Hedgehogs!

[BettaBoyz]

=) i'm interested in buying one of the little buggers to add to my menagerie of bitties, which include (aside from the fish) a ferret, a cat and a dog

anyone have any experience with hedgehogs?

 

[Volleyball15]

I found this-





Diet Your hedgehog should be fed a base diet should consist of a good quality cat food or hedgehog food. Whenever possible supplement with their natural diet of insects.


Disposition You will want to choose a single hedgehog since they are solitary and don’t normally like to share a cage. Never buy a male and female to be placed in the same cage unless you intend to breed! Hedgehogs are ready to breed as early as 8 weeks and females should never be bred before 5 months, so be careful!

Sexing Hedgehogs
Both male and female hedgehogs make equally good pets so this decision is entirely your own. You can readily tell a boy from a girl. If the hedgehog is tame and friendly, gently roll it over and look at the area closest to the tail. A female's genitals are immediately next to the anus, while the male's penis sheath, or "belly button" is farther up the tummy. The distance between the anus and belly button will be approximately 1/2 inch on a six week old male hoglet. However, this distance can increase to as much as an inch or more once it fully matures.

What Kind of Housing Will He Require?
Your hedgehog will require a secure home since they are very good climbers and can easily escape from open-topped cages that are designed for animals such as guinea pigs and rabbits. If you do use a cage with an open top, it must have slippery sides that are at least 12" high and a floor space of at least l6” x 24”. A 20 gallon aquarium is ideal. It must also have good circulation and be well lit but not exposed to direct sunlight during the daytime.

Cage Placement
Place your hedgehogs new home in a comfortable, warm, well lit area that is free of drafts and direct sunlight. They are most comfortable at temperatures of between 65-80 degrees Fahrenheit. (18-27 degrees Celsius) The basic rule of thumb is, if you are comfortable without a sweater, they will do just fine.

BEDDING Aspen, Pine or White shavings (NOT CEDAR!) are by far the best choice for bedding material. Crushed corn cob makes a relatively good bedding and is safe to use for females and adults, but it SHOULD NOT be used for young male hedgehogs. Place approximately two inches of bedding material evenly over the floor of the cage.
FOOD BOWL The food bowl needs to be fairly wide and heavy to prevent your pet from dumping out its contents and using it as a toy. Small ceramic crocks that are designed for small rodents are perfect food dishes for hedgehogs. The width or diameter of the dish can be 3 to 6 inches and it should be no more than 3 inches high.

WATER BOTTLE Water bottles are preferred over open dishes. Hedgehogs love to fill open water dishes with shavings and this prevents them from getting enough water to drink.
HIDING PLACE This can be as simple as a piece of 4 inch PVC pipe, an old plastic pitcher, or an old shoe box with a hole cut in one end. (this should be replaced every 2 to 3 weeks).

LITTER BOX Your pet will use a litter box if you provide it with one. A small box that is 2” deep x 6” x 9”, half filled with dust free cat litter does very nicely. Non-clumping cat litter is the safest choice.

TOYS

If you choose, you can also add a few toys for your hedgehog to play with. An exercise wheel is an excellent addition and will help him to stay healthy and trim. Although a guinea pig wheel will suffice, there are now specially designed Hedgehog Wheels available from many pet suppliers. These are safer for your pet since they have a solid or mesh-covered running surface rather than the more common metal bars which they sometimes get their long legs caught in.

Care and Management
When you bring you new hedgehog home, place him in his new cage and let him have absolute privacy for at least a day. You may pick him up and hold him once or twice for a few minutes the first day, but remember, it will probably be more like a week before he begins to feel at home.
Baby hedgehogs need quite a bit of sleep the first month after they come home with you, so don't be too concerned if he sleeps a lot at first.





Hope it helps!!









I have a question for you all- Am I aloud to copy and paste stuff??

 

[juliethegr8t]

Heya BettaBoyz - My family had a hedgehog for a long time, feel free to ask anything that I don't mention or that you're curious about. I'll just tell ya what we did with our boy.

He was kept in a critter carrier - like the kind you'd use to transport a cat to the vet. About 1/3 in the front of his tank was bedded with "Harmony" which is a natural cat "litter" product which comes in pellet form. The rest was pine shavings.

He had a little dish in front full of dry cat food that was kept filled all the time and he could snack whenever he wanted. In the evening (or just once a day) he was fed a mixture of wet cat food and cottage cheese.

In his cage he had about a 8-10 inch section of large plastic pipe that he'd often sleep in. They like to have a place to hide if they feel threatened.

My sister took "Zach" out usually at night since he was most active in the evening and at night - they're nocturnal. The older he got, the more tame he got and the easier to handle. At first though, he would often roll into a prickly ball and huffle whenever we tried to pick him up - so we would use a spatula to get him out of his cage.

Our hedgie used to live in my sister's room, and eventually was moved downstairs to the family room because of her allergies. We found that when he was in a more high-traffic area, he became much more friendly and active and we could take him out anytime during the day to play.

Sadly, we don't have Zach anymore, he was put to sleep due to mouth cancer. I really must advise you to do a TON of research before getting a hedgehog - they're not super easy pets, though they can be fun.

 

[spanky_pp_]

in england we dont have hedgehogs for sale, they roam freely round here. At the mom i live in a city called bristol in the south, and i have a small city garden, no foxes birbs or hedgehogs.
Im soon to be moving to the countryside where i will have a massive two acre garden. Which will help me with my garden design and horticulture.
I know its naughty, but i intend to go around my new neighbourhood and collect a few wondering hedgehogs. Ill have to plan it so, its not a time when they are hibernating, or have young... i cant wait.

 

[nikkikl]

I'm also in the UK. Like Spanky said, we have them roaming around here and don't keep them as pets - just friendly encouragement into the garden to eat the slugs!. I have zillions of them in my garden nicking my cats dinner every evening cheeky things but they are wonderful. It's wierd thinking of them kept as pets!

 

[juliethegr8t]

In Europe you guys have a totally different kind of hedgehog - I find it very interesting. The ones there are much larger and look a bit different in coloring and such. In fact, here the common ones are known as "African Pgymy Hedgehogs". So maybe it won't seem quite as weird to you now - they're not your slug-eating backyard hedgehogs we're keeping in cages.