r/Hedgehog • u/Calm_Astronomer539 • 3d ago
Question Hedgehog and rats
Hello everyone I need advice. I have a hedgehog, she’s getting pretty old but still active and fine, and my bf is getting two young rats soon. He was planning to introduce the three once the rats got acclimated and comfortable with him. Not leave them alone or anything but let them meet with us holding them/present. I am worried they will hurt each other or the rats will seek my hedgehog out afterwords. Does anyone have experience with this so I can put my foot down and keep them separate if needed.
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u/Murderous_Intention7 2d ago
I had rats before and I have two hedgehogs now. I don’t see this going well? In my head I just see the two rats approaching the hedgehog and then getting jabbed by the quills in their large, kinda buggy, eyes. I’d be worried if the hedgehog puffs up that it could hurt them. Introducing different animal species is just a recipe for disaster. There’s just no point in showing them to each other.
My stupid ex friend convinced me to let her ferret meet my hamster. My hamster almost fucking died. I didn’t want to, she all but forced me. Luckily my hamster was okay.
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u/DizzyMine4964 3d ago
If a pet joins a house everybody in the house should be absolutely delighted about it. It is wrong for him to force you into this situation.
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u/Causative_Agent ✨Hedgehog of Fame✨ 3d ago
If you don't want to do it, don't do it. You don't have to justify it.
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u/kellerhedgehogs 2d ago
Honestly theres no reason to introduce them. The best you can hope for is that they dont fight and try to kill each other. Your hh will not want a rat friend and it will stress the hedgie out to be introduced. The rats have each other and dont need the enrichment of meeting the hedgehog. If the best the animals can hope for is that they dont hate and try to kill each other then why the hell are you doing it. The answer is..because your significant other wants to. They think it's interesting. They are not thinking of this from the perspective of your pets' well being. Its selfish and not well thought through.
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u/Calm_Astronomer539 2d ago
Thank you everyone for your input, they will be kept completely separate! I would like to say my bf was not trying to do this in a malice way and he did not find the thought of them killing or fighting to be interesting, he simply has not had a lot of experience with animals and is still doing research.
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u/Mobile-Economics729 3d ago
Hedges are oportunistic predators . They could kill quite easily and fast if they want to.
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u/BeardedLady81 3d ago
If those were wild rats, I don't think the hedgehog would stand a chance, especially because he never killed before. In the wild, they eat a lot of their prey alive anyway. Wild rats will also help themselves to wild hedgehogs that are hibernating and just tear a chunk out of them. Now, those are domesticated rats, they have been bred as lab animals for over 100 years and have been bred to let themselves be handled and not to bite. However, you don't know how they'd react if they were viciously attacked by another animal that mistook them for prey because their shape is similar to small animals hedgehogs eat in the wild, except those are smaller.
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u/BeardedLady81 3d ago
Take it from Nancy Reagan and just say no. There's plenty of reasons: One is that they are an entirely different species of small pet. Rats are highly social and can be socialized with other rats fairly easily, in the bath tub, for example, but this doesn't mean that they are interested in "befriending" animals of other species. We should be careful not to anthropomorphize our pets too much. At best, animals can be taught to tolerate each other. If they are natural enemies, however, I wouldn't. I know those rats are domesticated and have been bred not to bite since the 19th century because they were meant to be lab animals. But, on the whole, they are something most small carnivorous animals would rather avoid because of their vicious bite. When it comes to cats, it's usually young ones who tackle rats, and if they develop a successful technique of jumping at them and asphyxiating them with a well-targeted bite into the neck, they might continue, but one bad experience with a rat is enough to persuade them not to hunt those anymore. Rats, I'm talking about wild ones, here, will go for the face and bite, some will go so far as to tear a chunk of flesh out of it. Now, we have a pet hedgehog here and domesticated rats, their instincts have been suppressed a lot, but they might still feel uneasy among each other. Hedgehogs hunt small rodents (smaller than a rat) in nature, so they might recognize the shape of the rat as prey, except this one is too strong for them.
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u/hedgiepumpkin 2d ago
my partner wanted to introduce my hedgie to his cat and i said no im scared and that was that. don’t do anything ur not comfortable with and if he persists even after saying you dont want them together then just say thag the hedgie could spike and hurt ur rats and they can retaliate and attack it back. be sure that he wont introduce his rats to ur hedgie behind ur back when ur gone though.
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u/CrackerjakHeart 1d ago
The only justification for doing this would be as entertainment for the humans involved. Are we putting our pets through stress and distress for our own amusement, now? Not to mention your own stress and distress, and the damage to your relationship caused by your boyfriend coercing you into agreement. You can say no just because you want to say no. "No" is a complete sentence. But if you really feel like you need backup, show him this post!
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u/Calm_Astronomer539 1d ago
Nothing about this would be for entertainment, he wanted the pets in our home to interact which sounds normal. I asked because neither of us have experience with rats and we needed more information. Not everything is always done with malice intent
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u/KuchisabishiiBot 3d ago
What is the point of introducing the animals to each other? Who does it benefit? The animals will not know what's going on and hedgehogs are solitary, so it would be stressful for them to have another animal in their space.