Frequently Asked Questions

Getting Started

How do I welcome my hedgehog to her new home?
What is an appropriate diet for my hedgehog?
What are the best options for housing a hedgehog?
Is my hedgehog a male or a female?

Temperament and Behavior

How do I socialize my hedgehog?
Can my hedgehog be litter trained?

Everyday Maintenance

How can I hedgehog-proof a room?
My hedgehog escaped. What now?
How do I bathe a hedgehog?
How can I trim my hedgehog's nails?

Welcome your hedgehog to her new home

Before bringing your hedgehog home, make sure that you have an appropriate habitat set up. Basic needs include a roomy cage or enclosure, exercise wheel, hiding place, food and water dishes, toys, staple food, and treats. See our Shopping Guide for some suggested items available for purchase online. Depending on the age and history of your hedgehog, she may be more or less socialized when you get her. See How to socialize your hedgehog for help in this department.

Socialize your hedgehog

Hedgehogs are naturally shy, cautious, and nocturnal animals but have the capacity to socialize well with proper attention and patience on the part of the new owner. Offer your hedgehog a worn t-shirt upon arriving home, making sure all loose strings have been removed as they can wrap around wee legs and cause injury. This t-shirt will allow your hedgehog to become familiar with your scent. Try holding your new friend in your lap inside the t-shirt during the evening while reading or watching TV. Often he will begin exploring and allow petting and other interaction. Also consider offering a treat of some kind like a mealworm or a piece of lean cooked chicken upon waking your hedgehog to provide a positive reinforcement. Having your hedgehog habitat in a moderately trafficked area of your home is a good idea as it allows your new friend to become accustomed to the everyday sounds of humans.

The key to socializing a hedgehog is patience. Remember that the huffing and rolling into a ball is out of nervousness or fear and not anger. You are unfamiliar and unknown until you have proven yourself a friend. Once this beautiful relationship has been established, the bond is genuinely affectionate and meaningful on both sides.

Decide on an appropriate diet

As an opportunistic insectivore, a hedgehog in the wild would have a fairly varied diet including insects, small reptiles, eggs, carrion, and any other easily eaten foods. While the nutritional needs of the domesticated hedgehog are still being studied, there is a wide spectrum of information available, much of it conflicting. Your best option is to provide a varied diet for your hedgehog. Our Shopping Guide has several hedgehog-specific staple diets available for purchase online, but these may not be complete onto themselves. 1-2 tbsp of staple food may be supplemented with treats including canned or fresh mealworms and crickets, lean cooked chicken, salmon, or tuna, boiled egg whites, rice cooked in broth, fruits and veggies, or commercially available hedgehog treats. Avoid treats or staple foods containing nuts or dried fruits as they can cause dental problems or choking.

Choose a habitat

Your hedgehog's habitat should be as big as space and your budget allows. The absolute minimum space recommended by Hedgies.com is a 24"x24" cage, or something with a comparable square footage.

Ferret or rabbit cages in single or multistory forms can be easily adapted to make excellent hedgehog homes. Remove or cover any wire mesh flooring in any habitat as hedgehog feet can slip through mesh and become stuck or injured. Most wheels will need 16" clearance to work properly, so check this before making a final cage decision. Hedgehogs are great climbers and can handle ramps placed at moderate angles to provide vertical room as well. Remember, though, that these terrific climbers can also climb out of many cages, so make sure that you have a lid or cover until you are familiar with your particular hedgehog's skill level. See our Shopping Guide for several cage options. Inside the habitat, a hedgehog will need an exercise wheel, a place to hide and sleep, food and water dishes, toys, and a litterbox if you intend to litter train them.

Litter train a hedgehog

Hedgehogs can frequently be taught to use a litter box if training is begun young enough. Begin by selecting a litter box, which can be any container that the hedgehog can easily climb into and that is large enough for him to turn around in. Corner ferret litter boxes, available at most pet stores, work very well. Fill the litter box with some sort of litter such as pine or aspen shavings or recycled newsprint cat litter. Avoid cedar as the aromatic oils can cause respiratory problems and also avoid clumping type cat litter as they will clump on the hedgehog's genitals. Once you have your litter box set up, "seed" it with a few turds. If your hedgehog misses the litter box, move the refuse into the litter box. Most hedgehogs prefer to use a litter box rather than to soil their homes, although many will also use their wheel as a second litter box. If your hedgehog does this, you might also place a small pan containing litter under the base of the wheel, or just clean the wheel frequently. Jennifer Plombon wrote an excellent article on litter training hedgehogs for a recent issue of the Hedgehog Welfare Society's newsletter.

