Be it ever so humble. . .Better Homes and Cages We found the best price on the medium (12 X 14 X 23) Petmate® "Pet-Taxi" at Wal-Mart. Some feed stores have a same-size "Pet Escort" with a thick, plastic front grill for less. BUT automatic- watering system clips won't fit onto the plastic grill. They're great and economical, however, for shipping and/or permanent bottle watering.
Drilling a hole with a 1/8-inch drill bit at each corner of the cage creates drainage if there's a water leak. We then place the lid of a 28-quart Rubbermaid® "Keepers™" (Wal-Mart has best price) underneath the cage to protect the shelf and/or floor.

To drip, or not to drip An automatic-watering system with valves, vinyl tubes, and tank (Klubertanz Equipment Co., Inc. [800-237-3899] or Vanecek Bunny Farm, 51 Sun Valley Drive, Spring Branch, TX 78070 [210-885- 4834]) is a great time and hassle saver for several or more hedgehogs. It is important, however, to have bottles for automatic watering system emergencies and for administering Pedialyte to sad, under-the-weather hoggies.
Be sure to check the cages every morning for rising tides. If an object shoves against the valve or ball bearing, water will flow until the source runs dry or the object moves away, which makes for petulant, soggy hedgehogs.
If we enter the hedgehog area and smell something unusual or particularly pungent, we race to check the water valves for a leak and to get the hedgehog out and dry. If the cage was due to be cleaned and the damp hedgehog is subsequently yellow and smelly, or if the sodden creature is a nursing mother, we put the hedgehog in the bathroom sink and slowly run warm water in with a bit of no- tears baby shampoo to no more than an inch deep. Gently splashing and stroking the hedgehog's underside we wash their legs, tummies and chests then rinse as needed (again with splashing and stroking in an inch of clean water) until the water is clear then towel dry and apologize profusely for not rescuing him or her earlier. Under no circumstances do we run water into the sink if the hedgehog is curling up or bending its head down.

Birthing suites
While male hedgehogs get a 6-inch length of 4-inch diameter PVC pipe with a 4" drain cap on the end in their Petmate® "Pet- Taxi," our females get a "Pet-Taxi" with a 4.25-inch- diameter hole cut in the end or the side. A 3-inch length of PVC pipe fits into that and is connected by a 4-inch PVC elbow joint to another 3-inch length that plugs into the 4.25-inch-diameter hole cut into a 5 liter Igloo® Legend® 6* ice chest. The Igloo® provides 1) more room for Mom and kids, 2) the ability to quietly clean out the cage without moving or bumping Mom or kids, 3) a chance to quietly lift the Igloo® lid to take a look at the kids when Mom takes a lunch break, 4) a chance to take a careful peep while Mom's with the kids with less chance of upsetting her.
*In case the Igloo® brand Legend® 6 is discontinued, any small ice chest big enough to hold a six-pack and a lid that can be removed with little or no movement or sound will do.
One breeder covers her breeder cages side vents and front grill with towels to keep the cage dark, quiet and full of Momma's own smell so human smells might not be so strong when intruding with water and food.

The way to a hedgehog's heart is through. . .Iams Cat Food®
Iams Cat Food® in the orange bag ("For Normally Active Cats"). Period. Canned food-induced fecal matter is NOXIOUS.
For variety we thought we'd mix Science Diet with Iams. The hedgehogs, including those raised on Science Diet, picked out the Iams and ignored the Science Diet.
Dinner hours are at night. Nursing, pregnant, or possibly pregnant females get 1/3 cup Iams; weanlings, all Iams they can snarf; six weeks to three months (or until they look a wee portly), 1/3 cup Iams; grown males getting pudgy around the edges, one tablespoon.
We once used their food dishes to scoop Iams out for them. Never again. One pin cushion got gastro enteritis -- they ALL got it. Keep the food sterile. We keep it in Rubbermaid® pitchers for freshness and sanitary considerations.
We check bottles and automatic watering system valves (we touch the valve to get a little squirt of water) at mealtime.
We put the divided food dish next to the entrance of the Igloo® when our females gave birth until the day one pushed hers into the PVC connecting pipe and couldn't get back to her babies.

