I have found about 3 good resources for bioactive hedgehog habitats, which I think is an indication of how rare these are (and why they need more documentation). Tyler Rugge and Cameron Clare both have YouTube videos on the setup of their bioactive hedgehog habitats as well as follow-up videos to discuss observations about the performance of their habitats and lessons learned months later. Both cite the Hedgehogs of Asgard website as their own sources of information, so perhaps this is the origin point for information on this topic (in the English language, at least).
Our previous C&C cage had 12″ square panels, which provided 12″ high walls, which we attached 5″ high corrugated plastic panels to to prevent our hedge from climbing, squeezing through, or possibly somehow injuring herself on the wire mesh of the C&C panels. This seemed to work well and our hedgehog never climbed out of her cage unless we forgot to put her Carolina Storm bucket wheel in her cage to run on. This happened twice in her lifetime, and was the only two times we left her wheel out of her cage overnight, so while she COULD escape, she never seemed to want to if she had a wheel to run on.
After some extensive research, I came up with the following criteria for the vivarium I wanted to assemble:
- 8 or more square feet of floor space. Hedgehogs run A LOT and don’t climb much. Other sources also recommend this as a minimum size for a vivarium large enough to support a mammal such as a hedgehog.
- A secure enclosure to prevent the escape of vivarium fauna (including the hedgehog). The vivarium will be populated with worms, insects, and isopods, which will consume the hedgehog’s waste and promote a healthy natural environment. These critters are referred to as the “clean up crew” or simply abbreviated to CUC. I plan to raise all these creatures myself as part of the project, and don’t want them easily escaping to creep all over my house or shirk their duties in cleaning up after my hedgehog. These critters will also provide food and exercise for my hedgehog as they hunt for and feast on them.
- Attractive and easy to see what’s going on in the vivarium while providing good air circulation. I want to see my hedgehog and show them off to guests to educate my friends and anyone else interested in meeting a hedgehog or seeing a large-ish bioactive vivarium in action. This should help me engage with it as much as possible and ensure the vivarium and my hedgehog are thriving.
To these ends, I’m purchasing a Zoo Med Low Boy 50 gallon aquarium to act as the vivarium enclosure. This provides the requisite 2′ x 4′ floorspace as well as ensuring none of the CUC can escape from the vivarium. As it’s an aquarium, it is also of course water tight, which should ensure that no water damage is caused from leaks from the habitat. I’ve always loved aquariums and they clearly provide good visibility. I like the idea of the vivarium being as open as possible to encourage air circulation. The low walls and open top should ensure no air circulation problems can occur.
My one reservation about this as the vivarium are the very low walls. I may need extend them if my hedgehog is ambitious, as with 10″ high wall with an expectation for 3-4″ of soil leaves only 6-7″ between the ground and the top of the terrarium. If this is needed, I’m considering some sort of aquarium-C&C cage hybrid, but we’ll see if this is needed at all or not. The aquarium comes with two screen panels that will cover the top, but as the Carolina Thunder Bucket Wheel stands a full 12″ tall I know at least one of these won’t be used.
I also considered several other “reptile” cages that were near-perfect matches, but just didn’t provide the full 8 square feet of floor space that I was hoping for (most topped out at about 6 square feet).
Not surprisingly, the aquarium was a special order item, so I ordered one which is to arrive this week. I expect to begin setting it up soon after, so it has at least a couple of months to acclimate before introducing a hedgehog to the vivarium.