Bedding question?

[Lovebekahh]

So my little one is almost 5 weeks now and she will get so hyper sometimes, I have her in a huge fish tank because she was crawling out of everything else. I have a heating pad on one side and a bunch of old shirts in there she loves to lay on and a piddle pad on one side where she uses the rest room (yes she's potty trained lol) well lately she's been jumping around sprinting from side to side and trying to climb out, is there anything I can put in there that she can play with or like crawl on? Is that safe?

[Lighten-Up]

Are you planning on releasing her when she gets older?

Within a week or so of their eyes opening, they go from their small incubator box to a small cage with branches, but not a tall cage, so that they don't fall when learning to climb.

Once they master climbing, they go into a tall cage to learn better climbing, and this suits their "need" to go up high.

And then at the right age/and outdoor season, they go into an outdoor release cage to get used to the weather and outdoor living sights and sounds.

It's quite a lot of time and money to build these cages, but they need them for their emotional/physical development.

Does that help?

[cava]

This was my first time so I didn't know what they would need either. When they were tiny they were in a cat carrier (before I knew about them getting their heads stuck in the grate door), then I bought the smaller bird cage on Craigslist for $22. It worked great because they could climb and not fall far. (bird cages also have a slide out tray so it was much easier to clean)

Then I moved them up to the black wire cage (was given to me years ago for ferrets) and that worked for a while. They could climb higher and bounce off the sides. But they quickly out grew it.

Finally I bought the large white bird cage online for $75. I would have preferred a double critter nation cage (like the ones my ferrets live in) but I couldn't find one on CL and couldn't afford a new one.

If I did it again, I might only use ONE of the smaller ones and then move to the larger cage.

NOW I am considering what to do with them if the weather dictates I have to overwinter both. I will erect their release cage (4x4x7tall) in the house and then take it down and rebuild it outside (:Cry) or find someone with a critter nation cage and finagle a good price.

I like the idea of a cage compared to an aquarium because of the air flow and they can practice climbing larger stuffed animals but not get out of the top.

Check out CL near you. There always seem to be the smaller bird cages for cheap if you just want to get him out of the aquarium. And I kept the heating pad on under part the bird cage and that's where they snuggled up and slept.

(Please ignore the sheets over the windows in the first photo. We had our hottest most humid year on record here and this room faces the sun set and even with the AC on I was doing everything to keep the heat out. Now they are in front of open windows with tails blowing in the 75 degree breeze)

Click on the sideways pic to see it the right way.

[Nancy in New York]

Not sure what kind of "piddle pads" you are using, but check this link out.
http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?30460-URGENT-PLEASE-READ-Don-t-Use-Dog-Pads-as-Cage-Liners!