Hedgehogs are fantastic pets, but they do require certain care. This page can help you to decide whether or not a hedgehog is for you!
-Although this page is designed to tell you how to care for a hedgehog, I encourage that you do research and check other sources as well so you can decide what routine is personally best for your lifestyle.
-Although this page is designed to tell you how to care for a hedgehog, I encourage that you do research and check other sources as well so you can decide what routine is personally best for your lifestyle.
HOUSING
Hedgehogs are good climbers, so it's very important to have smooth sided enclosures to keep your pet in. I recommend a Sterilite tub at a minimum of 105 quarts of space. Inside of these cages you should keep only one hedgehog, especially if your hedgehogs are male. Hedgehogs are solitary and know for harming or killing each other if they are housed together. You will need to decide on a substrate for inside of your hedgehog's cage. You can use aspen chips, pine shavings, or fleece liners (never use cedar, it is toxic). For wood chips or shavings, you need to fill the cage with two inches of the substrate. My recommendation, especially for new hedgie owners, is fleece liners. These make cleanup easy and come in all different patterns. As well, they are not a recurring price and just need washed every week. If you have a hedgehog who likes to dig and you want to use fleece liners, you can create a dig box by cutting an opening in a plastic or cardboard box and filling it with fleece strips or pom poms. Just make sure that if you use fleece you check that there are no loose threads that can potentially catch on your hedgie's little feet. You will also need hides in your cage. Your hide can be anything from snuggie sacks (fleece sacks), igloos, dig boxes, or fleece houses. Wheels are incredibly important in your cage as well, as they allow a fit and healthy hedgehog and prevent obesity. When you're selecting a wheel, you need to choose one beween 10-12 inches without spokes and with a solid surface. You should keep your hedgehogs on a day night cycle of about 12 hours of light and darkness each day. Finally, you will need heating. You must keep your hedgehogs between 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit (24-27 degrees Celsius) at all times. You can do this by using a ceramic heat emitter, a space heater, or heating your entire house. Heat lamps are not recommended because hedgehogs are nocturnal and will not have a proper day/night cycle if their heat source emits light as well.
CLEANING & HEDGEHOG GROOMING
Once a week you will need to clean your hedgehog's cage. This includes replacing the bedding or washing a liner, washing all fleece items in the cage, and wiping down all the plastic items inside the cage. If your hedgehog poops on his or her wheel, this will need soaked and cleaned whenever it gets dirty (possibly every day or two). Once a month you need to give your hedgie a bath. To bathe your hedgehog, you will first need to prepare a sink filled with approximately one inch of lukewarm water. You then take a coin sized drop of hedgie-safe soap (popular choice is Aveeno unscented baby soap) and mix it into the water. Take a soft bristled, unused toothbrush and dip it in the water, then scrub the hedgie's quills in circles from front to back. Once you have thoroughly cleaned the quills, drain the water and refill the sink with one inch of lukewarm water. rinse the hedgehog and dry it completely before returning it to its cage. Use a towel without loose threads or looped threads so no nails are caught. If you find your pet get poop under his or her nails too often, you can gives foot bathes, which are basically normal baths but only washing the feet instead of the whole body. You will also need to cut your hedgehog's nails every 1 1/2-2 weeks. You do this by using baby nail clippers or cuticle scissors and trimming the white part of the nails. If you cut the pink part (the quick) you can cause your hedgehog to bleed. This doesn't seriously harm your hedgehog, but it is uncomfortable. One of the most liked nail trimming method is to do so in the bath.
WATER & FOOD
Hedgehogs can drink from either a food bowl or a water bottle. Pros of a water bottle are that it is cleaner and holds more water, however, it can damage your hedgie's teeth if he or she bites a metal barrel. On the other hand, you can use a water dish, which does not damage your hedgie's teeth but allows the possibility to be tipped over or pooped in, and must be refilled more often. How you provide a hedgehog water is really a personal decision. In a hedgehog's diet, the main staple is dry cat food. The type I recommend is Chicken Soup for the Soul Indoor with Hairball Care. Whatever food you choose, be sure that it meets your hedgehog's needs (10-13% fat, 30-33% protein, and main ingredient should be actual meat). Along with this, you can feed your hedgehog snack portions of: mealworms, superworms, dubia roaches, waxworms, or crickets (preferably gut loaded), unseasoned cooked meats (baked, boiled, or steamed) such as chicken, beef, pork, turkey, or fish, unseasoned scrambled or hard boiled eggs, apples, watermelon, banana, nectarine, peach, cantaloupe, mango, plum, pear, strawberry, cherry, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot, squash, bell pepper, asparagus, cucumber, green beans, spinach, zucchini, peas, dandelion greens, broccoli, baby food (except meal varieties), cottage cheese, and plain yogurt (all unseasoned and cut up as needed). You should never feed your hedgehog: citrus or acidic fruits, dried fruits, nuts, seeds, avocade, raisins, grapes, chocolate or other candy, garlic, onions, junk food, or seasoned food.
OTHER INFORMATION
-Hedgehogs are nocturnal
-Hedgehogs grow on average to be 6-8 inches and weigh 300-550 grams
-Hedgehogs live to be 4-6 years old on average
-Anointing: when a hedgehog encounters an unfamiliar smell, he or she may bite or chew on an object, salivate, reach back and lick their quills. Although the reason isn't certainly known, it could be to camouflage their scent with their surroundings.
-Quilling: a process hedgehogs go through around 4-6 weeks of age and again around 4-6 months where they lose their quills and grow back new ones. They may be grumpy or sleep a lot during this time. If your hedgehog is loosing spikes without explanation, he or she may have mites and need to be taken to the vet. Naturally shed quills have small bulbs on the end, similar to a human's hair.
-Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome (WHS) is an illness some older hedgehogs get, However, I do not have experience with this so I will not be covering it in this manual.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please email me at [email protected], or DM me on Instagram @sharethepetcare.
-Grace
Hedgehogs are good climbers, so it's very important to have smooth sided enclosures to keep your pet in. I recommend a Sterilite tub at a minimum of 105 quarts of space. Inside of these cages you should keep only one hedgehog, especially if your hedgehogs are male. Hedgehogs are solitary and know for harming or killing each other if they are housed together. You will need to decide on a substrate for inside of your hedgehog's cage. You can use aspen chips, pine shavings, or fleece liners (never use cedar, it is toxic). For wood chips or shavings, you need to fill the cage with two inches of the substrate. My recommendation, especially for new hedgie owners, is fleece liners. These make cleanup easy and come in all different patterns. As well, they are not a recurring price and just need washed every week. If you have a hedgehog who likes to dig and you want to use fleece liners, you can create a dig box by cutting an opening in a plastic or cardboard box and filling it with fleece strips or pom poms. Just make sure that if you use fleece you check that there are no loose threads that can potentially catch on your hedgie's little feet. You will also need hides in your cage. Your hide can be anything from snuggie sacks (fleece sacks), igloos, dig boxes, or fleece houses. Wheels are incredibly important in your cage as well, as they allow a fit and healthy hedgehog and prevent obesity. When you're selecting a wheel, you need to choose one beween 10-12 inches without spokes and with a solid surface. You should keep your hedgehogs on a day night cycle of about 12 hours of light and darkness each day. Finally, you will need heating. You must keep your hedgehogs between 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit (24-27 degrees Celsius) at all times. You can do this by using a ceramic heat emitter, a space heater, or heating your entire house. Heat lamps are not recommended because hedgehogs are nocturnal and will not have a proper day/night cycle if their heat source emits light as well.
CLEANING & HEDGEHOG GROOMING
Once a week you will need to clean your hedgehog's cage. This includes replacing the bedding or washing a liner, washing all fleece items in the cage, and wiping down all the plastic items inside the cage. If your hedgehog poops on his or her wheel, this will need soaked and cleaned whenever it gets dirty (possibly every day or two). Once a month you need to give your hedgie a bath. To bathe your hedgehog, you will first need to prepare a sink filled with approximately one inch of lukewarm water. You then take a coin sized drop of hedgie-safe soap (popular choice is Aveeno unscented baby soap) and mix it into the water. Take a soft bristled, unused toothbrush and dip it in the water, then scrub the hedgie's quills in circles from front to back. Once you have thoroughly cleaned the quills, drain the water and refill the sink with one inch of lukewarm water. rinse the hedgehog and dry it completely before returning it to its cage. Use a towel without loose threads or looped threads so no nails are caught. If you find your pet get poop under his or her nails too often, you can gives foot bathes, which are basically normal baths but only washing the feet instead of the whole body. You will also need to cut your hedgehog's nails every 1 1/2-2 weeks. You do this by using baby nail clippers or cuticle scissors and trimming the white part of the nails. If you cut the pink part (the quick) you can cause your hedgehog to bleed. This doesn't seriously harm your hedgehog, but it is uncomfortable. One of the most liked nail trimming method is to do so in the bath.
WATER & FOOD
Hedgehogs can drink from either a food bowl or a water bottle. Pros of a water bottle are that it is cleaner and holds more water, however, it can damage your hedgie's teeth if he or she bites a metal barrel. On the other hand, you can use a water dish, which does not damage your hedgie's teeth but allows the possibility to be tipped over or pooped in, and must be refilled more often. How you provide a hedgehog water is really a personal decision. In a hedgehog's diet, the main staple is dry cat food. The type I recommend is Chicken Soup for the Soul Indoor with Hairball Care. Whatever food you choose, be sure that it meets your hedgehog's needs (10-13% fat, 30-33% protein, and main ingredient should be actual meat). Along with this, you can feed your hedgehog snack portions of: mealworms, superworms, dubia roaches, waxworms, or crickets (preferably gut loaded), unseasoned cooked meats (baked, boiled, or steamed) such as chicken, beef, pork, turkey, or fish, unseasoned scrambled or hard boiled eggs, apples, watermelon, banana, nectarine, peach, cantaloupe, mango, plum, pear, strawberry, cherry, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot, squash, bell pepper, asparagus, cucumber, green beans, spinach, zucchini, peas, dandelion greens, broccoli, baby food (except meal varieties), cottage cheese, and plain yogurt (all unseasoned and cut up as needed). You should never feed your hedgehog: citrus or acidic fruits, dried fruits, nuts, seeds, avocade, raisins, grapes, chocolate or other candy, garlic, onions, junk food, or seasoned food.
OTHER INFORMATION
-Hedgehogs are nocturnal
-Hedgehogs grow on average to be 6-8 inches and weigh 300-550 grams
-Hedgehogs live to be 4-6 years old on average
-Anointing: when a hedgehog encounters an unfamiliar smell, he or she may bite or chew on an object, salivate, reach back and lick their quills. Although the reason isn't certainly known, it could be to camouflage their scent with their surroundings.
-Quilling: a process hedgehogs go through around 4-6 weeks of age and again around 4-6 months where they lose their quills and grow back new ones. They may be grumpy or sleep a lot during this time. If your hedgehog is loosing spikes without explanation, he or she may have mites and need to be taken to the vet. Naturally shed quills have small bulbs on the end, similar to a human's hair.
-Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome (WHS) is an illness some older hedgehogs get, However, I do not have experience with this so I will not be covering it in this manual.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please email me at [email protected], or DM me on Instagram @sharethepetcare.
-Grace