As you may or may not know, I am really allergic to hedgehogs. This makes caring for them a bit tricky as I can't have them inside the house. I cope ok once they are out in a hutch or a pen but they invariably need to be inside for at least 3-4 weeks before they can move outside.
Recently I was put on some medication for my newly diagnosed Lupus and found that it settled my reactions down enough for me to have a hoggie or two; Sonny and Chance in this instance, in the spare room as long as the door was kept closed at all times. Unfortunately I developed side effects from the medication and had to come off it which meant that hoggies inside was again out of the question.
So .... I got to thinking about how to solve this dilemma, developed a plan and shortly thereafter - with impeccable timing, Hector appeared on the scene. Although a fosterer had been found, I fell in love with him and decided to 'keep him on', using him as a 'test subject' for my new plan.
Said plan was to accomodate 1-2 hoggies in the garage. Now, this isn't an ideal scenario as the garage isn't insulated and it is winter so keeping the hogs warm enough was going to be the biggest issue. However, I have two electric heatpads and decided it was worth seeing if these along with lots of fleece bedding in the hospital boxes would be enough to keep the hogs warm enough.
So since his arrival two weeks ago, Hector has been living out in the garage with a heatpad plugged in 24/7 and has been absolutely fine, other than being rather 'creative' with rearranging the heatpad and his bedding. You see, he likes to sleep under the heatpad thank you very much, but I have won the heatpad wars and finally figured out how to thwart his best efforts to dig the pad up and toss his bedding into his waterbowl.
This weekend I declared the two week trial period a success as I've been coping well with him in the house - but not in the house, so set about making the arrangement more permanent. To date the hospital box has been on the floor (on top of a corkboard for insulation) which isn't very convenient as it chews up precious floor space and also means I have to bend over a lot to clean/feed etc which is really bad for my heart condition so a solution was needed ...
As I stood in the garage pondering the issue, my gaze lit upon the big black set of shelves and I got to wondering if the hospital boxes would fit in them. A quick measure up soon confirmed that they would, so I got busy emptying the shelves and setting up the new 'Hoggie Hospital Highrise'. There is room for nearly everything I need on the shelves - hospital boxes, food, cleaning kit/caddy (which I also take outside to clean the hutches with), food stash and all of the bedding - towels, fleeces, old sheets and heatpads. The rest - medications etc, are stored and prepared inside the house.
Because I like efficiency and being organised the Highrise ticks many boxes for me as my ultimate goal is to streamline my hog setup by centralising it so that everything needed is on hand or within easy reach. To complete the hospital area the only other requirement was a 'weigh station' which needed to be adjacent to the Highrise and elevated to reduce bending. Now, it just so happens that next to the Highrise is our Triton Sawbench which is only rarely used so Hey Presto it is now the weigh station! On it I have the scales and a box of gloves. Behind them is the hog bucket where the hog resides whilst I am cleaning out its hospital box. When I am ready to clean the hospital box, I sit it on top of the railings and in front of the bucket. This puts the box above the scales and gloves so that I don't have to move anything! Efficiency ROCKS!
Recently I was put on some medication for my newly diagnosed Lupus and found that it settled my reactions down enough for me to have a hoggie or two; Sonny and Chance in this instance, in the spare room as long as the door was kept closed at all times. Unfortunately I developed side effects from the medication and had to come off it which meant that hoggies inside was again out of the question.
So .... I got to thinking about how to solve this dilemma, developed a plan and shortly thereafter - with impeccable timing, Hector appeared on the scene. Although a fosterer had been found, I fell in love with him and decided to 'keep him on', using him as a 'test subject' for my new plan.
Said plan was to accomodate 1-2 hoggies in the garage. Now, this isn't an ideal scenario as the garage isn't insulated and it is winter so keeping the hogs warm enough was going to be the biggest issue. However, I have two electric heatpads and decided it was worth seeing if these along with lots of fleece bedding in the hospital boxes would be enough to keep the hogs warm enough.
So since his arrival two weeks ago, Hector has been living out in the garage with a heatpad plugged in 24/7 and has been absolutely fine, other than being rather 'creative' with rearranging the heatpad and his bedding. You see, he likes to sleep under the heatpad thank you very much, but I have won the heatpad wars and finally figured out how to thwart his best efforts to dig the pad up and toss his bedding into his waterbowl. This weekend I declared the two week trial period a success as I've been coping well with him in the house - but not in the house, so set about making the arrangement more permanent. To date the hospital box has been on the floor (on top of a corkboard for insulation) which isn't very convenient as it chews up precious floor space and also means I have to bend over a lot to clean/feed etc which is really bad for my heart condition so a solution was needed ...
As I stood in the garage pondering the issue, my gaze lit upon the big black set of shelves and I got to wondering if the hospital boxes would fit in them. A quick measure up soon confirmed that they would, so I got busy emptying the shelves and setting up the new 'Hoggie Hospital Highrise'. There is room for nearly everything I need on the shelves - hospital boxes, food, cleaning kit/caddy (which I also take outside to clean the hutches with), food stash and all of the bedding - towels, fleeces, old sheets and heatpads. The rest - medications etc, are stored and prepared inside the house.
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