so you guys need to post more picts of your hedgehogs here to promote more...

hahaha, i'm considering getting a second one these days, i can't get enough of these cute little fellas...

can't post any of mine since i don't have a camera and i have no idea how to upload. wait till i can afford a camera, hahaha... but i think it's gonna be hard, cuz even if i have the money i'll buy another hedgehog...

well, my hedgehog usually poops all over the place except his own hidebox, i don't plan to litter train it anymore...

i was cleaning his cage today so i put him onto the wheel, and he immediately pooped there. when i placed him back into his cage, he went to the center and pee all over the place, then arrogantly walked back to his hidebox to sleep.

he has one kind of an attitude...

i don't think you'll be able to train your hedgehog NOT to poop in the wheels, because they just love doing so!

easy, you just don't put a wheel in the cage. all problems solved.

i'm a saviour to all of humanity, salute me for solving your problems...

not a lot really, the initial expenses needed to buy the hedgehog (duh...), the cage, wheel, food, and stuff will probably throw you about RM400+- poorer (if you're getting it from a breeder).

keeping the hedgehog don't really require a lot of money, other than getting the food and some occasional treats, plus the bedding, i don't think you'll even need RM20 a month to maintain.

of course, you'll need to occasionally bring it to the vet for health check, other than that i don't think there's any hidden expenses.

um, snake-killers, not snake-eaters, lol...

anyway, i've got a heavy ceramic bowl for water and a wide-based steel bowl for food, he has difficulties in toppling those. but lately he has the penchant to throw food all over the place, always trying to show who's the boss here, sigh...

and nowadays he seems to enjoy taking a bite of my fingers everytime i put my hand near. any explanations? i don't feed him mealworms with hand, and i don't think my fingers have any particular smells too...

haha, good observations there... i've been reading the hedgehog thread for over a month before joining lyn, when i needed to post some questions regarding hedgehogs. i noticed both you and muchan86 posting quite regularly too at that time, just about to get your hedgehogs and bombarding questions... but i only bought a couple of months ago, after about 6 months researching infos about hedgehogs.

anyway, hedgehogs are pretty capable of keeping themselves clean, although they do have some smell which i don't think you can completely bathe away. i only bathe it once every 2-3 weeks, because i'm darn sure he'll get himself dirty again a couple of hours later walking all over with his poop...

yesterday my hedgehog fell asleep on my lap and i couldn't move for a couple of hours, he gets grumpy when i lift him up while he's asleep. always need one hand to cover over his head so it'll be dark, but he took advantage to gimme a good bite and self-annoint (had his shower yesterday) before dozing off. such a cute little bugger...

scratching should be common, provided that they don't do that excessively (which means mites somewhere). mine scratches itself once in a while too, even us humans scratch ourselves right?

cool DIY wheel cim, but won't the bucket surface be too slippery for your hedgehog? later if it runs at top speed and slips, straightaway flings itself across the room, lol...

i don't know if it's just my hedgehog, but he doesn't really eat RC32 kibbles. i'm feeding it a mixture of RC34 kitten and RC Fit32, but most of the time it won't finish the 32. unless he's really hungry perhaps, sometimes he finishes everything on the bowl (like maybe 2-3 times a week).

and does any of your hedgehogs like to throw food all over the place? cuz mine does once in a while, i've no idea why, but i see kibbles scattered everywhere occasionally.

but my hedgehog only throws RC32, i guess he's making a protest there...

sometimes, he threw the kibble into the water bowl, which i placed pretty far from the food bowl. i think he really hates RC32, sigh, i need to go buy another pack of RC34...

hedgehogs are considered adult when they reach 6 months old, if you really plan to breed them it's safest to do it when the female is within 6-18 months old. sometimes you can see male hedgehogs trying to hump the females at the age of 6 months, that's why usually hoglets are separated from their mother when they reach that age so to prevent unwanted inbreeding.

there's a lot more you can learn about hedgehogs in various websites, i don't think by reading us posting informations will be sufficient because we won't be telling details that weren't asked, so chances are you might miss a few important pointers.

and if you're really interested in breeding them, just make sure you're ready for it, there are plenty of things you may not expect to happen, to happen. good luck there mate...

