Not every day can be spent outdoors. What can a hedgehog do for
indoor fun?
Hedgehogs
need to be supervised while outside their cage or terrarium. At
some point, we would have loved to give Murray her own "room," but
barring that, she played in her spacious pet corral or around the apartment,
usually in the early evening under someone's watchful eye. We
lined her pet corral with vellux
blankets, which we purchased as seconds and cut into pieces that
fit perfectly. They get thrown in the wash every couple of days
and voila! clean corral.
She had a wheel in
her corral, which she loves to use when it's dark and quiet, but has
been more and more comfortable during the daylight hours. The
craft foam lining on the wheel helped to protect her little feet and
served as a disposable liner, since she, like most hedgehogs, will
soil her wheel. She was usually awake and running when on her
wheel, but she did take a little catnap occasionally!
She
also enjoyed playing with toilet paper tubes, which seems to be almost
a universal trait among hedgehogs. There have been warnings that
some hedgehogs can get their heads caught in the tubes, but Murray
didn't have that problem. I made a couple of tubes out of craft
foam for her, since they look a little nicer and are soft, in case
she bonked into a wall. She became very attached to the new
tubes!
Murray slept in a pillowcase or a custom-made critter cozy
(made by Lenny Groves). She
was very attached to her new cozy and was occasionally reluctant
to emerge, as the photo
at right shows. She would occasionally drag her pillowcase
or bag over to her food dish so she didn't even have to get out of "bed" while
eating (as evidenced by photo at left). When allowing a hedgehog
to sleep in a fabric bag of any kind, you have to be careful to watch
for loose strings which could become wrapped around tiny feet or legs.
Hedgehogs
need to be supervised while outside their cage or terrarium. At
some point, we would have loved to give Murray her own "room," but
barring that, she played in her spacious pet corral or around the apartment,
usually in the early evening under someone's watchful eye. We
lined her pet corral with 
She
also enjoyed playing with toilet paper tubes, which seems to be almost
a universal trait among hedgehogs. There have been warnings that
some hedgehogs can get their heads caught in the tubes, but Murray
didn't have that problem. I made a couple of tubes out of craft
foam for her, since they look a little nicer and are soft, in case
she bonked into a wall. She became very attached to the new
tubes! 