Playing Doctor -- CHECK WITH YOURS FIRST
When we discover diarrhea, or green fecal matter, or green smudges on anything, or green shavings, or green anything, we give the hedgehog in question 2-3 drops of "Spectam® Scour-Halt™ (Spectinomycin)" Anti-infective oral solution for pig scours (from veterinarians, maybe a feed store or two, veterinary supply stores), twice a day. One person in leather gloves gets the hog with tummy flat on the palm of one hand, little armpits against index finger, little hog legs dangling over or gripping said finger, then the other hand sweeps the quills back from the disgruntled little face while the medicating person swoops in with a bent-open bobby pin, which is pressed gently against the hog upper palate and insinuated into the mouth then levered against the tongue until the mouth opens enough to get the medicine dropper inside. Drop the medicine in slowly. Or empty the food dish and leave one piece of Iams doused in the stuff in the morning, then another dose on a smaller than usual evening meal. We give Spectinomycin for a few days after the greens go away. During this time we replace the automatic-watering system with a bottle containing Pedialyte®, Infalyte™, or a generic equivalent. Don't be stingy in administering the Pedialyte® -- an open bottle is only good for 48 hours.
We give Pedialyte® to hogs that are listless, sad, not eating, sick, or losing weight.
Upon introducing a new acupuncture kit to the family we administer a teeny-tiny drop of Ivomec® Pour-on (at your favorite feed store). Using a 1/2 cc insulin syringe with the needle removed (medical supply stores near you), we pull the rubber stopper back an infinitesimal amount, then place a drop on the skin between the shoulder blades.
A day or two after Ivomecing the new kid on the block, we spray it with a Pyrethrin-based flea spray (we use Adams™ Flea Spray from the feed store) and repeat the application every two weeks. We've made the mistake of spraying a hog in its tube, while it's curled up, and spraying then putting it back in its cage where it runs back into its tube. We won't do that again. On the back only, close to the skin, away from the eyes. We weigh/play/whatever with it until it is dry before we let it run into its tube again.
We don't Ivomec and flea spray on the same day.

Ma Cheri, won't you come up to see my etchings?
When it comes to breeding -- his place or hers? We send her to his bachelor lair. At her place there are so many different things to smell and explore, so many new things to capture his attention. At his place, there's only one thing to smell and explore, one new thing to capture his attention -- HER! It may not make much difference, BUT on our very first breeding round we had 100% success rate with the bachelor lair vs. 50% at her apartment. Plus we don't have to mess with capping off the tube to the Igloo®. Just take the tube out of Casanova's condo and pop in the babe.

Makin' whoopee
The "standard" breeding schedule is 48 hours together, 48 hours apart four times. Our own personal preference (with a 1-1 male-female ratio) is 48/48 seven times (or until eight days before the first possible due date). Unless the male has other females he must service, what else is he going to do with his time? Needlepoint? Might as well increase the chances for a pregnancy.
We laminated our gestation and weaning schedule and hung it next to our calendar. Colored pens coordinating with our hedgehogs's colors mark each tryst, the due date of each tryst, the eight day cut off before the first POSSIBLE due date (five days before the expected date), the birth date and number of offspring, and the day the wee cockleburrs should be weaned.

I Write The Songs
One breeder plays the radio so a human's bumping, shuffling, working, talking noise won't disturb the hedgehogs as much. However, if his choice of music irritated them as much as it irritated me, I feel unspeakably sorry for his captive audience. But it was a good idea. Playing wind and bird songs didn't help ours. So we played National Public Radio for them -- many different humans talking and shuffling papers -- exactly what we wanted them to become accustomed to. The instant huffing and puffing when we entered Hedgehog Colonial Manor ceased.
All things considered, we recommend N.P.R., but. . .a biology student at Southwestern Adventist College, once did an experiment with mice and music. While certain music dampened rodent spirits or had no appreciable effects, when Barry Manilow crooned, mice appetites for food and sex soared. Hmm. Could this be the magic touch for hedgehog trysts? Everybody! -- "Her name was Lola, she was a hedgehog. . ."

