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Hedgehogs
Primarily nocturnal, hedgehogs have spines on their back for protection. Some types of hedgehogs have been domesticated to keep as pets.
1,084 Questions
Hedgehogs are naturally chubby animals. But if you think your hedgie is leaning towards the heavy side, contact your vet. Hedgehog weight loss is a big problem in hedgie ownership. Owners think their hedgie is too fat and feed them not enough food. If your hedgie is losing weight to fast, contact your vet immediately.
For any questions, contact me at for-regi@hotmail.com. They don't call me Hedgie Girl for nothing!@
Hedgie Girl
No, when a leaf falls off a plant, and is decomposing,(depending on the time it fell off and how long it has been lying there) it releases chemicals which can be fatal to a hedgehog.
Can hedgehogs and chinchillas live together?
Chinchillas in the wild usally live in packs with around 100 chinchillas per Pack. In captivity they may live together but when you put them together you have to go slow. There are many ways of doing this, one of the ways I have found most useful is to put there cages next to each other and then slowly put them together and watch them play if they fight separate them imediently. Do this a few times and your chins should get along. I'm not positive about degus.
Where can you buy a pet hedgehog?
The only good place to buy a hedgehog is from a reputable breeder. In the related links, there are two lists put up. The hedgehog breeders alliance, and the HHC breeders list. The second has not been updated, but does have some quality breeders that are USDA certified.
Please keep in mind that just because a breeder is USDA certified, DOES NOT MAKE THEM A GOOD BREEDER.
Look to see that the breeder you are looking at -
- Is a part of the HBA, the HWS, or is USDA certified, or otherwise engaged in the hedgehog community
- All of their animals, including their hoglets, have at least a 5 generation pedigree FREE of WHS.
- Is knowledgeable about hedgehogs - do your research first!
- Doesn't practice inbreeding or breeding of rescued or sub-par animals with unknown backgrounds.
- Their breeding animals are healthy and of mature age when bred (6 month minimum for females, 4-5 month minimum for males)
- Their hoglets are well socialized before they go to new homes. This means the hoglets are handled at least by 3 weeks of age and each hoglet is handled EVERY SINGLE DAY.
- Their hoglets aren't weaned prematurely so that they can leave earlier. (Hedgies should be weaned at about 6 weeks and good breeders will keep babies until about 7 weeks to make sure they're doing good on their own and ready to go home).
- They don't advertise hoglets for specialty holiday sales or on Craigslist.
- They don't sell to pet stores or dealers.
See the links below for lists of hedgehog breeders - but do your research on all of them before buying. You may also find breeders not listed here by completing a internet search of your area via google, bing, etc.
Though I do not recommend it for first time owners, you can rescue a hedgehog.
Never buy hedgehogs or hoglets from a pet store!Hoglets from pet stores are sub par (poorly bred, poorly socialized, poorly fed, poorly housed, sickly) 99.99% of the time. Do NOT encourage bad breeders and the pet stores themselves by buying these animals. You will pay 10 times more in the long run buying a bad animal then you will buying a good one in the first place!
Consideration on the cost of owning a hedgehog -A pedigreed, healthy, and well socialized hedgehog from a reputable breeder will cost you $150-300 in the American market. If you can't afford the hedgehog itself, you probably cannot afford proper care, which includes -
- Appropriate diet. This includes high-end cat food (holistic, etc) or specialty hedgehog food like spikes delite. This must be supplemented with "treats" and insects - most commonly meal worms, preferably live ones, and select fresh fruits and vegetables.
- Fresh bedding every week.
- Veterinary care. This includes at least one vet visit every year; this usually has to be found with a exotic specialist, as not many small animal vets have any hedgie experience, which will equate to sub-par care and especially handling. This means more money. Not only this, but any vet care you do need is usually much more expensive due to the fact it's very, very hard to treat hedgehogs for most ailments.
- Adequate housing - guinea pig/rabbit cage. The bigger the better. Anything smaller than the largest plastic tote you can find is not adequate; totes must have the lids kept off of them, and have lots of ventilation.
- Adequate stimulation - this includes wheels (solid ones only, mesh cannot be used due to the face their toenails get caught in them), places to hide, etc - this is not optional, at all.
- Temperature controlled room. Hedgehogs need a temperature
- Travel expenses. Reputable breeders are few and far between, and you can end up paying a lot of travel expenses - $200 for shipping, traveling 200 miles or more one way to pick up a hedgehog.
All in all, this venture can be very, very expensive.
There are also links to pages on hedgie care.What animals feed on hedgehogs?
The things that eat hedgehogs are foxes, badgers, and, in Ancient Rome, humans.
Hedgehogs have two main predators. These include the badger, in England and the UK, and also the European Eagle Owl.
