Redecoration

Woke up. She had moved her wheel, the newspaper I line the cage under the wheel with, her igloo to the middle of the cage, her ball wound up inside her cage, the yogurt container... just everything.

Candid of the Day

Also, here is a picture of a hedgehog who was yawning... or a fuzzy picture at least

Candid of the Day

Also, yesterday I found Sticky napping like this when I went to check up on her midway through the day:

The next few times I went downstairs she was still lying like that - halfway on and halfway off the wheel. Everytime I went downstairs however, she was a little further off the wheel, until finally, I watched her as she began to teeter kind of like how that kid nods off in class when he begins falling asleep sitting up. She finally got up and had to waddle back up onto the wheel.

Later, I found her like this:

Little smarty made her little bed a little more comfortable. Silly.

Candid of the Day

Also, here is a hedgehog who fell asleep while eating... with her head still in her food bowl

A Great Move

We moved Sticky, yesterday, down to our unused sauna (well, we had been using it as a darkroom for a while but since we don't really use 35mm's anymore it seemed quite alright). We needed a more enclosed room that could keep stable the temperature so that Sticky's cage had a more even spread-out of warmth and not here-and-there cold spots (I also moved her little pan to the kiddie corner of where it used to be... hopefully Sticky poops better here now, though I doubt she will).

Anyway, the move was a bit traumatic for her I think. She's been a little bit more timid against human touch, though she has been moving around her cage a bit more. She's added a bit of a "noise," like a huff or something whenever we try to pick her up, though. I'm trying to stay light and not be nervous but it's hard when there's a tiny ball of quills poking at you that suddenly "pops" a bit while still maintaining a prickly curled up form when you're trying to relax her. I know I shouldn't take it personally and give her time to settle in and get used to everything, but I just want her to love me and not be worried that I'm going to kill her every time I come too close to her (and is this normal?? I've emailed the breeder because I don't know if this is just new home nervousness or if something is amiss... sigh... I hope it's nothing I'm doing).

On a brighter note, I had put a little piece of my tshirt (which I wore around for the better half of a week) in Sticky's cage when we first moved her home so that she would start picking up my scent. She hadn't touched it or come close to it from what I have seen but today after a short episode we had in which I gave up trying to pick her up after she was just huffing and quivering (I made sure she had had some time to wake up and a bit to eat before attempting to pick her up), I found this:

This is my little ray of sunshine on an otherwise cloudy day.

Feeding time at the zoo

Yesterday, Matt and I put Sticky out on a blanket and let her roam around (I might have woken her up because I wanted to play with her - whoops). Her feed dish and water bowl were put out too so she could have a chance to gobble down some munchies since she hadn't eaten since the night before. We had to dump some kibbles in front of the hedgehog for her to actually realize we put food in front of her. Slowly she's beginning to realize that the green dish is a food dish.

We thought this was quite entertaining - watching Sticky eat out of her bowl like this...

A little food break to explore.

Gotta love that little tongue.

After finishing off most of the rest of her meal, to try and potty train the goofy thing, I put her in her litter box immediately so she could try pooping in it (she had already pooped on my arm while exploring me - she usually poops quite soon after eating). However, I don't think she quite realized what the litter box was despite all the poop I purposely put in it, cleared from the rest of her cage. It evidently is quite a nice place to nap.

Position 1: a mildly normal way for a hedgehog to sleep - protective instincts tell them they should remain in a ball and with their quills up

Position 2: a foot slowly begins to poke out

Position 3: slowly protective instincts are unraveling

Position 4: no more cares given

Does this mean she is getting comfortable and used to her new home? Or is she just a goof? Highly questionable.

Some casual Z's

Both my pets are asleep. I'm bored.

(They both sleep the same! Also note that Sticky is now sleeping in her litter pan)

*** Not typical human or hedgehog sleeping positions ***