Exercise! Exercise! C'mon everybody do your exercise!
We bought a hamster exercise wheel and covered the running surface with contact paper on the inside and outside of the wheel since hedgehog feet can't seem to handle the grill surface as well as a hamster's. Only one hedgehog really took to it and he LOVED it. He is also our most insatiable Babehound. There might be a link and it might be well worth the time to actively encourage male pincushions to be prickly Jack La Lanes.

I see spots! Blue/purple spots!
Is she pregnant? "Look for nipples." Nipples? Sure we could see nipples. But we could see nipples on the virgins! Did Goldie Hawn Melba Toast nipples count or only Dolly Parton Land o' Leche nipples? Palpate her tummy. We'd never palpated anything in our lives! Frustration reigned.
Then breeder Ann Dahl told us to lay them tummy up on the palms of our hands and wait for them to stretch out and try to turn over (if they won't uncurl, we use a blow dryer on warm -- or look away and pretend we don't care if they open up or not). The tummy may or may not look plumper or bulgy, but we look for a purplish/bluish spot/streak about where the human diaphragm would be. One of our mommas didn't have a purplish/bluish spot, but exhibited another prenatal symptom -- she couldn't curl up completely.

It's not easy being green,
We paint neck quills with tacky colored nail polish for individual identification, and place a dab of non-toxic pink or blue acrylic paint (Palmer paint pots is our choice) above the tail for gender.
Weanlings get their fathers' colors (males sometimes produce multiple litters and the siblings must not be paired -- never pair same colors). We identify by sire and gender at five weeks. We did it at ten days once and the marks simply disappeared. Either mamacita cleaned the marks off (the paint was dry when we returned them); or the quills expanded(?); or they added more quills and the colored ones got lost in the crowd(?).

I'm gonna wash that stuff right outa my cage
Fecal matter and damp shavings should be removed from cages daily; or you can clean all the shavings out twice a week.
Once a week we dump all the soiled shavings into a container, and spray the inside of each cage with non-toxic "Earth Rite®" All Purpose cleaner (available at some Wal-Marts, or write Benckiser Consumer Products Inc., Danbury, CT 06810).
"Earth Rite" contains vinegar concentrate, vegetable derivatives, and natural cleaners from wheat and corn, all of which sound less corrosive than the ammonia in other cleaners. We don't want our sweeties breathing ammonia, chlorine, or other toxic substances. The biggest caution on the bottle is it might (repeat might) irritate eyes on direct contact -- so we don't spray it in anybody's eyes. In a pinch, we use vinegar.
After spraying the insides, we take a paper towel (made from recycled paper) or a toilet bristle brush and give it a quick scrub and a final wipe. For single hedgehogs, we put in a one gallon Rubbermaid® pitcherful of pine, NOT cedar, shavings. For cages slated to house romantic rendezvous during the week, 2 pitcherfuls; weanling slumber parties, 2.5 pitcherfuls. Cedar shavings can be toxic. Pine shavings are available at feed stores, but we've found the huge bags to be unwieldy and often filled with pine dust. Wal- Mart sells manageable bags of pine SHAVINGS, but get them while the getting's good. They go fast. We mulch our garden with the soiled shavings.
Each hedgehog has its favorite spot to piddle and at each favorite spot, we sprinkle a little baking soda before we spread the shavings over top to keep odor down. Baking soda can be taken internally so we're not concerned about them self-anointing with it. Some hedgehogs manage to whizz out the front grill so we sprinkle more baking soda in the 28-quart Rubbermaid® "Keepers™" lid where the potent stuff may accumulate.
During cleaning, we contain the residentially-challenged hedgehog by setting his or her capped PVC tube on its end on a shelf or the floor (on tiptoe, a hedgehog can just see over the edge).