Big Fun For Him, Big Mess For Me

This little boy loves his toilet paper roll so much that he fell asleep while playing with it. Out like a light!

And why is he so sleepy? Well, because I gave him his wheel to play with last night.

It started off so innocently! He got on the wheel and it rocked side to side. He ran forwards then backwards on it. To my delight, he even got off his wheel to use his litter box! I turned off the light and went to bed.

In the morning, my sister woke me to tell me that something terrible had happened. I rushed sleepy-eyed to his cage and looked inside. His wheel was poop and pee spattered, the floor was poop and pee spattered, and there was fresh poop UNDER the wheel too. Sigh... my only consolation was that he had left his house and that side clean.

But, then a happy, dirty footed little hedgehog emerged from his clean house, and it was off the sink again. This time, we were only washing the dirt off his feet.

While my sister kept an eye on the little guy, I put the dirty linens in the laundry, washed his house and all the accessories with soap, and put down the back-up fleece liner. When we put him back into his cage, he ate and drank a little, used his litter box like a good little boy (Why couldn't you do that last night???), and started to play with his toilet paper roll. He didn't get very far into the roll before he fell fast asleep. He was all tuckered out.

I peeped at him throughout the day and he remained with his head in the toilet paper roll snoozing away. It made me chuckle every time I looked at him.

Funny boy...

Inside The Lair Of A Sleeping Beast

Let's take a peek at what goes on inside of the lair of of a sleeping beast.

Okay, I know he looks incredibly cute and all, BUT DON'T BE FOOLED!!!

He's awake! Quick! Hide!

Noooooo! He's found us!

Aaaggghhhhhhhhhhh! He's going to eat us!

He's going to... wait... he's turning around... he's... Oh, he's unimpressed.

Apparently we're not WORTH eating.

He's going back to sleep now. Shucks... and it was getting SO INTERESTING! Lol...

Enjoy!

A Cute Pic Of The New Baby Hedgehog

This is my favourite picture of the morning. He was on the kitchen table today investigating a blueberry. He didn't eat it. He just sniffed it.

Heheh! More pictures coming shortly, but I just wanted to share it.

Cheers!

The Baby Hedgie Is Home!

It was a long drive there and back, but the baby hedgehog is finally home. Hurray!

In nothing fancier than a small box for a desk lamp, my new little friend made the trip to his snazzy new lodgings.

The first thing he did after he got put into his new cage was to start attacking the tree house. I was certain at that moment that he was going to try and eat it. "Oh god," I thought. "I'm going to have to remove it because he'll ingest bits of corduroy."

However, after chomping and pulling at the edge of the doorway for a bit, he began to annoint. I had just laundered his tree house the day before so I guess it smells like laundry detergent and a hint of fabric softener. Perhaps he wants to smell like that too?

Well, he had a bit of water and food, explored the rest of his cage, and then went into his tree house and took a nap.

While he napped, I sewed him a fleece pouch to put into his house. It ended up being too narrow and thick (I was a bit too ambitious with layering...), so now he sleeps on top of it instead of inside of it. He doesn't seem to mind. I think he rather likes it.

For the rest of the evening, he would take turns between poking around and taking naps. I would occasionally take him out with his new mattress (?) to look at him and to just hold him and walk around with him.

He seems to prefer to sleep while I'm around and to explore and play when I'm not there. If I walk away for a while and come back, I'll find him tumbling from the edge of the cage basin where he'd been climbing. He'll put on a defensive pose ("I wasn't doing anything!") and hold that pose until he feel safe. Then, when the coast is clear, he takes off for his beloved tree house, curls up, and falls fast asleep. It's either magical or he's avoiding me. Veeery clever...

He's usually climbing towards the side of the cage closest to the Carolina Storm Wheel. I wonder if he's trying to get to the wheel? I figured I'd let him settle in with his house and other belongings before I introduced the wheel. Also, I'm still trying to figure out if there's a way I can modify the wheel so it can fit into the cage all of the time.

Well, end of day one. Time for sleep!

Cheerio!

Living World Dome Modification Into a Tree

I am delighted to show you what I have been slaving over for the past two days :) A modification of the Living World Dome into a short, fat tree!

