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Caging & Housing

For your hedgehogs caging:

You will want something SAFE, EASY TO CLEAN, & ENJOYABLE for your pet.

I will highly recommend a cage WITHOUT a mesh bottom of any kind, no matter the mesh size. That could be painful for your pet & a pain for you to clean!

You want to look for a cage that is solid ground, light weight, good venting, comes apart or at least has a big enough door to fit a wheel & other things in there as well as for easier cleaning. Also if you have other pets you MUST be sure there is a top on the cage.. If you don't have other pets & don't use the top be SURE the hedgie cannot escape!

Cages should be at least 2 square feet & as always, the bigger the cage the better.

You also want to make sure the the bar spacing is not too far spaced that your hog or hoglets can get their heads stuck.

I will recommend these types of cages:

Clear Rubber Maid containers (very cheap, can modify to get good venting/lid & all or without(watch other pets & be sure the hedge cannot escape, they are also portable, found almost anywhere, & most of all LIGHT WEIGHT!)
Small one level ferret(or small animal) cage(solid surface)(hedgie cannot fall off anything, wont hurt its feet, & good venting.)

I will not recommend the following:

Multi story cages (These can cause a hedgie to fall climbing on them risking injury or death.)
Aquariums (Breakable, heavy/hard to clean, poor venting.)
Or ANY mesh bottom ones (Extremely hard on their feet & can cause injury, like a broken leg.)

Housing for your hog:

For bedding/sleeping material for your hedgehog you will want to have a place for him or her to hide completely. I personally came up with the idea of using old basketballs & cutting a hole in them then using that as a hut. My hogs LOVE this, thats where they sleep nightly. I also have a wooden half circle hut in Morndred's cage & he seems to like that.(After digging his burrow & fluffing his pine bedding up around him for extra warmth.) To keep your hog warm you can place a heating pad on low under their cage or under their hut in the cage. Make sure they don't chew on the cords though & if at all possible, tape them back where the hog cannot get to in the cage. Then they will be out of the way from the hog that wants to chew them.

You can also use a hedgie bag or better yet a plain old pouch, or even a shirt.. they will make themselves comfy wherever they have to for the most part. Once again be creative with your littles & see what THEY like since all hogs are different & what mine like may not be what yours also like.

Just make sure anything you use in their cage is 100% nontoxic, as well as having no parts that they could choke on.

I also make hedgie bags & have a ton of left over basketball huts, if you are interested look at my bedding page, or contact me.

thanks!