Handling your new pet
|
Bringing Home Your New Hedgehog
Hedgehogs have poor eyesight, but an amazing sense of smell and hearing. One of the best ways for your new hedgehog to get to know you is through scent and sound. Here are a few helpful hints for familiarizing your new pet to you:
- Use scent to make friends: Sleep an old t-shirt, or cut up a swatch of fleece and put it in a pocket all day. Then cut it up and put it in your hedgie's igloo. Your hedgehog will become used to your scent and associate it with snuggle time.
- Talk to your hedgehog in a calm gentle tone. Hearing your voice regularly, especially when getting fed and watered, will help him realize you are not a threat and even associate your voice with positive interactions. In addition you will be less likely to startle your hedgehog awake. Startling hedgehogs usually triggers a defensive ball.
What about those quills?
Your task is to communicate to your hedgehog that you are not a threat, and it's ok to relax his guard. This is best accomplished in your hand. Until he is completely accustomed to you, trying to pet your hedgehog while he is in his cage can be counter productive. His first instinct is to raise his quills when something randomly touches his body.
Once your hedgie is in your hands, put him right side up and allow him to relax and begin to explore your scent and feel. This can take anywhere from a few seconds for friendly well socialized animals, to five or more minutes for shier timid individuals. Patience goes a long way with these tiny creatures. Once your hedgie begins to relax and explore, you can begin to interact with your pet more. If you are wearing gloves, this is a good time to remove one or both of them.
Petting while in your hand is the best way to get your hedgehog use to this strange human custom. Nothing in the wild pets a hedgehog. Use your whole hand and begin with the head just below the quill line and gently stroke the entire top of the body from front to back as if you are encouraging him to lay down his quills. If you jerk, pat, or poke, you can expect the same reaction from your hedgie. Over time as the two of you become more comfortable with one another, you can begin to explore belly, ear, and chin rubs.
Remember that even the tamest sweetest hedgie can be startled by loud noises or sudden unexpected movements. His instantaneous response is a protective spikey ball that can startle and poke us. This rapid transformation often startles the inexperienced hedgie handler, and hedgies have been accidentally dropped. For this reason it is recommended that you are sitting when handling your hedgie so he doesn't have far to fall. It is also recommended that all new inexperienced people, especially children, are sitting when handling hedgies for the first time.
- Pick up your hedgie in a calm gentle manner using both hands like a scoop shovel. If your hedgie startles, huffles, or hops don't get discouraged. Just continue to pick him up and try not to startle or jerk your hands in response. If you startle or jerk away in response to his quills, he will usually continue or escalate the defensive behavior.
- It's ok to pick up bedding along with your hedgie to protect your hands. The motion of gently rocking the hedgehog back and forth in your hands to remove bedding will often help settle him. Some people are more sensitive to hedgie quills than others.
- I recommend using your bare hands, but if the quills are too uncomfortable it's ok to use gloves until you both get to know each other better.
Once your hedgie is in your hands, put him right side up and allow him to relax and begin to explore your scent and feel. This can take anywhere from a few seconds for friendly well socialized animals, to five or more minutes for shier timid individuals. Patience goes a long way with these tiny creatures. Once your hedgie begins to relax and explore, you can begin to interact with your pet more. If you are wearing gloves, this is a good time to remove one or both of them.
Petting while in your hand is the best way to get your hedgehog use to this strange human custom. Nothing in the wild pets a hedgehog. Use your whole hand and begin with the head just below the quill line and gently stroke the entire top of the body from front to back as if you are encouraging him to lay down his quills. If you jerk, pat, or poke, you can expect the same reaction from your hedgie. Over time as the two of you become more comfortable with one another, you can begin to explore belly, ear, and chin rubs.
Remember that even the tamest sweetest hedgie can be startled by loud noises or sudden unexpected movements. His instantaneous response is a protective spikey ball that can startle and poke us. This rapid transformation often startles the inexperienced hedgie handler, and hedgies have been accidentally dropped. For this reason it is recommended that you are sitting when handling your hedgie so he doesn't have far to fall. It is also recommended that all new inexperienced people, especially children, are sitting when handling hedgies for the first time.
Self AnointingAnointing is strange, but normal hedgehog behavior. When a hedgehog encounters a new or unusual scent in his environment, he may lick or even taste the strange item. Then he will create a thick foamy saliva and often smear it across the quills on his back. We don't know exactly why hedgies anoint, but there are many speculations. One of the primary guesses is that they do this to mask their scent.
|
|
If a hedgehog has become a habitual biter, then it will take a bit more work and patience to overcome the problem. At this point you might want to wear gloves or use a towel to protect your hands, especially when you first remove the hedgehog from its habitat. Since the glove protects your hand, you should be able to show no response to a bite. Try to make the hedgie’s experience as positive as possible while he is being handled. Treats are always a great distraction and something the hedgie will come to associate with handling. Mealworms are usually a favorite. Allow the hedgie to hide in the folds of a fleece blanket on your lap where he can feel safe and secure while being exposed to your scent, sound, and touch. Handle your hedgie regularly and place a swatch of fleece in his habitat that is swathed in your scent. Once you feel confident that your hedgie is enjoying his outings, you can start removing the gloves during handling.