Bathe a hedgehog

So your hedgehog annointed with something unpleasant and needs a bath? To begin, assemble your bath necessities.

• No-tears formula baby shampoo (a trial size will last a long time)
• Soft-bristled toothbrush
  
• Towels for drying

A utility or kitchen sink works well, filled with two to three inches of warm water. Some hedgehogs enjoy a bath and will even swim in deeper water, but others will struggle and constantly attempt to climb out of the sink. (Common sense note: if your hedgehog does take a fancy to swimming, never, ever, leave them unattended in the water!) Hedgehogs will often poop in the water, so be prepared.

Lather a little shampoo in your hands and rub your pet down. We have more luck washing the underbelly first and then the quills. Once the quills have been nicely lathered, use the toothbrush to very gently get between the quills, particularly if your little friend has gotten into something particularly unpleasant. Rinse thoroughly. Sometimes, we reserve a large plastic cup full of warm water for rinsing if the hedgehog has decided to soil her bathwater. Pay special attention to the feet, which tend to become very dirty. You can use the toothbrush here as well. Once your hedgehog is clean, dry her in towels.

Trim your hedgehog's nails

Immediately following a bath the best time to trim nails as they are softened somewhat by the warm water. Depending on the activity level and temperament of your hedgehog, nail trimming can be quick and painless or may require a vet's assistance. We find this is usually a two-person operation.

Hold your hedgehog right-side up and wait until a foot drops between your fingers, then hold it firmly but gently. The second person can then move in and trim the nails on that foot. Be very careful of the quick, but use a little cornstarch or a styptic pencil if the toe bleeds. Repeat for each foot as needed. We often find that the nails on the front feet wear down quicker than the nails on the back feet and require less frequent trimming.

Determine the gender of your hedgehog

It is vitally important to know the gender of your hedgehog beyond a reasonable doubt so that unintentional breeding does not occur. This is easily enough done when you know what to look for! A male hedgehog's penis will be located in the middle of his belly and resembles a belly button. The female hedgehog's genitalia will be located next to her anal opening. If you have any doubt, check this photo for a side-by-side comparison.

Hedgehog-proof a room

While no room can be 100% safe, reasonable precautions can be taken to ensure the safety of your hedgehog in the event of an escape or during free-roam time. Take a look at your room from floor level. Are there crevices, ducts, drains, or cracks to be crawled into? Do you have gaps behind heavy furniture such as bookcases? Is there exposed wiring or cords to be chewed? These dangerous places should be blocked securely so that even the most determined digger or climber cannot wedge around or through the blockage.

In addition, check furniture. Many sofas and chairs have access from the sides or bottom for a hedgehog to climb into. Reclining chairs and sofa-beds are particularly dangerous and should be secured.

Kitchens, utility rooms, and bathrooms are also full of potential pitfalls. Make sure that an escapee cannot climb behind or into stoves, washers, dryers, refrigerators, or any associated ductwork. Consider keeping toilet lids down all the time, as hedgehogs have been known to occasionally make the big plunge. One hedgehog at the Flash and Thelma Memorial Rescue even wedged himself into the inside of a toilet plunger!

Some hedgehogs are more determined to seek independent exploration time on their own, and preventative action is the best way to deal with them. If they cannot hurt themselves, you can rest a little easier. See How to Find an Escaped Hedgehog for suggestions on finding escapees!

Find an escaped hedgehog

The worst feeling a hedgehog owner can have is to find a cage with no hedgehog in it! Sometimes even the best precautions cannot prevent a determined Houdini from making an exit. How do you find your spiny friend once they have gone on the lam? Try placing food and water dishes in several locations inside paper bags, which will make a tell-tale rustle when being investigated. Keep the lights low and your ears ready. This way, if the food and water are being consumed, you at least know that your hedgehog is safe and sound, even if you cannot locate him or her. Placing out familiar hiding places like hedgebags can attract the escapee as well. Even relocating a wheel to the middle of a room may result in success.