If a heart beats 72 times per minute how many times would it beat in 75 years?
you do, 72 x 60= 4,320 (for minutes in an hour) 4,320 x 24 =103,680 (for hours in the day) 103,680 x 365 = 37,843,200 for days in the year, then multiply that by 75 = 2838240000 x
What plants attracts hedgehogs?
Hedgehogs aren't attracted to any specific plants. If you want to attract them to your garden, there are a few things you can do, however, including leaving an area untidy (hedgehogs need plenty of leaves and twigs to build nests and hibernaculums) and not using chemicals such as slug pellets and insecticides.
Hedgehogs are not blind. Like most mammals, they're born blind, but only for a few days.
What senses do hedgehogs have?
Hearing abilities: better than human (especially at higher frequencies), range of 125Hz - 33kHz (suspected even to 50kHz), Human range: 20Hz - 20kHz
Visual perception: color vision, 340 degree range of vision, poor depth perception, 33 images per second (humans see 22)
Smelling abilities: highly developed, somewhere between that of a human and that of a dog
Tasting abilities: among the animals (like rabbits) with the greatest amounts of taste buds: about 17000 (humans have about 9000, cats 473)
Muzzles sensors: six rows of irregularly aligned vibrissae (whiskers) for navigation in the dark, width measurings, etc.
Should hedgehogs be kept on their own?
No. Unless they are a mating pair. If they are two females they might tolerate each other, they might not. DO NOT keep males in the same cage. There is a 95% chance they will fight over territroy, food, water, the wheel, and whatever else they can!
How do you keep feral hogs out of the garden?
see what they eat if they eat that stuff in your garden than grow something else but if u think that is too much just build a privacy fence around it but do not put a roof because the plants need the light
How old do you have to be to have a pygmy hedgehog?
Well first of all the word pygmy means = one of a small people or thing in Africa ranging just under five feet in height. (DWARF ) , and second of all the hedgehog is simple an animal with a sharp spines mixed all because the animal can roll itself into a spiny ball. ( something like the Porcupine ).
Where does the hedgehog make its home for winter?
The hedgehog makes it home in burrows in the ground even deeper then normal and the hedgehogs gather and keep to stay warm just like any other animal would do.
Hedgehogs can live on dry cat food just fine, but you should feed it mealworms or insects occasionally to give it extra nutrients. They will usually eat at night, so have their food and water filled regularly.
How do mother hedgehogs feed their babies?
Hedgehogs are mammals, when they are first born they nurse from the mother, then the mother will eventually introduce their normal diet.
Hedgehogs can be social and friendly with their owners, but wary of strangers. Hedgehogs have a good sense of smell and will learn to recognise their owners scent and become comfortable with it. It all depends on how much you handle them. often hedgehogs are curled up into a spiny ball and will hiss and jump slightly when touched at first before they know who is touching them. best way to pick up a hedgehog is to slide your flat hand under the bedding that the hedgehog is on and lift them up. Usually they will then uncurl and snif at your hands, and if they know you will then become comfortable realizing your their mum/dad. As far as being cuddly, well Hedgehogs sometimes will snuggle into your sleeves or coats when your holding them, but they are prickly and can hurt if you get pricked.
Gerbils can talk with their bodies. When they look like they are kissing they are saying hello. Also when gerbils thump their hind legs it can be telling other gerbils there is danger, it's excited or it wants to mate.
They hibernate during the winter. In most cases the males enter hibernation first (and arouse first during the spring), with the females following shortly afterwards. Most hedgehogs will have started hibernation by Christmas, although it varies from place-to-place and can be heavily influenced by the weather/climate and by any supplemental food available to them. In warmer climates, such as those in New Zealand, hedgehogs may forego hibernation altogether and remain active all year.
Do hedgehogs really hibernate?
no, if it is a pet hedgehog it should not hybernate
"Pet hedgehogs need to be kept indoors in the warm and should never be allowed to hibernate as this can be dangerous for domesticated hedgehogs."
see http://www.hedgehogs.org/pet-hedgehog.htm for further details
Are hedgehogs legal in Florida?
Hedgehogs are illegal in the states of Arizona (without permits), California, Georgia (with the exception of licensed breeders), Hawaii, Maine, and Pennsylvania.
Cities where they are illegal -
- The 5 Boroughs of New York City
- Douglas County, Nebraska.
- Windsor, Ontario
- Langley, British Columbia
Can you keep a wild hedgehog as a pet?
No - it's illegal most places to keep wild animals as pets. Not to mention, it's highly dangerous for you and will most likely kill the hedgehog due to stress.
A wild animal can never be a pet because they are not domesticated.
Wild hedgehogs will eat just about any insect they can get their hands on.
Domesticated hedgies can be fed mealworms, crickets, silk worms, wax worms, and repti-worms. Farm-raised ONLY, no wild-caught insects may be fed to domesticated hedgehogs!
