As I've mentioned before I bed my hedgehog on fleece liners instead of shavings or pellets. Fleece is safe (no loose threads), soft, and inexpensive. It also comes in a variety of colors and patterns. Light colors are the best to use because that way you can keep an eye out for unpleasantness such as blood, diarrhea, and discolored urine.
Anyway, I am slowly building up my stock of fleece, which means that I don't have to do laundry quite so often, and that Phinneus (not that he cares in the least) has prettier patterns in his cage. Yesterday I found two fleece throws at St. Vinny's which had obviously been baby blankets in another life. One said, "Just Hatched". Matt sweetly purchased them for me and I took them home and promptly cut off the hemming (to avoid the dangers of loose threads) and gave them to Phin. He loves them. I found him burrowed deep between the top layer and the bottom; snug as a bug in a rug, you might say. This is one way to find inexpensive fleece. Another, more obvious way, is to find it on sale at fabric stores. Today I read an HHC forum post about this unusual money saving fleece solution: buying a Snuggie *shudder* and cutting it up. I am not sure of the size of the forum poster's cage, but apparently the Snuggie produced two liners. The pockets can be cut up into strips and put in a box or other shelter to make a cozy snoozing place for a hedgie. Snuggies run in the neighborhood of $4.99 so this is quite the deal! Now I just have to bring myself to buy a Snuggie....
First time owners usually buy a supply of mealworms with which to spoil their hedgehog. On every hedgie website and in every forum there are tons of owners talking about "mealies are the best treats" and "my hedgehog cannot get enough mealworms!", and so the new owners expect to win their pet's trust with some tasty worm treats. This is not the case, oftentimes. Phinneus would completely ignore his mealworms for months! I thought the things had died in the refrigerator from being in there so long. Not the case! (We put a "dead" worm in Phin's bowl and left it, hoping he would find it and feast. Instead I found a live worm crawling around and went to pieces). So to new owners, you must just have some patience. Your hedgehog will come around...eventually. If you keep offering the worms then one of these days the little insectivore will take a taste and then a gobble and then look for more. Now Phinneus loves his mealies! Even when he is grumpiest and feeling dangerous he will be civil enough the eat some worms :)
Finally, I think my hedgehog is going through his teenage years? He will have dramatic mood swings from night to night. One night he will be sweet and cuddly. The next he will be a vicious little thing, just waiting for my fingers to draw too close to his jaws. He will pop and hiss and make touching him a dangerous thing. Sometimes this angry stage lasts for days and I am convinced that he hates me! Then, like this morning, I wake up and find my little baby back again. Ah if only the old saying could be applied to him, "May you one day be blessed with teenagers of your own." But I hear hedgehogs make poor fathers.
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