Archive-name: hedgehog-faq/part3
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Keywords: faq pet hedgehogs

Last-modified: 20 October 1996
Version: 2.18

HEDGEHOG FAQ (part 3 of 5) -- INTRO TO HEDGEHOGS AS PETS
Compiled and edited by Brian MacNamara (macnamara@pci.on.ca)
Additions, corrections, and suggestions for this file are welcomed.

This document is copyright 1996 by Brian MacNamara.  See section [0.5]
for authorship information and redistribution rights.  In short, you
can give it away, but you can't charge for it.

The basic Hedgehog FAQ has five parts, all of which should be available
from wherever you obtained this one.  A complete table of contents for
all five parts is given in part I.

Please note:  I am not a hedgehog expert, and I did not write, or verify, 
all the information in this FAQ.  I have done my best to include only 
accurate and useful information, but I cannot guarantee the correctness of 
what is contained in this FAQ, regardless of the source, or even that it 
will not be harmful to you or your hedgehog in some way.  For advice from 
an expert, I recommend you consult the books listed in part 2 [2.1], or, 
especially in the case of a suspected medical problem, a veterinarian who 
is familiar with hedgehogs.

------------------------------

Subject: CONTENTS OF THIS FILE

3. *** Introduction to hedgehogs ***

   <3.1> What are hedgehogs?  Should I get one?  What's good and bad
         about them as pets?
   <3.2> Are hedgehogs wild animals?  
   <3.3> What's the average hedgehog lifespan?
   <3.4> I'm allergic to cats.  Will I be allergic to hedgehogs?
   <3.5> Do hedgehogs smell?
   <3.6> Do hedgehogs have tails?
   <3.7> Hedgehog monikers -- what do I call a hedgehog?
   <3.8> Her-hog or Him-hog?  What sex is Prickles?

4. *** Getting a pet hedgehog ***

   <4.1> Which types/colours are there?  Male or female?  What age?
   <4.2> How many should I get? 
   <4.3> How can I introduce my hedgehog to my (dog/cat/bird/fish/
         rabbit/etc.) with the least trouble?

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3. *** Introduction to hedgehogs ***

------------------------------

Subject: <3.1> What are hedgehogs?  Should I get one?  What's good and bad
               about them as pets?

Hedgehogs are small insectivores looking much like an upside-down oval bowl,
that is covered with sharp quills, with an adorable little face and ears 
peeking out from one end.  Neither legs nor tail are very visible during
normal movement.  Hedgehogs roll into a ball of projecting spines when
threatened, leaving themselves all but invulnerable to any natural predator.

Hedgehogs do have soft fur on their faces and bellies, and so are not
entirely prickly.  

Some hedgehogs have what appears to be a narrow reverse Mohawk hairdo 
(a narrow furrow that runs lengthwise), though this is not present in all
species (e.g. the Egyptian hedgehog doesn't have this).  

    It isn't a scar, they haven't lost quills.  It is natural and helps 
    the quills point forward without getting crossed when they bristle.
    -- Katherine Long

Running in size from approximagely 4 to 9 inches in length, mature African 
Pigmy hedgehogs look for all the world to be little armoured tanks being lead 
around by one of the busiest noses in the animal kingdom.

Hedgehogs tend to be quite nervous in their temperament, and will generally
duck their head down, accompanied by rapid snuffling or snorting.  This 
presents a very prickly forehead to any possible enemies.  The more used to
you (and awake) a hedgehog is, the less they will duck down and snuffle, and 
the more their quills will be flat.
 
