Help Need Hedgehog Info.

[FizzGiggs_Mommy]

I have just inherated a pigmee hedgehog I no nothing about them!!!! Please any help you can give me will be aprecated!!!!

[luckies4me]

What do you need to know? I have owned hedgies off and on for about ten years and currently am owned by two, named Speedy and Flower. You can see Flower in my avitar.

You need to keep them warm. If not they can try to hybernate and end up dying. If you notice them wobbly or shaking when they walk you need to warm them up, and fast. Some people use a human heating blanket on the lowest setting under their cage during the winter.

Food- Nutro or Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul, and 8and1 hedgie food. Also mealworms, waxworms, and crickets. Make sure not to give them too many waxworms as they have a lot of fat in them. You can also give them hardboiled eggs, chicken, fish, pastas, oatmeal, apples, pears, and ground beef. I prefer not to give them ground beef as it contains a lot of fat, and prefer the leaner meats over beef.

Bedding- Aspen or Carefresh bedding. Not pine or cedar. These beddings are harmful.

Caging, at least a 20 gallon tank sized cage. Some people have multi story cages. I keep mine in Superpet multi floor ferret cages, that have solid ramps that are safe for their feet.

If you want some really good info you can check out Chins and Quills, as there are a lot of experienced people there.

http://www.chins-n-quills.com/forums/index.php?

Good luck, and if you have any, pictures are in order!

[tikeyas_mom]

hedgies are great pets, they slepp during the day and are up mostly at night. they like to stay warm so it must have a heat lamp or a cloth to cuddle up in . they eat cat food. um they can drink out of a water bottle or out of a bowl. I have always wanted one of though lil guys, but never had enough money to buy or adopt one . you are very lucky.

Maybe go onto www.google.ca, and look up hedgehog info

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by tikeyas_mom
hedgies are great pets, they slepp during the day and are up mostly at night. they like to stay warm so it must have a heat lamp or a cloth to cuddle up in . they eat cat food. um they can drink out of a water bottle or out of a bowl

Water bottles are preferred because hedgies tend to use their water bowls as a litter box. A bowl can also collect pieces of bedding and it needs to be changed frequently. I had to use a bowl for Flower for the first couple of weeks until she learned how to use a water bottle, and make sure it's one they can actually get water out of. The Critter Canteens seem to be too hard for a hedgie to get water out of.

Mine are up during the day and night. They adjust to your schedule pretty well, but they are up pretty much all night long. You may want to give them some toys and hidey areas such as large igloos, or cuddle pouches. They also like solid surfice running wheels. My hedgies could not live without a wheel. They love their wheels! They do have baby blankets which I throw in there with them. Do not use hamster fluff or anything similar to that as it can wrap around their feet or teeth.

Jynelle, they don't just eat cat food. They have very specific dietary needs and need a good quality kitten, hedgehog or cat food such as Nutro, or Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul. Felidae is a great food as well, better than Nutro but pretty much the same as Chicken Soup. Innova is good too. You just need to watch them to make sure they do not get fat as they are prone to fatty liver disease.

They also tend to foam at the mouth, called anting or annointing. It's unsure why exactly they do this, but it's everytime they smell something different. They will make a spit and coat their body with it, so don't think they have rabies or anything like that lol. Most people think they do this to coat their body with the smell of the new object, so as to ward off predators and smell like their surroundings.

[rachnjam27]

Okay..okay..

luckies gave some good advice on hibernation. If you find your hedgehog less active than normal and it's stomach is cold, put it in your shirt and onto your stomach. The warmth should wake it. You don't want to shock the body with heat.

As for food, it is all up to you. Since hedgehogs do not look good on coats, not much dietary research has been done on them. They need foods with high protein and low fat. The first 5 ingredients should contain chicken and/or turkey with no corn products. It should not be preserved in ethoxyquin, as it can be fatal to them. (Don't use Iams, it causes liver cancer and is preserved in ethoxyquin).
Nutro is a fairly decent food, but the 2 foods that I use and recommend are Chicken Soup For The Cat Lover's Soul and Royal Canin Slim 37 or 38. Adding a little hedgehog food doesn't hurt (No Vitacrap). I add 8n1, simply because it is made specifically for hedgehogs.
They get a lot of protein from mealworms, but they should be limited to a few a day; they are quite fatty. They can have as many crickets as they want. Most of the treats luckies has listed are good for hedgehogs. All meat should be cooked! I cannot stress that enough. I only give treats that have some nutritional value. A feeder goldfish every once in a while doesn't hurt either

Aspen and Carefresh are good for bedding, but not all pine is harmful. Just make sure the pine is kiln dried You can also buy a vellux blanket and use that as bedding. Just throw it in the washer everytime you clean the cage. (You may want to litter train it before using vellux, either that or, some people get up every morning and pick up the stools).

I do not recommend using an aquarium, as it does not allow enough ventilation for them. Multi-floored cages are also a big NO! I have heard several horror stories about hedgehogs falling off of ramps/ledges and dying. They cannot jump!
A lot of people use sterlite tubes. Cheap and effective.
Another good caging idea are the storage cubes that many people use for rabbits/guinea pigs. I just recently switched to them and am very satisfied. My girl has a palace now They are cheap and you can make the cage as big as you want. I was using 3 sterlite tubs, connected with pvc pipes, as her cage.

