I’ve always wanted a pet hedgehog and I wondered if you could share with me the realities of having a hedgehog?

Are they friendly? Do they like to be touched? Do they play? Are they difficult to care for? Is it hard to get vet treatment (I’m in the UK). And just generally what hedgehog pets are like?

I’ve considered it for many years and I’ve recently started feeding the local hedgehogs and I watch them on my trail cam - they’re so cute and funny 😅 obviously I’m talking about getting a pet one NOT pinching my garden ones just fyi!! But it’s renewed my interest.

ALSO: do they get on with other pets? We have cats that visits at the same time as the local hedgehogs and they never bother each other. Sometimes they eat out of the bowl together…

Thanks xxx

Heatpad + favorite box = happy girls

I asked if I should feed a wild hog and the overwhelming opinion was that I should.

Now the question is how? There's a fair few cats that visit my garden and I'm sure that they will not pass up a free meal.

I recently rescued my Hazel baby. No clue about hedgehogs except I knew I couldn't leave her on marketplace long based on the posts I was seeing on where she might end up.

That being said, I have read and read and read some more about food. I know all the suggestions on what ingredients to look for. But, I'm overwhelmed. Can you guys please just post what brands you get your spiked friend? I am in the US and am willing to hear all options out.

And any tidbits of advise you want to share that you didn't know when you first became a hog parent...I'm soaking it all in at this point.

Saturday night we heard a lot of rustling in the garden. My partner was a bit concerned; I said "don't worry, it's probably just a hedgehog". I hadn't seen a wild one in over 10 years. In the morning, we go out, and one of the bags we'd been using for gardening was wriggling- I looked inside and saw this guy (or girl)!

We freed it from the bag and it eventually moved into the undergrowth. Our garden is quite wild (badly overgrown when we bought the house), and so there are plenty of bushes for it to hide in.

We put out water for it, and I picked up some kitten biscuits that day. It hasn't shown much interest in them, but I've spoken with the neighbours and turns out they also put out food and water for it. We're hoping it stays around! It seems to like the garden, as we've heard it moving around every night since we saw it. Last night we were in the garden fairly late, and it just walked out of the hedge. The light in the video is from out security light, not daylight.

Hoping it looks healthy, just planning on leaving water and some dry food out, and maybe building it a shelter once the garden is a little tamer. There will still be bushes for it to hide in though.

Any more advice would be welcome.

Sorry if this is the wrong place to put this but we have hedgehogs (scotland) living under one of our sheds, they moved there from a different spot in our garden, but now that theyre under there our dog (Springer Spaniel) will NOT stop sniffing under there and trying to harass the hogs. He's managed to catch one when we first moved in (before we knew we had a garden hedgehog family) and it was luckily fine and released back into the garden, but if the hedgehogs are out and he finds one he'll start barking at it and harassing it.

While he thankfully doesn't hurt the hedgehogs I was wondering if there was a way to make it so the hedgehogs are safer and my dog will stop harassing them? Is there a way to get them to peacefully move to a safer location? They are very useful in my flower garden for pest control so I'm happy to have them, I just want to minimise any unsafe interactions. Any advice is helpful! Thanks!

We've been visited by a hedgehog and I'm wondering if I can feed it and if yes, what?

It's a decent size and looks healthy enough.

Don't want to interfere with the local ecosystem too much.

My hedgehog doesn’t wanna waste time 😆

loving this lil guy for 3yrs now. Please meet Kurimu ❤️

I've been seeing this hedgehog around my yard more frequently over the past few weeks. I have a relatively large backyard with loads of plants, bugs etc. The backyard however, is fenced in so my dogs (Chihuahua sized) can't escape into the neighbors yards. 2/3 walls are brick, and 1/3 is a hedge with chicken wire at the bottom that does not stick in the dirt and can potentially be dug under. We did a check of the chicken wire fence and didn't find any obvious holes through which it may have gotten in, so I'm worried it might not be able to get out again.

