HEDGEHOGS

Hedgehogs are small insectivores looking much like an upsidedown oval bowl, that is covered with sharp quills, with an adorable little face and ears peeking out from one end. Neither legs nor tail are very visible during normal movement. Hedgehogs roll into a ball of projecting spines when threatened, leaving themselves all but invulnerable to any natural predator.

Hedgehogs do have soft fur on their faces and bellies, and so are not entirely prickly. Some hedgehogs have what appears to be a narrow reverse Mohawk hairdo (a narrow furrow that runs lengthwise).

It isn't a scar, they haven't lost quills. It is natural and helps the quills point forward without getting crossed when they bristle.
-- Katherine Long

Running in size from about 6 to 8 inches in length, mature African Pigmy hedgehogs look for all the world to be little armoured tanks being lead around by one of the busiest noses in the animal kingdom.

Hedgehogs tend to be quite nervous in their temperament, and will generally duck their head down, accompanied by rapid snuffling or snorting. This presents a very prickly forehead to any possible enemies. The more used to you (and awake) a hedgehog is, the less of this ducking and snuffling will occur.

The following is largely verbatim from Nathan Tenny and gives a good detailed description of pet hedgehogs:

The "African pigmy or dwarf hedgehog" that's appeared on the pet market is a Central African species, also called the white-bellied hedgehog, and possibly the same as the Cape hedgehog or Pruner's hedgehog. Hedgehog taxonomy is kind of a mess, and they have multiple Latin names; the leader now seems to be _Erinaceus albiventris_, but one also sees _Atelerix albiventris_ and _Atelerix pruneri_. (I think that Pruner's hedgehog is now considered to be a separate species, but it hasn't always been.)

There may be some overlap with _Erinaceus frontalis_ as well, and just to complicate matters, older works refer to the genus     _Atelerix_ as _Aethechinus_. The African hedgehog is related to the European hedgehog, but is much smaller (and more tropical, of course).

Grzimek's Animal Encyclopedia says that they weigh about 200-220 grams (about seven ounces); this is for wild animals. Captives seem to be much larger; the smallest of our three hedgehogs is 250 g and growing, and our large male weighs about 400-450 g when he isn't overweight.   (However, all our animals have come from exceptionally large bloodlines.) Adults are about six to eight inches long, depending on how far they're stretching when you measure.

Hedgehogs are basically nocturnal; they may wake up a couple of times during the day to wander around their enclosures, get a snack or a drink of water, and so on, but they really get active late at night (ours wake up between 10 PM and midnight, but that may be because that's when we turn the lights off).

Whether they have wonderful personalities depends on your taste. Your prospective hedgehog will sleep all day, and, while it may well become quite sociable when awake, it probably will not let you pick it up when it wants to sleep. (Can you blame it? More to the point, can you argue with it?) We've never met an African hedgehog that would bite aggressively, though there are rumours of such. (Note that all the Africans we've known have been not only captive-bred but hand-raised from infancy; we make no guarantees about imports or non-socialised animals.) They do explore with their mouths, so if you smell interesting, you may get licked or nipped; they have fairly sharp teeth (a row of short pegs with points, but nothing drastic).

As pets go, hedgehogs are generally not cuddly lap-fungus type pets, but if you want something that's a little different, not too big, and definitely adorable, then maybe a hedgehog is for you. If, however, you have been fascinated by hedgehogs for over a dozen years, like I have, there is just no question.

Among their pros and cons, you should keep in mind the nocturnal nature of hedgehogs. If you are a night-owl, or often find yourself up and around during the dark hours, a hedgehog can be a very welcome companion. On the other hand if you jump out of bed early in the morning and fade with the sun, you and your hedgehog may never see one another.

Wayne Clendenin sends along the following advice on whether hedgehogs bite and other useful advice on hedgehog as pets:

"[Hedgehogs] seldom bite, it's not a usual trait. The short teeth and
dog-like mouth don't cause any damage, unlike a hamster or gerbil bite. We have found that a pup will usually lick before tasting a finger or hand...but we also have a real mean female. Maybe she's overly protective, but she bites without the warning lick. (She also spent her first 6 months unhandled in a pet shop). We usually don't recommend this as pets for kids under school age...those spines can be sharp to tender little hands. I've never had a pup "nip" or even an adult "chomp"...break the skin...but, I wouldn't bet on that with a very young child."

One suggestion you can try for hedgehogs that nip or bite is to blow into their face either when they do it or, if you can tell, when they are about to. This doesn't hurt the hedgehog any, but they don't like it and it can have the desired effect of stopping the bite and being gentle punishment.

Hedgehogs are also quite low maintenance. There's no need to take them out for a walk around the block in the middle of a raging blizzard, or head off to the park, pooper-scooper in hand, during a heat wave, with a hedgehog. Their small, but not too small, size also makes for a good compromise.

Then there's always the one really effective decision factor: hedgehogs are irresistibly CUTE!
Are hedgehogs wild animals?