The following is largely verbatim from Nathan Tenny and gives a good detailed
description of pet hedgehogs:

    The ``African pigmy or dwarf hedgehog'' that's appeared on the pet market 
    is a Central African species, also called the white-bellied hedgehog, 
    and possibly the same as the Cape hedgehog or Pruner's hedgehog.  
    Hedgehog taxonomy is kind of a mess, and they have multiple Latin names; 
    the leader now seems to be _Erinaceus albiventris_, but one also sees 
    _Atelerix albiventris_ and _Atelerix pruneri_.  (I think that Pruner's 
    hedgehog is now considered to be a separate species, but it hasn't 
    always been.)  There may be some overlap with _Erinaceus frontalis_ 
    as well, and just to complicate matters, older works refer to the genus 
    _Atelerix_ as _Aethechinus_.  The African hedgehog is related to the 
    European hedgehog, but is much smaller (and more tropical, of course).

    Grzimek's Animal Encyclopedia says that they weigh about 200-220 grams 
    (about seven ounces); this is for wild animals.  Captives seem to be 
    much larger; the smallest of our three hedgehogs is 250 g and growing, 
    and our large male weighs about 400-450 g when he isn't overweight.  
    (However, all our animals have come from exceptionally large bloodlines.)  
    Adults are about six to eight inches long, depending on how far they're 
    stretching when you measure.

    Hedgehogs are basically nocturnal; they may wake up a couple of times 
    during the day to wander around their enclosures, get a snack or a drink 
    of water, and so on, but they really get active late at night (ours wake 
    up between 10 PM and midnight, but that may be because that's when we 
    turn the lights off).  

    Whether they have wonderful personalities depends on your taste.  Your
    prospective hedgehog will sleep all day, and, while it may well become
    quite sociable when awake, it probably will not let you pick it up when
    it wants to sleep.  (Can you blame it?  More to the point, can you argue
    with it?)  We've never met an African hedgehog that would bite 
    aggressively, though there are rumours of such.  (Note that all the 
    Africans we've known have been not only captive-bred but hand-raised 
    from infancy; we make no guarantees about imports or non-socialised 
    animals.)  They do explore with their mouths, so if you smell 
    interesting, you may get licked or nipped; they have fairly sharp teeth 
    (a row of short pegs with points, but nothing drastic).

As pets go, hedgehogs are generally not cuddly lap-fungus type pets, but
if you want something that's a little different, not too big, and 
definitely adorable, then maybe a hedgehog is for you.  If, however, you
have been fascinated by hedgehogs for about fifteen years, like I have, 
there is just no question.

Among their pros and cons, you should keep in mind the nocturnal nature of
hedgehogs.  If you are a night-owl, or often find yourself up and around
during the dark hours, a hedgehog can be a very welcome companion.  On the
other hand, if you jump out of bed early in the morning and fade with the
sun, you and your hedgehog may never see one another.

Although most hedgehogs rarely if ever bite or nip, it does happen, as 
can occur with any animal.  For information on biting see section [6.7]

Hedgehogs are also quite low maintenance (though not ``no maintenance'').  
There's no need to take them out for a walk around the block in the middle 
of a raging blizzard, or head off to the park, pooper-scooper in hand, 
during a heat wave, with a hedgehog.  Their small, but not too small, size 
also makes for a good compromise.

Then there's always the one really effective decision factor:  hedgehogs 
are irresistibly CUTE!

------------------------------

Subject: <3.2> Are hedgehogs wild animals?  

This depends on whether or not you are talking about African Pigmy hedgehogs
or European hedgehogs.  In the case of European hedgehogs, the answer is,
of course, yes.  In the case of the African Pigmy variety, the ones being
offered and kept as pets are now well removed from their wild ancestors.
In parts of Europe, some African pigmy hedgehogs are still being imported,
which results in this being a more grey area.

As Nathan Tenny pointed out [3.1], the hedgehogs available as pets are
a captive bred African species.  These have been bred in captivity 
for over a dozen years.  As such, they should not be confused with the 
European variety that are essentially wild animals (and are protected in 
most European countries).  It is somewhat unlikely that a pet hedgehog could 
survive very long in the wild, especially in the colder parts of North 
America, which seems to be where they are most popular.  The chance does,
however exist and needless to say, finding out whether or not they can is 
an experiment best left to theory, rather than practice.

------------------------------

Subject: <3.3> What's the average hedgehog lifespan?

