Hedgehog care | jennsexotics

Hedgehog Care Sheet

Acclimating to Daytime Activity

The average hedgehog does not mind daytime handling as long as it is given sufficient time to thoroughly wake up. People often expect an immediate positive response to being picked up. Be sure to give your hedgehog plenty of time to "get the sleep out of its eyes" before you attempt to pet or handle your hedgehog.
Hedgehogs may gradually become acclimated to daytime activity through routine handling and feeding earlier in the day. However, some may accept this more readily than others

Behavior Changes

It is common and normal for new owners to experience changes in hedgehog behavior between the time they purchase their hedgehog and the time a hedgehog is settled in its new home.
This change can occur for many reasons and by understanding these reasons you can help your hedgehog transition smoothly into your home.
With patience and proper handling you and your new hedgie will be fast friends.

New surroundings

First, keep in mind your hedgehog is leaving familiar surroundings.
It is leaving its cage-mates and home and entering into a strange new world.
A change in environment and associated affects is often called "shipping stress".
Animals all react differently to change. Differences in stress levels between animals are even noted at the time of weaning.

Handling Techniques

Owner confidence can range from no fear at all from getting prickled to someone who is basically scared to death of his or her new pet.
Remember that hedgehogs have great emotion detection. If you are nervous then your hedgehog is likely to be nervous. They are also very smell oriented, and will often only open for those they know.
Proper handling is something that is learned and perfected with practice.

Quilling

The quilling process is likely to already have started or will soon start when you take home a baby hedgehog.
Hedgehogs can have a range of pain and discomfort throughout this process similar to a child and teething.
Try to minimize petting if your hedgehog huffs and puffs which are the first signs of discomfort. Instead, continue to bond with your hedgehog by allowing the hedgehog to explore you by crawling on you and to get to know your scent by sleeping on you.

Normal Behavior

Hedgehogs are quite active in the wild and running laps around a cage can be great forms of exercise. They can run several miles each night on their wheels.
Hedgehogs can run in circles or even get elaborate and run in a figure eight.
We've seen athletic moms bowl over toddler babies headed for the food dish when they've gotten in her way!
Some hedgehogs may pace at the front of their cage in anticipation of exercise or feeding time. This is normal behavior as long as it stops once it is fed or removed from its cage.

Need for Bathing

Many hedgehogs seldom have a need for a bath. Once or twice a year for these hedgehogs will suffice. When bathing, toothbrushes are used to help clean their quills and feet.
Other hedgehogs may insist on self-anointing with anything and everything. White or lighter color hedgehogs tend to self-anoint with food or poop in attempt to blend in better with their environment. Obviously these hedgehogs may need more frequent baths than those who do not self anoint.
Finally some hedgehogs need their "poop boots" from messy wheel habits washed and cleaned.

Aggression

Hedgehogs are not aggressive by nature.
They do not seek out to attack in an offensive manner when they feel threatened.
Instead, hedgehogs are shy and can easily feel threatened when confronted with something new and different in their environment.
Their spines are used as defense only when they are scared, nervous, or feel they have reason to protect themselves.

In Captivity

Hedgehogs in captivity also can go into periods of partial-hibernation.
Indoor room temperatures that are too cool can induce a false hibernation attempt.
These hibernation attempts for the pet hedgehog are very dangerous because your hedgehog is likely to simply waste away and die.
Hedgehogs living in captivity should be kept in a controlled environment to help prevent hibernation. A proper temperature is between 72 – 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
They live on average 3-5 years in captivity. Now with proper diet they are living on average 5-8 years.
They should be fed a high quality hedgehog diet, and also be provide live insects such as mealworms. DO NOT feed cat food!! It will only cause them to become obese and shorten their life span. Leave the cat food to the cats :) With that said not all hedgie foods are a good choice, you want to look for a high protien ( over 30% ) and a low fat ( no higher than 15% ) food. My favorite is Vita Exotic Hedgehog Food, it gives a great variety of protiens, has very low fat content and has nice small pieces, easy for baby hedgies to eat.

Scent Marking & Other Nasty Habits

Hedgehogs do not spray or scent-mark their territory like other animals.
Males do not have a stronger odor than females.

Housing

Your hedgehog will require a flat bottom cage that is as large as possible. Hedgehogs should be given as large of a cage as possible, the more space the better. Rabbit and guinea pig cages with wire coated tops and solid floors make excellent cages as they provide plenty of floor space and proper ventilation. A good cage is one which has a solid floor to prevent leg injuries, walls high enough that a hedgehog cannot climb out, provides good ventilation and can be well lit but is not exposed to direct sunlight during the daytime.

Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome (W.H.S.)

Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome is a progressive disease, which over time attacks the gray matter of the brain and causes the muscle tissue to deteriorate. Visual symptoms include muscle atrophy and shaking, often accompanied by loss of appetite and general lethargy. Typically the atrophy becomes apparent in the hindquarters before graduating to other parts of the body. The disease exists in wild and captive populations and is most often associated with African and European Hedgehogs.

At this time, there is not a guaranteed way to prevent W.H.S. and there are no known tests that can be done on living hedgehogs and to-date there are still no cures for it. The only way to confirm W.H.S. is after the animal dies. A necropsy is the only way you can find out for sure if a hedgehog has succumbed to W.H.S.

It is not as common as one might think and far too often W.H.S. is suspected and self diagnosed by people who are not qualified to make the diagnosis.

There is a lot of speculation regarding W.H.S.. Some believe it has a viral component, others believe it is an inherited disease similar to diseases such as heart disease, some cancers, diabetes etc. Some speculate that both parents need to carry the gene or maybe just one of them needs to carry it, in order for it to be passed on. Some people feel that it could be related to diet, pollution, etc., but the reality is that no one really knows for sure.

In some cases W.H.S. may show up in a litter by affecting one sibling but not other littermates, even though it has never been suspected or diagnosed in previous generations.