As Nathan Tenny pointed out [3.1], the hedgehogs available as pets are a captive bred African species. These have been bred in captivity for over a dozen years. As such, they should not be confused with the European variety that are essentially wild animals (and are protected in most European countries). It is somewhat unlikely that a pet hedgehog could survive very long in the wild, especially in North America, which seems to be where they are most popular. Needless to say, finding out whether or not they can is an experiment best left to theory, rather than practice.

What's the average hedgehog lifespan?

African pigmy hedgehogs can live from 6-10 years in captivity.

I'm allergic to cats. Will I be allergic to hedgehogs?

The short answer here is, probably not.

The main reason for being allergic to cats is because of the dander, not the hair. When a cat 'bathes' itself, it deposits a coating of saliva over its fur. It is this coating turned to an extremely fine dust that is the cause of most allergies to cats. While hedgehogs do not generally do this (other than when self-anointing [7.1]), it is not inconceivable that a person could be allergic to almost any animal.

I would suggest that if you have severe allergies to cats (or any other animal), you find a friend who has hedgehogs and visit them where they keep their hedgehogs to see whether any reaction occurs. Note: if your allergic reactions are serious enough, you may want to discuss it with a doctor first, and/or take precautions in case a reaction occurs.

Do hedgehogs smell?
People who have had experience with small pet rodents, or with ferrets seem to ask this question most often. Hedgehogs do not have scent glands like ferrets, and as long as their cage or pen is kept reasonably clean there is generally no odour at all. Most (some?) hedgehogs can be trained to use a litter box, making the task of keeping the cage clean that much easier.

While hedgehogs do generally have little in the way of odour, what you feed them can affect whether or not their droppings smell. Generally the more "wet" food you feed a hedgehog, the more they will smell, although brands and types of food can have as great an effect as just wet versus dry foods. If you are finding your hedgehog pen tends to smell, try changing the blend of food he is getting, or just clean house on him a bit more often.
Do hedgehogs have tails?

Yes, but barely. Most hedgehogs have only a pointed little nub of tail that spends almost all of its time hidden under the quills. This leaves the poor hedgehog looking for all the world like he doesn't have a tail.

Here are a few interesting words from Katherine Long on hedgehog tails:

My hhog, Ambergris, uses her tail - it isn't a useless appendage.
She uses it as a pusher when she is trying to go underneath stuff.
Strange and wondrous.
Hedgehog monikers -- what do I call a hedgehog?

I can think of a lot of things here -- especially when Velcro has closed up on my fingers, again! However I will try to keep this civil. This section is more for amusement than much else, and to keep track of some of the ways people refer to our prickly little friends. Probably the most popular one I've seen of late is "hedgies" with "hhog" running a close second. I would argue that the first is probably more pronounceable but they both pale in comparison to the following from Cathy Johnson-Delaney who contentedly referred to her FussGus as a "Tribble from Hell."

With the media's love of ridiculus catchy names, it probably comes as no surprise that the term "Yuppie Puppy" has begun to appear in some places (including the NAHA?!?!) applied to hedgehogs.

While I'm on the subject, baby hedgehogs are usually referred to as
"hoglets" or "hedgehoglets", or more frequently as "aren't they so CUTE!" The term piglet seems to be used quite frequently in Europe, and sometimes elsewhere as well.

I don't know if an official term exists for a group of hedgehogs (other than maybe a "contradiction-in-terms" since hedgehogs don't tend to live in groups. The official name for a group of hogs is a "drift" but I question if that applies to hedgehogs. Most breeders appear to refer to their hedgehogs as a "herd" but I have to admit the thought of trying to "herd" hedgehogs strikes me as somewhat ridiculous to say the least!
4. *** Getting a pet hedgehog ***

Which types/colours are there? Male or female? What age?

There are generally three varieties of hedgehogs that are available
as pets: African dwarf or pigmy (white-bellied) hedgehogs, Pruner's (Cape) hedgehogs, and Egyptian (long-eared) hedgehogs.

Of these three, the first two are similar in appearance and temperament. African pigmy and Pruner's hedgehogs tend to be very well behaved, and will rarely, if ever, nip an owner, but like with any animal, given the right (or wrong) circumstances, it can happen. African pigmy hedgehogs tend to have a whitish or light coloured face, while Pruner's hedgehogs have a darker or masked face.

Egyptian or long-eared hedgehogs are, however, known for having a somewhat more aggressive personality, and will frequently nip or bite, as suggested here by Nathan Tenny:

[Cerebus] (one of Nathan's troupe -- ed.) is an Egyptian hedgehog (_Hemiechinus auritus_). The [care instructions in this FAQ also] apply to him, but his personality is rather different. There aren't many on the market as yet, but they're distinguishable by their loooong ears. They are extremely cute animals, very active and seemingly rather intelligent, but they *really* bite, and are not   recommended as cuddly pets! We hand-raised Cerebus from a very young age, playing with him a lot in hopes of making him comfortable with us, but to no avail; as he's reached adulthood, being comfortable has come to mean that he's not scared to bite us. Oops.

