Hedgie doesn't use his wheel

[gam29]

I got my hedgie a wheel a couple of weeks ago and he never seems to use it, except to poo and pee on. Will he learn to use it on his own or is there some learning that needs to go on before he uses the wheel? Thanks in advance for the help.

[cecelia117]

Is it possible he is using it while you're sleeping? I have been woken up a few times to Muffin wheeling.

[horsegal]

I would guess that if you found poo on it that he is wheeling sometime. My hedgie wheels from about 11 or 12 to 4 or 5 in the morning. How old is he? I have heard of older hedgies taking longer to adjust to a wheel.

[hemi_mygirl]

He'll learn to use it all on his own, if he isn't already. When I got Hemi, she was around 3 months old, and had never seen a wheel in her life. It took a little bit of trial and error before she figured it out though. She practiced with just her front legs, and then her back legs, before she graduated to standing on it. When she started walking on it, her center of gravity was off-balance, and she fell off a couple times. Now, she runs her little heart out on it.

Give him time, he'll figure it out.

[gam29]

he's about 3.5 months old...i got him when he was 2 months old.

[hemi_mygirl]

If there's poop and pee on it, chances are he's using it, but he's too shy to wheel in front of you.

[HedgieMate]

When we adopted our hedgie from his previous owner, we were told that our hedgie, approx. 6 mo. old, had a wheel once but showed absolutely no interest so it was taken away (the poor boy lived in a small 10-gallon acquire without a wheel for four months).

When we re-introduced an exercise wheel to our hedgie, it took him less than 5 minutes to figure out what it was for and he was running like mad in no time.

Your hedgie will learn to wheel sooner or later, more likely sooner than later, if he hasn't already. As other people pointed out, hedgehogs use their wheels in the wee hours of the morning. I bet your hedgie is already using it. Just give it some time and he'll prove it to you how much he's enjoying wheeling by multiple poopy tracks...

[hemi_mygirl]

And if you can, check his feet. Hedgehogs with poopy feet are hedgehogs who spent some time running on a messy wheel.

[nicanor]

You can pick up your hedgie then put it down in the wheel, when it walks off your hands it'll automatically make the wheel spin then make him run. In case the hedgie panic if it doesn't know what's happening slowly stop the wheel from spinning with our hands until it stops then let go. Now the hedgie knows how to use the wheel. The hedgie should be curious now and quickly learn the wheel.