Poop eating??

[Mouser'sMommie]

When I first got Stewie in March he would poop a lot and I would clean his cage quite often. As time has gone on though, I have noticed it (and his wheel) hasn't smelled or looked as bad and hasn't obviously need cleaned as often, if you follow my drift. Anyway, I thought I was going nuts until the other night. I noticed a good sized pile of poo and was going to flush it, but decided to wait until morning and change the whole cage. When I woke up, it was gone! HE ATE IT!! :Pukey: Why on Earth would he be doing this? I feed him the Chicken Soup Light food with treats of mealworms, freeze-dried crickets, fruit or hedgie treat mixture. He gets maybe one treat a day, depending on if I'm home when his HuffyHogness is awake :rolleyes:

The other weird thing he does is poop, pee and drag Carefresh into his water dish. :angry: Drives me nuts. I am seriously looking into either a smaller water dish he can't fit into or a water bottle. Any thoughts? He is my first and only Hedgie, so I'm learning as I go.

[emskie]

When we first got Popple he did the same thing. Unfortunately, when I posted the same question, I didn't get too much help, so I in turn, can't help you much. Sorry! For Popple, though, it seemed to be a nutritional issue. We had just gotten him from a bad pet store that was only feeding him meal worms, lettuce and banannas. Once he had a couple days of good cat food, he stopped the behavior. From the sounds of it though, you're giving your hedgie a ballanced diet, so I'm not really sure what's going on. Sorry I can't help more!

(p.s. I go to kent state too!! :) )

[Nancy]

Babies poop alot and as they get older the amount diminishes considerably. A large poop at night can also shrink down considerably, often to less than 1/4 the original size. If you use carefresh I'm betting that big poop has dried into a little piece that is mixed in the carefresh.

Any type of bedding will get dragged into their dishes and it doesn't matter what size of dish you use. Perhaps if you elevate the dish a higher than the bedding it might help. :)

[cayjazz]

I bet he isn't eating the poop. It sounds like the bedding/litter/whatever is doing a good job.

[SherAlana]

Actually, I was at my vets getting a regualr check up for hedwig and he gave two good fecal samples and then turned around and ate them. Something I had never seen before. The vet said it was probably stress, in regard to hedwig. However, it is not uncommon for them to occassionally eat their own feces, many animals do.

[Ododad]

Mine never had, hope they never do. At least, I don't think they have. I have never seen them do it.
I know this was an old thread, but it was interesting to read it.