New Here - Should I Get a Hedgie?

[Dingleberry]

I've never seen a hedgie in real life before but they are so cute in pics! I've been doing some research and am trying to decide whether to get one or not.

Question for hedgie owners - is their poop fairly large and moist like cat poop or ferret poop? Or is it small and hard like mouse poop or chin poop?

The reason I'm asking is because I'm kinda scared of large poop, lol. I'm used to hamster/chin poop. I actually had two ferrets at one point and could NOT deal with their poop. It was just too large for me. I had to clean their litter box every day because they would poop all the time, it was messy and smelly, and would get all over the sides of their litter box - ewwww! I ended up having to rehome them because I could no longer deal with their poop.

I know that hedgies eat cat food and insects, which leads me to believe that their poop is more similar to a cat's rather than a chin's. Is this correct? Please let me know! I would hate to get a hedgie only to give him away because I can't handle his poop.

[Nancy]

Sorry but it's not like mouse or chins at all. It is about the size and consistency of toothpaste and about 1" long. They do poop quite a bit.
Not as smelly as ferret poop though. :)

[HedgieSpirit]

I had to clean their litter box every day because they would poop all the time, it was messy and smelly, and would get all over the sides of their litter box - ewwww!

In the morning most hedgie's wheels are caked in poop. By morning when the poop is dry it doesn't smell but if you walk in on them at night when it is fresh its pretty stinky :Pukey: I don't mind cleaning her wheel at all, she is well worth it but if you aren't crazy about poop a hedgie may not be right for you.

[Dingleberry]

Darn...that sounds kinda like ferret poop. :( At least it's not as smelly. How often do you have to clean their litter box? What about their wheel?

Ferrets have a VERY fast metabolism, so mine would poop about 2-3 times in the 30 mins that I had them running around in the kitchen. I spent most of my time cleaning up after them and picking up poop. How often, on average, would you say hedgies poop? Do they ever go on you or on the floor?

[paris26]

It depends on the age of your hedgie and wheels need to be cleaned daily along with litterboxes.
My babies poop all the time- usually on me :) My older ones are able to have better control

[Nancy]

Baby hedgehogs will use you for their litterbox everytime you have them out. Once they are adults most don't poop on you. There are exceptions though. Even adult hedgehogs poop alot.

[bandymandy]

Quest is 11 weeks old now and she (thankfully) generally uses either the litter box, wheel, or the floor (instead of me) to poop but 3-6 deposits daily of 1-3 turds is not unusual for her. And any change in her diet or routine usually makes it more soft. I clean her litter box twice a day sometimes and her wheel once a day.

[HedgieSpirit]

Chloe hasn't outgrown her baby habits yet...at 7 and a half months she still uses mommy as her litter pan :rolleyes: I'm still hoping that she'll grow out of it....

[Dingleberry]

Wow, I'm really glad I checked! I've been emailing this woman who lives nearby and wants to sell her hedgie. She told me that cleaning isn't really an issue at all. She said she only cleans his cage once a month and he does poop in his wheel but she only cleans his wheel/litter box once a week. That's a HUGE difference from having to clean it every day! Do you think she was just telling me this so that I would buy the hedgie? Or are some hedgies just messier/poop more than others?

I also asked her about bathing her hedgie and she only does this once every few months. She said he gets poop on his feet but it isn't necessary to bathe him very often. What do you guys think about this?

[SherAlana]

Ummm, I clean my hedgies cage every 3-4 days, a week at the longest. And the Wheel has to be daily, mine used to poo and pee on it. So it got stinky if you left it for more than a day. If you don't like poop, this is definately not for you.