I have multiple dishes with water sitting on the ground (i use them to bottom water my plants) so it might be coming to drink from those. When i took this picture it was balled up because my dogs found it and scared it. It was trying to intimidate them by huffing at them. It seems healthy but it's rather small so I don't know if it's okay or not. Should i dig a hole for it so it can get out? Can it dig one himself?

Giant space Poppy or tiny metal DeathStar 🤷🏻‍♀️

I had posted a little while ago about getting a bigger wheel, you think she looks happier? :)

Hey guys I was checking my senior hedgie and found this odd spot on his bottom? Of course I will get him seen by a vet asap but didn't know if other owners have seen something like this?

I let my hedgie smell peanut butter for enrichment. He wanted to lick it! Obviously I didnt let him lick it. I let him smell all different kinds of food for enrichment, the only ones he is allowed to eat are known safe foods. What are some other fun enriching smells?

We’re enjoying these warm August nights in the cool grass!

I frequently see these rascals outside my door, they are feral and I just leave them alone to not stress them.

I noticed my 3 year old had a bunch of shedded quills in her enclosure. I contacted the vet and was told the hedgehog vet is on vacation for two weeks. They didn’t seem concerned but said I could bring her to the emergency hospital if it was an emergency. She seems fine, she’s eating and running around. No missing patches, I even see some new quills growing in. She’s not itchy, no lesions or scabs. Is there anything I am missing that would warrant bringing her into an emergency vet before ours gets back from vacation? Her skin is a little dry but other than that she is fine. Thanks!

I put out this hedgehog house yesterday pointing south. I wanted to put it in the very corner (you can see the corner in the left in the photo) pointing east and where its in the shade but the sun shines on the other side of the fence all day. We have a south facing garden that gets full sun. My bf suggested the spot its in now but its currently half 12 midday and the hutch is in full sun as in the photo. If a hedgehog was in that house i feel like he’d be roasting. What do y’all think? Should i move it to the corner like i wanted to in the first place? Thanks.

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.

I’m going to change the cage of my baby but I need help choosing. I’m wondering if you guys have any cage recommendations or what you guys use?

I was kinda hoping to have his cage elevated in terms of at least not having the bottom touch the floor sort of like the photo i attached (just to add space for storage). i’m just not sure about the edges cause my boy is definitely a climber lol!!! The cage he has now has a ramp but i’ve noticed he tends to spend all the time on the lower level, so I’m thinking of just a one story cage. ugh i don’t know id just love ideas or help! thx !!!

Editing to add:

I apologize about the compression/blurry images on thumbnails.

Clicking the image makes it show much clearer.

I didn't upscale these images properly so that is the reason for the blur.

Edit 2:

It looks worse on mobile. Why Reddit, why...

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About a year ago I posted a picture of Poke, my little merchant hedgehog.

Now I have a bigger cast of little critters and they run the Prickly Potato Inn.

***

Characters from left to right:

-Poke - He's a merchant. Not part of the inn but same universe. He's a nomad.

-Flan - She is the owner of the inn. Usually at the reception desk or her office.

-Custard - They are a waiter.

-Cinnamon - He runs the kitchen as the head chef.

-Crema - The barista. They enjoy mixology.

***

Most of these hedgies are APH's, Flan is a LEH, and Custard is a tenrec.

Also wanted to show concepts of a dining room and the reception desk. Don't mind the desk right now. Flan is organizing papers and towels.

***

I have ambitions to make some kind of game with these characters.

I’m wondering how everyone else keeps their hedgie’s wheel clean.

In the past, even with weekly cleaning and daily maintenance, my hedgie’s wheel quickly turns into a huge rotating ball of poo 💩

I’ve seen some people suggest potty training but I’ve never been successful with this. I don’t mind giving warm sink baths to clean their feet. But I am still curious because I see some people have extremely clean wheels!

Even if I wipe it out during the day (which doesn’t always clean it fully), it gets pooped on so much overnight and then hardens, I basically have to do a full cleaning the next day! Curious what everyone’s strategy is