Regarding colour, most hedgehogs are covered with white and grey or brown ticked quills (sometimes called salt and pepper coloured, or more officially, agouti), however, there are some hedgehogs known as "snowflakes" available.   These are generally all white, or almost all white, but do not possess the albino gene. Albino hedgehogs also exist, but apparently are rarely healthy and robust. Prospective hedgehog owners should beware of large areas of white quills amongst what looks like normal colouration as this can indicate an animal that was injured at some point (quills that regrow in injury areas tend to be all white). Not all hedgehogs showing white patches have necessarily been injured; there are some colour patterns starting to show up involving white patches, but this is a point of caution.

I recently received the following list of colours and descriptions from Christi Cantrell that she aquired from a breeder in Texas:

    Salt and Pepper (normal colouring)
    Snowflakes      (75% white)
    Whites               (90% white)
    Cinnamons      (light brown)
    Creams           (light beige/ivory, ruby eyes)

It seems pretty clear that diversity in hedgehog colours is beginning to show up. While the last on the list (Creams) certainly seem to be a variety of albino (which wasn't actually listed, so they may be the same, just under a different name), the rest appear to be actual colouration differences.

As far as personality goes, females are generally friendlier than males, and will become familiar with a new owner more quickly. This generally means their quills will be laid back smoother, and they will have less of a tendancey to roll into a ball. Females also tend to be quite a bit more expensive, both because of their friendliness, and because of their ability to produce more hedgehogs. Males on the other hand do tend to self-anoint more often than females, and this amazing feat of dexterity is something not to be missed!

Snowflakes are generally considered to be somewhat more high-strung in temperament than the more common salt and pepper hedgehogs. From what I have been able to determine, this is not directly related to the colour, but is more a side-effect of the inbreeding done to propagate the snowflake colouring. In any case, temperament is going to depend largely on the breeding, and on the type and amount of handling, rather than the exact colouration.

It appears there is another way to create a different colour hedgehog ... while not quite in the same genre as the colourations above, one of the people I've been in touch with on the net (whose name I will withhold to avoid potential embarassment) passed along a story to me. This kind hearted hedgehog addict fed her little herd of hedgies a treat of strained carrots (baby food) one night along with their normal food. The hedgehogs seemed to find this new item interesting and proceeded to munch on it, then, as hedgehogs will do, they all self anointed. My friend thinking nothing of it, other than that hedgehogs don't really like strained carrots. In the morning, however, when the light wasn't quite so dim, my friend (who is probably a lifelong enemy by now) discovered an entire small herd of very orange hedgehogs! There it is folks -- the latest in hedgehog fashion -- the Orange Hedgehog. I have since learned from friends and relatives with small children, that few things come close to strained carrots in staining ability, so I can well imagine that the effect of this was pretty amazing. I know I'll probably be blacklisted for life for adding this, but it was much too good to resist! ;)

The best age to acquire a pet hedgehog is shortly after they have been weaned (after about 6-8 weeks of age). Hedgehogs are completely independent by this stage, and adapt to new owners much more readily when young. This doesn't mean that an older hedgehog won't become used to you and friendly towards you, it will just take a little longer and a little more patience.

Although hedgehogs can breed as early as 6-8 weeks, they should not be bred (especially females) until at least 6 months of age, and preferably about 8+ months, when they become fully mature, both physically and mentally. Hedgehogs that have litters too early may not become good mothers, or may experience a shorter lifespan as a result.
How many should I get?

Hedgehogs are solitary creatures, who do not generally get along well together, and in fact only like to be close to one another during mating. Keeping a male within vision of a mother with hoglets (even if in separate enclosures) will often result in the babies being eaten. If you do want more than one, be sure you provide plenty of privacy for each.

It is possible to keep a number of females together in one enclosure, as long as adequate space is provided, and as long as none are pregnant. Keeping males together will almost certainly result in fights (gee, that almost sounds like elementary school...).

    Of course, opposite-sex pairs are a definite no-no unless you want babies.    -- Nathan Tenny
How can I introduce my hedgehog to my (dog/cat/bird/fish/rabbit/etc.) with the least trouble?

In what little experience I've had, I have seen no problem with interaction between hedgehogs and other pets -- I have four cats (Kit & Caboodle, Oreo, and Snickers) in addition to Velcro and Sprocket, my hedgehogs. Velcro thinks the cats would make nice mealtime treats and chases them whenever possible, while Sprocket takes little notice of the cats, other than an occasional duck of her head and a snuffling session. For their part, the cats have only shown peaceful curiosity towards the hedgehogs. The occasional very careful paw will reach out and almost, but not quite touch either one. The cats seem to know that these snuffling little armoured tanks are actually animated pincushions that would hurt if they really connected. For his part, Velcro has actually shoved the largest cat (16+ lbs!) out of the way with nothing more than a slightly indignant look from the cat.

Aside from this, I imagine that it will really depend on the personality of your other pet(s). I would expect more aggressive cats/dogs to try nipping at or swatting at a new hedgehog (an action that is unlikely to be repeated by any animal with the ability to learn from its mistakes). Hedgehogs are admirably well protected -- the worry is "how safe are your other pets?"

As long as you supervise the first few encounters between your hedgehog and your other pets, there should be no problem in either direction. The only time there should be cause for worry is if one or more of your other pets could potentially be food in the eyes of your hedgehog (such as pet mealworms?).