I think that water bowls are preferred. It is much more similar to a water hole in the wild and hedgies have been known to bite the end of the water bottle and break their teeth. Yes, a bowl does collect some pieces of bedding material and SOME hedgehogs may use it as a litter dish occassionally, but the water should be changed frequently anyway, right?

Most hedgehogs are not like other pets and will not adjust to your schedule. They are strictly nocturnal. Hedgebags are good idea for their cage, a wheel also. They love to play with toilet paper tubes (cut down the middle, so their head will not get stuck), cat balls with bells, little toy trucks, you name it. Never put in anything that they can ingest. PVC pipes are also a good idea.

Many hedgehog owners do just feed cat foods, as it fits their dietary needs best. I think that using a mix as their staple diet is a much better choice. I don't recommend kitten foods and there are not many quality hedgehog foods out there. Again, I suggest Chicken Soup and Royal Canin. I don't think Felidae matches up even close to Chicken Soup

Annointing is a very weird thing to see! My girl likes to annoint with Doublemint or Winterfresh gum lol. Only some hedgehogs annoint, so don't think it's odd if yours doesn't. Oh, and I gotta say, I've never heard it called anting.

I also recommend that you go to CnQ.
Good luck!

[luckies4me]

To each their own........


I don't see small multi story shelves as a problem, that's all I ever used. The quills are there for two reasons, for protection from predators and for protection when they fall. They quills cushion them. Plus my hedgies have never fallen off one of their levels. We all know hedgies love to climb, so even if the cage isn't multi story the risk of falling is there anyway.

Wouldn't use Iams anyway, since they are a horribe horrible company! Where did you hear Ethoxyquin was fatal for hedgies? Has any tests been done on this? I don't use anything preserved with that for any of my animals.

Still woundn't use a dish, it's way too digusting and I don't want to risk them crapping in it while I'm at work. That's just grose!

Aquariums are fine if they are big. They get as much ventilation as the sterilite tubes do. Their the same thing, just one is plastic and one is glass. What's the difference?

When I said they don't eat just cat food, I meant that they need a high quality cat food, not just any old brand off the shelf. As far as not adjusting to a schedule, most hedgehogs seem to do that pretty well. Granted they will sleep during the day yes, but if you want to take them out, most don't hesitate, at least none that I have ever owned, nor any of my friends. In fact, Speedy the first was a totally day hedgie. He wanted nothing to do with the night whatsoever, besides sleep!


Have your read the ingredients for Felidae? Um, Chicken Soup and Felidae have the same ingredients lol, and so does Innova, which is far better than Nutro! Trust me, the vet I work with went to school for 2 extra years just to study nutrition.

And yes most text books refer to it as "anting" or annointing. Not all have heard anting before, but that doesn't mean people don't use that word. Now I feel Royal Canin sucks, YUCK! But again, to each their own.

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by rachnjam27


All meat should be cooked! I cannot stress that enough. I only give treats that have some nutritional value. A feeder goldfish every once in a while doesn't hurt either

Oh yes, cook it! LOL! Thanks Jamie, lol. That's really important. A goldfish eh? Do they really like that? Ooh it must be so slimey, hehe. I think I'll stick to a slither of salmon instead, seems healthier.

[rachnjam27]

Quills are not there for cushion. I'd imagine that falling on their quills feels like they are being stabbed. And say they fell on their head? It's happened. It's not likely that a hedgehog will roll into a ball in midair, either. Only some hedgehogs enjoy climbing, my girl never climbs and is not the least bit interested in it.
If you are using bar cages, there is a slight risk of falling also. However, it is not a very steep fall and the chances of injury are slim. Their limbs are simply too short to support all of their weight and they wouldn't be able to get up too far. You shouldn't use a tall cage anyway, it's length and width that counts.

I am against aquariums, no matter the size. I forgot to mention that when using sterlite tubs, it is wise to cut holes in the sides. Something that is not easily done with aquariums.

Granted they will sleep during the day yes, but if you want to take them out, most don't hesitate, at least none that I have ever owned, nor any of my friends.

MOST hedgehogs don't come out without at least a small "fight". It's in their nature. They are easily startled, as well. You can't say that Flower and Speedy haven't huffed at times when you opened the cage door or put your hands in..?

Chicken Soup, Innova, and Felidae do not contain the same ingredients. I consider Innova Lite to be a better feed than Felidae AND Nutro. I forgot to mention that you should try to use the Lite versions cat foods, if possible. The fat content should not be more than 10%.
Royal Canin may not be the best for cats and dogs, but I consider it a wise choice for a hedgehogs' mix!

Oh, and I still prefer water bowls.

[luckies4me]

Ok lol. To each their own I said. I don't really care Jamie. As long as mine are loved and taken care of, that's all that matters. They seem to be very healthy right now, so I'm not worried about it.