So, this lovely dome-shaped tree is actually the equivalent of a tea cosy. It sits on top of the dome house and it can be removed at any time to be washed.

It was made with brown corduroy for the sides and green fleece for the top. I wanted to use brown fleece, but apparently no one uses brown fleece because the fabric store didn't bother to carry any. Instead I found this brown corduroy on clearance - score!

Because corduroy is rather thin, I have hidden a layer of blue fleece in between the two layers of the brown corduroy. This makes the tree warmer and also gives the sides more thickness.

Here are some pics from construction:

***Please note that these tutorials are for you to make things for your own personal use, not to sell.***

I sewed a tall vertical tube around the dome, and gathered in the excess fabric to make ridges for the tree trunk.  It wasn't an exact science.  I pinned them and sewed diagonal vertical lines (so the inside of the dome has no gathering).  I constantly replaced it onto the dome to make sure it was going to fit.  I then flattened each ridge and sewed that down.

Then I cut a slit for the door, and rolled up the edges to make it thicker and to match the dome.

I pinned the doorway into a shape that I liked, and sewed around the doorway.

 To make the top of the house more neat, I zig-zag sewed it over and over until all the seams were neatly sewn together.

After that, I cut out two layers of fleece in a wavy round shape (they have to be facing opposite sides) to make the tree top.  It didn't look tree-like enough, so I made leaves and sewed them to the top, facing outwards.

Then I sewed the tree top to the base.

It looks super cute in the cage :)

The only downside is that the medium sized dome is rather large. It takes up quite a bit of space in the cage.

So when I add the very awesome Carolina Storm Wheel... well... you can't. It has to be either the wheel or the house.

When I asked my dad about this dilemma, he suggested that I put the dome in during the day when the hedgehog sleeps, and to put the wheel in during the night when the hedgehog plays.

I think this is a pretty good suggestion. So, during the night, I will take out his tree house and put in an alternate fleece pouch. If he needs to take a nap or hide, that will be a good replacement.

Well, I'm picking up my hedgehog tomorrow. I hope he likes his newly modified dome house and the cage set up.

Cheers!
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UPDATE!
We solved the space issue by removing the wheel from the stand and attaching it directly to the cage wall.  It worked out perfectly!  Thanks, LarryT, for the suggestion.  All I needed were BIG washers to replace the little ones it came with.
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UPDATE 07/16/2012

Custom dome covers are now available for sale in my shop.  They will be made to order.  You can also request a customized dome cover.  Email me at bluepandemonium (at) hotmail (dot) com for more information.

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Read other hedgehog tutorials

Countdown To Hedgie Time!

If all goes well, it will be Hedgie Time as early as this Friday! In anticipation of the big day, I have been busily constructing toys and other lovely things for my new little friend.

No hedgehog home would be complete without a toilet paper roll!

I read that hedgie faces could get stuck in the roll and cause the hedgehog great distress so I have cut the toilet paper down the middle and rounded the corners. He can't get stuck now!
My sweetie and I picked out some nice fleece the other day in a pale green and a pale blue. With a little extra time after work today, I sewed up a custom fleece liner for the bottom of his cage.

This blue liner fits the base of the cage exactly. Well, it does now anyways. I wasn't actually successful with this at first so I had to rip all the stitching out of two sides to make it bigger. When I was done, the liner seemed kind of floppy so I sewed an extra inner line to give it a thick, fluffy edging. It looks pretty pro now.

I wanted a back up liner for when one liner was in the wash so I sewed a second fleece liner in the pale green colour. I made this one bigger so that I could actually create a lip around the entire liner. It was a little tricky to make the edges form proper corners, but the end result is pretty good.

Between the two, my dad likes the perfect fit one better and my mom likes the extra lip one better. Which one do you like better?

My mother said to me, "If this is what you do when you get a baby hedgehog, you'll never sleep with all the things you can make for your REAL baby one day." I think she wants grandkids. What do you think :P

New Hedgehog Photos!