the closest hedgehogs come to dogs are they both belong the the class 'mammalia'. i think you need to find another more reliable info centre.

i'm sure there are plenty of muslim forumers here who keep hedgehogs. i know a few regular posters here are.

yes indeed, if there's anyone who's looking forward to breed hedgehogs, you must make sure that both the parents are of the highest quality and do not show any symptoms of incurable diseases. there's no point in breeding if you get low quality offsprings, this will do more harm than good, the new owners who buy from you will have poor quality hedgehogs, and who knows if he/she plans to breed those?

but i guess most people aren't very aware of the consequences, so perhaps every now and then we will get some friendly reminders here in lyn's hedgehog forum...

'solitary' as in 'not living together with another hedgehog'.

'need attention' as in 'recognize that it has an owner who feeds and takes care of it'.

of course, unless you want to interprete it otherwise that you live the same way as your hedgehog in the toyogo box and paying attention to it that way, i have no qualms...

temperament is something which can be inherited, but the best way to let it recognize you is by putting in a worn shirt of yours into its box for several days and let it get used to your scent. it works for me. i no longer do that, but everytime after a bath my hedgehog will nibble my fingers and self-annoint, and he only does that to me. he doesn't nibble anyone else, but also rarely run to people other than myself. i guess hedgehogs need to associate themselves with a particular scent so that they feel safe when they can smell that scent.

my hedgehog is amazingly good-tempered, anyone can pick him up and play with him, but he will only fall asleep on my laps. that's what we forumers here are referring to the term 'bonding'.

my hedgehog regularly peed and pooped on the floor everytime i took him out of the box in the first month, but after that he never do his business outside his box anymore.

never experienced being peed and pooped at though...

shouldn't be a prob. if anything just slowly scoop him up, he'll usually move his legs to step onto your palm when you slowly move in.

you'll need a bit more effort when facing a grumpy hedgehog. but in any way hedgehogs are usually very laidback and will lower his quills after some time.

i think if you think that giving kitten kibbles isn't good then you'll need to do more homework. mealworms are only fed occasionally as snacks, perhaps 2-3 times a weeks the most (and not many at a time). so far we don't have hedgehog food here in m'sia yet, and the catfoods we've constantly discussed are the most ideal.

you can get mealworms from most aquarium shops, get a 50cents supply and it should last you a long time.


he's probably more comfortable in the dark, hedgehogs feel safer hiding underneath anything. make sure your hidebox is dark enough for him to sleep...

i think it'll eventually become a habit. i made a hidebox for my hedgehog using an ice-cream box (as recommended by hao in the first page) and he sleeps comfortably inside if the lid is placed on top. when i flip over the box (lid removed), he refused to go in and sleeps in any corner.

This post has been edited by livingmonolith: May 29 2008, 06:55 PM

i think it's safe to say everyone here feed their hedgehogs daily. one spoon of kibbles should be enough, and like what mamata said if you're afraid of obesity then put a wheel in the tank, your hedgehog will surely run and poop in it every night.

it's normal for them to come out in the night, mine's extra active after 12, he'll come out and walk around, run on the wheel, finish the food, and poop all over the place. occasionally i'll check on him and turn on the lights, he'll stop whatever he's doing and head straight back to his hidebox. don't worry about it.

i think if you really love the pet you won't find it any hard to take care of it. it's definitely easier to take care compared to dogs or cats, it's just the case of whether you enjoy washing the wheel everyday or not...

if you're asking us i'm sure everyone of us think hedgehogs are great pets to have, so we're a little bit biased here.

@cim,

hope your hedgehogs get well soon, keep us updated on anything regarding their health.

i think that's a preference, since it has just only been introduced to mealworms.

leave them there for a few times, and over time i think it'll know that mealworms are some kind of treats.

mine occasionally eats mealworms during the first few weeks, but since then everytime i put mealworms together with kibbles he'll search for the mealies and gobbles them up first in no time.

i haven't really tried other food like fruits and egg, etc yet. i'm a bit lazy to figure out which type of food my hedgehog likes, because even know he's being a bit too picky on different types of RC catfood, i can't imagine trying to feed him other things, hahaha...