Litter training

[American Idle]

So I've been researching Hedgies for about a month now, finally got my Astrid today. She was in a pet store in new hampshire, but treated really well! She's a LITTLE grumpy, but I would be too, moving into a new home.

Here's my question:

She was kept in Yesterday's news at the pet store. I lined 1/2 the Sterilite with Fleece, and the other half with yesterday's news, for a litterbox. Of course, she prefers to sleep in the yesterday's news. Am I going to be able to litter train her? I don't mind cleaning the thing out, I just don't want her to go when she's around the house playing. Maybe if I keep some yesterday's news out when she's out? Or am I going to be able to train her?

I plan on connecting the two containers I have, and putting her wheel in one, with yesterday's, and fleece in the other with her bed and food. But i figure she'll just sleep in the wheel part.

She's really cute! I think she's an algerian grey, but I'm not quite sure yt. Maybe I'll post some pics soon.
Thanks! this site was a great place to research my new Hedgie, and I'm sure I'll be on here all the time.

[paris26]

I guess the first thing that needs to be pointed out is, hedgies are not 100% potty trained. Some will consistantly go in one area, others will go whenever and wherever. Annabelle was on pine pellets when I first adopted her. I switched her to Carefresh and watched which areas of her cage she was going potty the most, then I added a litter pan (shallow baking sheet) with YN. It took her a few days to catch on, but it really helped when I put it under her wheel. Most hedgies like to run and poop.
Once she was doing okay with her litterbox, I only used the Carefresh in her igloo with her hedgie bag and switched to liners. I'm lucky that tidy and helps me keep her cage clean!
Maybe put some of her old poops where you want her to go, and maybe she'll catch on.
Annabelle loved her hedgiebag and fleece when it was offered to her. She took to it right away. Be patient and do some experimenting to find out what works for you

[HedgieSpirit]

My hedgie is still a baby and she is partially litter trained... She still has her accidents every once in a while when I'm holding her and she pees on me. It has gotten alot better though. I have a small, shallow (about 1 inch high) tupperware container that I fill with yesterday's news. When she wakes up I set her in it. Most times she will feel it under her tush and know what to do :) But she does have her accidents. When she starts going to the bathroom I pick her up and set her in the container. She usually has her accidents on me rather than the carpet or couches :rolleyes:

If she is sleeping in the litter box portion of her cage and you don't want her to, maybe you should experiment with different things she could sleep in. Chloe prefers her pigloo with a blankie inside of it. Before I connected her two cages together, on the days she would be in the container with the wheel, she would sleep under that because there was no room for a pigloo. She also likes to sleep in her PVC pipe (only if you line it with a blankie) Hedgiebags are also popular. Don't be afraid to experiment and try different things...you may just find something that she prefers over yesterday's news.

[terizzer]

Its going to depend of the hedgehog, and as was stated before, they aren't 100% trainable, at least most aren't....such as mine... :banghead: Milo was on carefresh bedding without a litter pan for a year, then I decided to try litter training. Didn't work ;) but just to see what would happen, I put a shallow dish with yesturdays news under his wheel and vellux liners throughout the rest of the cage. Surprisingly enough, it worked. For two weeks. :rolleyes: now he poops wherever he pleases, but its still a lot cleaner and easier to change out vellux instead of the carefresh.

And as a side note, Milo never had accidents outside his cage. That is, until I moved out of my parents house and in with my fiance a couple months ago. Now milo pees on the couch. Every time he is out. :banghead: I hate that couch though, so I just use it as an excuse to get a new one :D which doesn't work.... :(

[American Idle]

thanks for the tips! Maybe I'll just teach her to go to the bathroom, and use the toilet. My friend trained his cat to do that! :)

[bear]

:laugh: good luck... better check if she can swim, first ;)

[Ginger]

Its going to depend of the hedgehog, and as was stated before, they aren't 100% trainable, at least most aren't....such as mine... :banghead: Milo was on carefresh bedding without a litter pan for a year, then I decided to try litter training. Didn't work ;) but just to see what would happen, I put a shallow dish with yesturdays news under his wheel and vellux liners throughout the rest of the cage. Surprisingly enough, it worked. For two weeks. :rolleyes: now he poops wherever he pleases, but its still a lot cleaner and easier to change out vellux instead of the carefresh.

And as a side note, Milo never had accidents outside his cage. That is, until I moved out of my parents house and in with my fiance a couple months ago. Now milo pees on the couch. Every time he is out. :banghead: I hate that couch though, so I just use it as an excuse to get a new one :D which doesn't work.... :(

You makes me laugh ! :laugh:

[cayjazz]

I read, to prevent accidents outside the cage, you stroke their tummies from front to back and if they have to go, they will. Uh-huh! I have a hedgie that hates it and rolls around my finger, ouch on the cuticle!

[~Chelsey~]

Almost all of my hedgies are potty trained, but none are 100%. I covered the cage in vellux and then put a corner litter pan with yesterday's news in it in the cage. I had to pick up all of the poos and put them in the litterbox for about the first week, but after that they used the litter box pretty well! The worst one about the litter box uses it about 40% of the time, but that's still less poo to clean up than I would have to if he wasn't trained at all! :) Good luck!