Okay, okay, so I still don't know the details, but it appears that Hoppin Hedgehogs doesn't want to sell me their hedgehogs anymore. My name disappeared from their reservation list last night. They have yet to give me an explanation for why I'm suddenly unsuitable to become a new hedgehog owner.

I was seriously choked. Even though I hadn't even gotten my hedgehog yet, I felt like someone had taken it away from me. You all know how excited I have been about getting one soon!

But, things sometimes work out for the best.

A super nice breeder that heard about my situation has offered to let me have one of her little hedgies instead AND she doesn't mind letting me post her pictures one bit! I can't tell you what a big relief that is. I've been stressing over not being able to post pictures of my new little hedgehog loves. I really like sharing my hedgehog experience with you, and I wanted to let you see what I was so thrilled about.

Anyways, she sent me photos and here he is! *Gush* He's so adorable!!!

And here's mum and dad hedgehog:

Ahahaha! They're so awesome!

So it's all falling into place now. I've ordered a Carolina Storm Wheel for him from Larry, and if the email is correct, he mailed it out the same day (You rock, Larry!). This is the highest recommended wheel by other hedgehog owners.

Also, my boyfriend showed up at the door today with a Living World Deluxe Habitat Cage. It's no wonder he was so equally upset when I told him that the breeder had removed me from his list. He had the cage sitting in his trunk ready to give to me! He's a great guy, huh?

So with the wheel in the mail, and the cage in my house, I'm ready to start sewing. It's time to make my new little friend a custom fleece liner for his house. I'll make him a hedgie bag to sleep in too. I knew all that sewing would come in useful one day.

I just want to send out a quick thanks to Stephanie at Happy Hedgies for making my day. It was supposed to be miserable, but her kindness made it into something much more special.

Fingers crossed for a baby hedgehog by the end of this month (even sooner than the other one would have come home, eek!)

Have a happy day!

Baby Hedgehog Pictures are Up!

The hedgehog breeder, Hoppin Hedgehogs, posted pictures of the 8 little hedgehogs that I get to choose from!

Hoglets A to D are from "Litter 1" and hoglets E to H are from "Litter 2". B, C, D, and G are girls, and A, E, F, H are boys.

Which little hedgehog baby would you choose?

(Note: Sorry for the new mysterious white hedgehog blobs! The breeder won't let me use their photos.)
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UPDATE
I didn't end up buying from this breeder.  I chose Happy Hedgies instead and highly recommend them.

Baby Hedgehog On The Way

I am so excited to tell you that I will be bringing home a baby hedgehog soon! I just put the deposit down for him at the breeders.

I have been debating whether I should or should not get a hedgehog for a long time now. I had a hedgehog when I was in high school and I have missed him ever since he's been gone. When my mother commented that she wouldn't mind having a hedgehog in the house again, I jumped at the opportunity.

I read all that I could about hedgehogs on Hedgehog Central on topics such as food, heating, good cages, proper wheels, toys, reputable breeders, etc. I was a reading and researching machine! I also considered the difficulty of another responsibility during nursing school. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer and I went ahead with putting down a deposit.

I can bring my baby hedgehog home in mid-August when he is old enough to leave his mother. I am so excited.

Okay, I just wanted to drop in for a short update.

I'll post pictures as soon as I have some! For now, I only have pictures drawings of his parents (I removed the pictures because the breeder didn't want me to use their photos.). My baby hedgehog will either be from "Litter 1" with these parents:

Or he will be from "Litter 2" with these parents:

Which pair do you think will have the cutest babies?

Ah, what a wonderful day! I am so excited!
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UPDATE
I didn't end up buying from this breeder.  I chose Happy Hedgies instead and highly recommend them.

Gardening Blissfully

Gardening can be a peaceful and enjoyable pastime. Here are some photos from my garden for you to see!

This is Alyssum. I like how pretty and lavender coloured they are. I planted them into my succulent garden to add some colour and contrast.

Mmm, strawberries! Mine are always relatively small, but they are very fragrant and sweet :)

We had a lot of them this year :) Yum!

Here is a zucchini! I ate him today.

Here are some lovely succulents from my succulent garden. I love succulents. They are so wonderful.

Have a happy day!