What’s My Hedgehog Doing?

Some of the ways hedgehog behave can seem strange, scary or intimidating, but if you understand why they behave so instead, the same behaviors become interesting, quirky and defining.





Huffing/Hissing/Popping





This is usually the first thing people notice. Hedgehogs do all these things when they are scared or threatened. It can be very intimidating for first time owners, but with patience and tenderness your hedgehog will warm up to you. Even when hedgies have been properly socialized they will still huff and puff when woken up, or are exposed to loud noises or quick movements.





To calm your hedgehog you can gently rock it back and forth in your hands or stroke its quills while speaking softly to it.





Quilling





Baby hedgehogs go through something called “quilling”. Essentially this is when they loose their small baby quills and grow adult sized quills. This happens several times when they’re young and can last between 2 - 4 weeks.





๏ First quilling - 4 weeks old


๏ Second quilling - 6 weeks old


๏ Third quilling (when they get their adult color quills) - 9 weeks old


๏ Adult quilling - 12 weeks old





During the quilling process your hedgie will probably be especially grumpy because it is painful for the new quills to break through the skin. You should be gentle when handling your hedgehog during quilling. Do not flip it onto its back or stroke its quills. During bonding time, just allow it to sleep in your lap or walk around on its own. Handling it a lot during quilling will just aggravate its already tender skin and stress out your hedgie.





To help alleviate irritation during quilling you can give your hedgehog a warm bath with oatmeal shampoo added to the water, or you can put some oatmeal into a sock, get it wet and squeeze the runoff into the water and onto your hedgie’s back. The warm water will both soothe the pain and help the new quills to come to the surface of the skin. Just be careful not to ruffle the quills or put a lot of pressure on its back when drying it off. You can use a hairdryer on low if it doesn’t scare your hedgehog.





Biting/Licking/Chewing





Hedgehogs are not rodents, so they do not need to constantly file their teeth down and do not need “chew toys”. Most of the time, if it seems like your hedgehog is chewing on something it’s really just gnashing the object between it’s teeth to mix the taste with its saliva so that it can anoint with it.





As for biting, hedgehogs do occasionally bite. When handling your hedgie make sure you do not have the smell of food on your fingers because your hedgehog will smell it and try to taste it. Generally, they lick before biting, so you can avoid the chomp most of the time. Usually, these “tasting” nips are quick and not very hard. Your hedgehog will soon notice that you are not food.





Aggressive biting happens when your hedgehog is angry or being territorial. You want to put a stop to this type of biting as soon as you can because it can get worse with time and lead to bad socialization.



If your hedgehog bites you, DO NOT stop handling it or it will quickly learn that biting means it will get left alone. Instead, lightly blow in its face and then try to calm it down by either stroking its quills or gently rocking it back and forth and speaking gently to it.





Anointing





It is believed that hedgehogs anoint for two reasons - to better camouflage themselves with their surroundings and/or to build up tolerance to toxins, but it is not known for sure why they do it.





What is anointing? When hedgies smell something new and interesting they will sometimes start to foam at the mouth, torque their bodies into what almost seems like an unnatural position, and spread the foam over their quills with their tongues. It is quite messy, especially if they decide to anoint with something stinky. Anointing usually results in bathtime!





Body Language





Erect quills means it is threatened, scared or angry. It is how they protect themselves. Try talking softly to it until it calms down. Completely flat quills mean it is calm and secure.





When only the forehead quills are erect and forced low on the head it means your hedgehog is fearful. They do this a lot when there are sudden movements or noises.





A hedgehog rolls into a ball to protect itself too, so generally this means it’s on guard. Some hedgehogs sleep like this all the time, but when they are unafraid and comfortable they will sometimes sleep completely sprawled out in a “splat” position.





Sounds





Hedgehogs are generally quiet animals. They are prey animals after all, but they do make some noises. As mentioned above, they hiss/pop/huff when threatened. When in physical pain and sometimes even in anger they will scream, almost like a rabbit does, but that’s a rare sound. They also make small chirping sounds, whistles and even purr when completely content!





Personalities





Just like people each hedgehog has it’s own personalities, but in general they can fall into one or more of these categories.





Snugglers:


These hedgies love to cuddle up and snuggle. They always seem to want to find a warm, soft, dark place to get comfortable whether it’s in your lap, in the crook of your neck or arm, or on your shoulder.





Explorers:


Some hedgehogs just love to explore and run wild. They’re curious about everything around them and sometimes don’t particularly like to cuddle. When out of their cage they just want to be free!





Sleepers:


Just like some folks, some hedgies are just lazy! They just want to lounge about and find soft places to sleep, but you should find ways to encourage exercise.





Grumps:


There are some hedgies that are constantly grumpy. It’s nothing personal, they just are. Sometimes these hedgehogs need a little bit more TLC than others, but even with extensive efforts at socialization they will still shy from being held or interacted with. That doesn’t mean you should give up on them though. They deserve just as much love as snugglers!





Masturbation





Male hedgehogs do masturbate and occasionally hump the air. This may be a TMI type situation, especially when you catch your boy doing it, but it’s completely natural and normal.

Masturbation is something Nigel has down to a T ...i find it everywhere .

Should see Nikki's Morris go at it!

oh how funny , think its a man thing lol !

Emo has permanent gunk in his fur around that particular area!

No wonder with what you put him through xx

haha, poor EMo!

He needs saving or your need an exorcism!

Haha, I need saving from Emo! Last night I had to practically drag him out of my armpit on several occasions! Haha. He wasn't happy. Just sat in a ball in my hand, with his face anfd front paws visible, so he could give me a dirty look and hiss at me, doing his impression of Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough's 'sissie and ady' sketch!

I have so got to meet this little man - cannot wait xx

Hehe, he is funny. I doubt he means to be, but that crossed paws and squished up face does make me think of that old les dawson sketch, with them dressed up as women with crossed arms and squished up faces. Emo doesn't really do daytime though, so he'd fairly likley to just sit in a huffy poppy ball when you meet him. Bet curiosity will get the better of him though and he'll have to take a sneaky peek at some point.

He will not be able to resist the sniff of wenches and mealworms!!

Inca is defensive with people she doesn't know, when I was away mum said she was very shy, yet with me she is a diamond, she even looks for me when I call her name xxx

aww how sweet xx

I love this post Helen, it's a really good read.

Thanking you very muchly xx

xoxox

awww, that's so cute Josie.x
hehe, Emo's going to be reluctant to leave, i reckon! Aww, I feel bad on Ody now for missing out. I'll have to spoil him rotten when I get home.

Ody can come too!

awww, my little sweetie. He has a habit of coming out several times in the day, so will no doubt spend most of the journey eating and pooing, as usual.

Plenty of Kitchen roll at my house and clean pieces of fleece xx

Ody is happy to poo wherever is convenient for him. he's a friendly little bugger though. i say that now, and will probably eat my words if he isn't on his best behaviour!

One more poo will not make a difference amongst my lot!

hehe, tha's all he needs to know!

Have a little mop and bucket ready for him xx

hehe, awww, I might have to get him one myself! x

Can just picture them all - with little hoovers, mops and buckets, spring cleaning their homes - perhaps I could train them up a little and then move them on to general housework!