Telling one from the other.

It is often assumed that the big, 'purposeful' hedgehogs are males; and they might be, but you can't be certain, any more that you can tell the sexes from the shape of the head. People who assert that it's a he or a 'she' are fooling themselves unless they check. Sexing hedgehogs is easy, the difficult bit is getting them to uncurl; that's the problem. Gently lift a hunched hedgehog, sliding your two hands under it, one from each side. Then shuffle and move the hedgehog so that it hopefully uncurls a little to put its feet on to your hands to steady itself. Continue the gentle agitation, drawing your hands apart so that is front feet are on one hand and back feet on the other. After a while the hedgehog should be fully extended. Its front end can be lifted, perhaps pressing its back against your own tummy at the same time. You can then carefully peep at is underside to compare with the diagrams below.

At all times, move slowly and gently, keep your hands and fingers flat. If you are clumsy, the hedgehog will roll up, trapping your fingers inside, and that's painful. When you get the hang of it, 'hedgehog charming' is easy, although the occasional individual (and sometimes pregnant ones) may obstinately refuse to uncurl.

In adult male hedgehogs the penis appears as a large opening about where you would expect the navel to be: about 2" (5cm) in front of the anus. In females the two openings are close together (only about 2cm apart or less) and near to the base of the tail. Baby hedgehogs are more difficult to sex, especially when they are only a couple of months old, but at this age is hardly matters.

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nice post xx

great post . was watching my resident wildie last night , had to go out and have a look thought it had patch on its back . went out and just could nt make anything out as they are so dark . went to stroke its back to try and feel and it set off at an amazing speed and made me jump lol seems ok and was back feeding in a few minutes . wont be trying to sex it anytime soon