New hog recruit

Good morning all. I am a new member to the forum and a very new owner of an APH. We collected our wee fella on Saturday so are still very much in the 'settling in' huffing & balling phase! My name is Jackie and I live with my other half and 2 children in Surrey. Along with the new boy Brent, we also have 3 gerbils so fairly small numbers of the menagerie front, mainly due to the husband and son having allergies to furry critters.
Nice to 'meet' you all, and hopefully you will have some advice for me to help the hog settle in.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

There is lots of useful information in the stickies in each section which you should find helpful.

Anything else, please shout out xx

Aha! At last...another Southerner!!!
Hello Jackie and welcome!
I am Sheila...I did have 5 hoggles at one point...but sadly just the other day we lost our last one ...but I am living my Prickly life through the Forum! Yay!!!
I have 3 chickens...Gregory, Dora and Upsy Daisy!
2 cats...well that is what they are supposed to be...but one is a Twerp!...their names...Jeremy and Brian the Twerp!

A warm welcome to our happy family love.

Hugs
JO xx

Thank you Nellie. I have been reading through the forum with interest and there are indeed many invaluable articles and pieces of advice which is great for a hedgehog novice + Tayer is kindly sorting me out with a Storm wheel when the next batch arrives from the US.  
Early days with the little man yet. Not too keen on un-balling although he's assuming more of a flat belly down spiky form now rather than a tight ball so I guess that's progress of sorts!  Not been eating too much yet either which I assume is normal - although will readily attack a mealworm if in striking distance!  but I'm conscious I don't want to give him too many mealworms so he doesn't rely on them as his only food source. He's got the same cat crunchies that he had at the breeders and cooked chicken. Any tips? I assume something must be going in as there's 'stuff' coming out the other end although not mega amounts!

Sheila. Sorry to hear that you are now hogless although sounds like your other animals keep you occupied!  Plenty of opportunity on here to live the hog-life vicariously and pass on your experiences over the years of hog ownership.
Are southerners a 'rarity' on the forum? I don't know anyone else locally that has an APH and when I've shown them a picture they assume I found him and/or are keeping him in the garden. Doh!

Hi Jo too.

And many thanks for your kind welcome all ...

Storm wheels are the best - my hoggies love them.

My tip is to get your new arrival into a routine - as I have quite a few hoggies (19) they have to fit a routine that works for me, so they are used to coming out earlier than probably a lot of other hoggies, mine start play time at 5 and then they rotate through the evening.

I find that having a routine helps them to settle in and get used to new smells and sounds that are in their new environment.

hiya hun... welcome to the forum....the wheel order has been sent out so hopefully in the next week or so should be here.

I have 13 hedgehogs...3 rats and 2 dogs..

there are hog shows one this weekend that Helen is sorting out at her end of town...and one 6th dec in Birmingham, lots of hog owners..

Thanks Nellie. Blimey 19! Just the one will do for me ...
I have been getting him out at the same time each night (when the kids have gone to bed so it's slightly less hectic! - will get them in on the act and start to bring him out earlier once he's settled in a bit more) and doing the same things - basically watching telly with him on my lap! He's then left on his own when we go to bed to explore his viv and then he's all tucked up in bed for the day when we all appear again in the morning.

Hi Tayer. Thanks for update on the wheel order. Hog shows sound like they could be a bit damaging on the bank account as I'm sure there are lots of tempting 'toys' on display! Maybe when the bank account's recovered after hog setup costs and Christmas which I'm woefully underprepared for!

Hello and welcome to the forum

Hello!

Welcome to the forum! My name is Melanie. Always pleased to see a new member on here. We are a friendly bunch, so if you have any questions don't hesitate in asking!

I have to warn you, you have said just the one will do for you, but I also said that too. Hedgehogs are very addictive, haha! When I picked up my gorgeous little man Hercules, I thought he would be my one and only. I have 10 at the moment and I'm currently waiting for another pairing to happen so I can have another girl!!!

I own my own mini zoo and I'm totally ruled by
10 APH
2 corn snakes
A lesser tenrec
A tortoise
A cat
A tank full of fish and snails
and finally a rather grumpy teenage son!

Hi Melanie.  Many thanks for your welcome message. Whilst I do love pretty much any animal with whiskers,  regrettably, if I want to keep hold of the husband (which I do!!! - and even he is sporting 'whiskers' at the moment for Movember), then   our smallish brood will have to do.  

My grumpy son is up for adoption as well - any takers?

I could swap you for a 5 year old who threw a whopper of a paddy this evening??

One son.....aged 25!!!!
AND
4 teenaged (one nearly - Ratty on 18th December) daughters are all ready to go!!!!
AND
1 Dweeb....he goes first!!!

No thank you for the five year old with a whopper of a paddy - been there, done that and not on my list of to do again!

Sheila, you do make me laugh, does Mark know he is a dweeb - or even better, the full title?

Count my lucky stars I have no dweeb in my life - shall stick to hoggies, doggies and grumpy son!

At the moment love we have 1 APH, 4 Hermies (Hermit Crabs) one house bun, two guinea pigs, a kitty and a tarantula spider. I have kept many insects, reptiles and amphibians in the past but I don't have the room anymore. I am getting a couple of little hissing cockroaches as soon as I can afford a good home for them.

It amazes me these days when I see kiddies in a temper, I would not have dared when I was little and I suspect I am not the only one.

Hugs
JO xx

Hi & welcome to the forum. It is extremely useful to have people to talk to especially with the first hog.
I have my own personal mini zoo which is my idea of paradise though I would like to have room for a pygmy goat.... maybe one day.
I have 2 hedgies (Gus Gus and Tiana), 4 gerbils, 1 hamster, 3 cats, 3 dogs, 6 guinea pigs, 3 chinchillas, 3 continental giant rabbits, 1 Flemish giant rabbit, 1 netherland dwarf, 10 bantams (silkies, pekings and sabreboots) - these live at my house.
Also have Kai, my horse who is stabled nearby and one donkey which is kept at my mums.

Nicky

Ha....do you know how many times I have nearly called him Dweeb!!!!!!

I dare you too Sheila

Me too - double dare you Sheila x