay?
> she doesn't like to play much, she is just in love with her igloo and hedgie bag. When I get her up I usually take it out so she doesn't accidentally use the bathroom on it. She understands that and walks to the other side of the cage and uses the bathroom, eats and drinks. Then she will go to the middle of where her igloo usually is and sniff up into the air at me. She is basically saying, I've used the bathroom and eaten, can I have my igloo back. I think it's adorable but I'm worried about he lack of activity.

 

[Sugargliderlove]

I have not had experence with hedgies and not wheeling but with sugar gliders sometimes you have to put them in the wheel and then move the wheel to where they have to start walking, you can try that i dont know if it will help. the CSW is a great wheel, thats the wheel I want for sonic but right now he has a 12" comfort wheel.

 

[smhufflepuff]

Okay so I've had my baby Lulu for 2 1/2 weeks now and she is 12 weeks old and I absolutely adore her. Some thoughts on her though.

What a wonderful time to watch her grow I'm so happy for you.

I noticed she was never wheeling, I tried everything. Then when I put the wheel in the bath with her I noticed that it was too small for her. So I ordered her a Carolina storm wheel. Is that a good one?

Yes, the storm wheels are wonderful for a great many hedgies. Glad you were able to see what was going on for her size-wise and make an adjustment.

also lulu has an attitude, she is huffs at me pretty hard when I get her out of her cage but eventually calms down. But if I hold her for too long she stresses out and ends up pooping everywhere. (Not green thought)

The "eventually calms down" is a great sign. With continued interaction, she should be able to calm down more quickly in the future. But, gosh, it's so early. Similarly, you should be able to extend the amount of time you have with her.

One thought: it could be that she's out too long, so then she stresses, and then poops due to stress OR it could be that she needs to poop, feels stressed because she is not in her home to poop, and is saying "get me back home!" -- Which is especially true for a baby. These little ones are just poop machines.

How we resolved it with Satin was that we'd take her out of her house along with her litter box (she never used it consistently as a litter box on her own). When it was time to go, we'd hold her over her litter box and she'd poop. A word of explanation: you'll hear everyone say "oh, just set her in her litterbox and she'll go" and that may be true of a great number of hedgies. But once we set her down, she would not go... pick her up, she'd run from hand to hand, and her tail would pop back out in the "ready to go" form and the poop would start emerging. Set down, tail back in, poop vanishes; pick up, tail out; put down, tail in; etc... So we just learned to hold her over the litter box with our fingers spread apart to let the poop and pee fall through. Yeah... I know... the things we do for our hedgehogs... crazy, eh? After anywhere between half an hour to 1.5hours, she'd start making statements that she wanted to get back to her house. Statements = softer, lighter poops. We'd generally oblige her request after letting the statements fall to the litterbox. Though we'd usually have her back in her house after an hour (ie, before she needed to start issuing those statements to us).

Long story short, just bring out the litterbox and the hedgiewipes (ie, unscented baby wipes) during playtime. When she's ready to go, get her to the litter box. She should telegraph her intentions by getting antsy and/or sticking her tail out and/or assuming a wide stance with her rear legs. She should be "safe" to play/snuggle with for some time after the potty break. You may need to make highly-specialized modifications to this general plan to fit Lulu's particular behaviors.

since she isn't wheeling it looks like she's putting on some weight, so will she thin up when I get her new wheel in there.

Yes, she may grow longer (baby is still growing!) and look a bit more thin (due to wheeling).

I have never seen her self-anoint, is that okay?

Yep; that's a-okay. Some hedgies self-anoint; others don't. My first did like crazy; second one never did; third has done it twice that I've seen. I've been hoping for more, but she's not interested... ah well.

she doesn't like to play much, she is just in love with her igloo and hedgie bag. When I get her up I usually take it out so she doesn't accidentally use the bathroom on it. She understands that and walks to the other side of the cage and uses the bathroom, eats and drinks. Then she will go to the middle of where her igloo usually is and sniff up into the air at me. She is basically saying, I've used the bathroom and eaten, can I have my igloo back. I think it's adorable but I'm worried about he lack of activity.

That sounds just fine to me. Actually, sounds like a wonderful routine. I'd be celebrating the whole get up, walk, go potty, eat, drink, and return routine. Hurray for Lulu!!!

Regarding the lack of activity - a few thoughts:
She's a baby; they do need their sleep.
Many hedgies are private about their play, so she may be more active when you are nowhere in sight, it's very dark, and very quiet.
Hopefully, she'll take to her new wheel and that should help balance things out in time.
If you want to encourage activity, think of things you can do in her cage. You could hide her favorite treats around her cage; instead of using one food dish, use two or three to ensure she's foraging around... then yet another one for her treats (a nice set of tiny ramekins helps a lot for that kind of thing); if she likes crickets, you could let her catch one -- your bathtub would be a good place so the cricket doesn't escape into your house.

 

[First.time.hedgie.mommy]

Thanks for all the advice. One thing I kent to put in there, when it is warm enough outside, say mid 70s can I take her outside to play? How would I go about this?

 

[smhufflepuff]

After she makes it through her current situation... so we're talking probably a couple months down the line... yes, she can go out. There are things you'll need to watch for and guard against:

Potentially poisonous things out there - like pesticides, fertilizer, a nice yummy bug who's just ingested insecticide.

Bugs to which she has no natural defense - like an ant, spider, mosquito, etc...

The temperature of the ground may be quite different from the air temp - you'll want to check out the ground temp more specifically.

Predators from above (birds) and those on the ground (dog, cat...) who can swoop/run in and cause harm.

Her ability to pick up and run superfast in an instant. Where'd she go?! How on Earth did she get there?!!!

When the time comes, I'd scope out the outside play area, get to know its pesticide/fertilizer/insecticide history and what the predator threat level looks like to determine how safe, check the ground temp, and watch her like a hawk!! Afterward, check her out to make sure nothing funny is going on (like an ant that's managed to crawl up on her - between the quills where she can't remove it).