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Housing, Accessories, and Supplies

Beddings, Liners, and Litters

Knitzel
User

Posts: 76

Strange aversion to bedding - 2007/04/16 10:59 Okay, I'm not sure if I'm the only one who's experienced this particular little quirk, but here goes. It seems like Zelda really, really only wants to lie on the bare plastic bottom of her cage. I've tried carefresh, pine, aspen, and right now I'm on liners. I got a little nervous about the aspen last weekend, because it seemed like she was really trying to clear out a place under her igloo totally shaving free, and eventually went to sleep under the paper towels under her wheel. I did a cage clean, and lined the bottom of the cage with paper towels, with a liner over top, and an old t-shirt inside her igloo. Last night I found her underneath the liner, in a hole she dug through the paper towel so she could lie on the bare plastic.

So what's the deal? Is she too hot? Our apartment is usually a steady 75 degrees. I'm planning on taking her to the vet this week for a "well pet" visit, and I'm thinking I'll ask for some Revolution as well. Zelda has dry skin, and I'm wondering if it could be mites? Does she just love the smell of plastic? Maybe she's just a little loco

Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated!

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CThogs

Admin

Posts: 1559

Re:Strange aversion to bedding - 2007/04/16 13:22 Just normal burrowing behavior. A lot of them will sleep under a liner instead of on top or burrow down to the bottom of the bedding. Not a problem unless the plastic is too cold.

Dry skin is pretty common and does not always mean anything other than dry skin. Aveeno oatmeal baths or olive oil or vitamin e oil in the bath will help with dry skin.

Mites will usually cause other symptoms like quill loss or a lot of scratching. Your vet can do a skin scrape or two if mites are suspected. Ann
Connecticut Hedgehogs

We had a great time at Hedgehog Fest 2008!!!

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Knitzel
User

Posts: 76

Re:Strange aversion to bedding - 2007/04/17 05:21 Thanks, Ann! We're seeing our vet for the first time this Thursday for a well-pet visit, since I've had Zelda for a couple of months now. Here's hoping she'll be a good girl, not a spiky ball of fury. (Zelda, not the vet. I'm sure the vet will be lovely.)

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danapie

User

Posts: 20

Re:Strange aversion to bedding - 2007/04/17 13:29 I had the same issue with my little guy. He was always under his liner on the plasitc. What I did was i got some hedgie sleeping sacks and i put one in with his igloo and made sure to "form" the sleep sack to that when he walked into his igloo he would walk right into the sleep sack. I also put a little hedgie blankie or two in there so he cuddles up with these. This has worked for me. It took about 1-2 days for my little guy to accept the change but now he seems very happy and i never find him sleeping on the plastic. I got my hedgie sacks from a lady on e-bay. Her "store" is called the pampered pig. Either of the two sizes she makes work, even the smaller sized one. The sacks are great quality and priced just right.

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zorra578

User

Posts: 405

Re:Strange aversion to bedding - 2007/04/17 15:01 Knitzel wrote:
spiky ball of fury

LOL Jessica
Des Plaines, IL

My critter list: Dil bert (welsh terrier), Bowser R.I.P. (betta fish), Qu en tin (hedgehog).

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Knitzel
User

Posts: 76

Re:Strange aversion to bedding - 2007/04/18 07:11 Thanks for the great suggestions, Danapie! Z does love her sleep sacks, so maybe I'll bang out a few more of those (I'm a pretty crafty kid). Guess that means another trip to the fabric store...totally necessary of course, can't be helped

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