The absolute answer to the question of how long hedgehogs can live is that 
nobody is really certain.

The average lifespan for African pigmy hedgehogs in captivity runs from 
6-10 years.  From what I have read, this is already far better than the
average of 2-3 years in the wild (though this is due more to predation
than to old age).

African pigmy hedgehogs have not been kept in captivity for many years
as yet -- that along with the fact that we are still in the early stages
of learning how best to care for them, is likely to allow their longevity 
to continue to increase over the upcoming years.  

In addition to the care helping in this, the fact that hedgies are
starting to settle down and become much less nervous will likely also
help considerably.

All in all, their lifespan is quite long compared to many smaller mammals,
which means that there's a good chance you can continue to get along with
your prickly little pal for many happy years.

------------------------------

Subject: <3.4> I'm allergic to cats.  Will I be allergic to hedgehogs?

The short answer here is, probably not.

The main reason for being allergic to cats is because of the dander, not
the hair.  When a cat 'bathes' itself, it deposits a coating of saliva
over its fur.  It is this coating turned to an extremely fine dust that
is the cause of most allergies to cats.  While hedgehogs do not generally
do this (other than when self-anointing [7.1]), it is not inconceivable 
that a person could be allergic to almost any animal.

I would suggest that if you have severe allergies to cats (or any other
animal), you find a friend who has hedgehogs and visit them where they
keep their hedgehogs to see whether any reaction occurs.  Note:  if your
allergic reactions are serious enough, you may want to discuss it with
a doctor first, and/or take precautions in case a reaction occurs.

In almost every case I have heard of where a person appears to be allergic
to a hedgehog, the actual culprit is often the bedding, rather than the
animal.  Most forms of bedding are dusty to some degree or other, and are
much more prone to causing problems than the hedgehogs themselves are.
If you suspect this might be a problem to you, there are various forms of
bedding you can experiment with (such as corncob litter, products like
CareFRESH, or even good old fashioned dirt or gravel) that have much lower 
levels of dust than most wood fiber bedding products.

------------------------------

Subject: <3.5> Do hedgehogs smell?

People who have had experience with small pet rodents, or with ferrets
seem to ask this question most often.  Hedgehogs do not have scent glands
like ferrets, and as long as their cage or pen is kept reasonably clean
there is generally no odour at all.  Most (some?) hedgehogs can be trained
to use a litter box, making the task of keeping the cage clean that much 
easier.  Even those that don't adapt to using a litter box will often use
one area of their cage or pen for this which assists in cleaning.

While hedgehogs do generally have little in the way of odour, what you
feed them can affect whether or not their droppings smell.  Generally the 
more ``wet'' food you feed a hedgehog, the more their droppings, and their 
environment will smell, although brands and types of food can have as great 
an effect as just wet versus dry foods.  Also, Pretty Pets hedgehog food is 
has been reported to result in smellier than average droppings [6.2].

If you are finding your hedgehog pen tends to smell, try changing the blend 
of food he is getting, or just clean house on him a bit more often.

------------------------------

Subject: <3.6> Do hedgehogs have tails?

Yes, but barely.  Most hedgehogs have only a pointed little nub of tail
that spends almost all of its time hidden under the quills.  This leaves
the poor hedgehog looking for all the world like he doesn't have a tail.

Here are a few interesting words from Katherine Long on hedgehog tails:

    My hhog, Ambergris, uses her tail - it isn't a useless appendage.  
    She uses it as a pusher when she is trying to go underneath stuff.  
    Strange and wondrous.

------------------------------

Subject: <3.7> Hedgehog monikers -- what do I call a hedgehog?

I can think of a lot of things here -- especially when Velcro has closed
up on my fingers, again!  However I will try to keep this civil.

This section is more for amusement than much else, and to keep track of
some of the ways people refer to our prickly little friends.  Probably
the most popular one I've seen of late is ``hedgies'' with ``hhog'' running
a close second.  I would argue that the first is probably more pronounceable
but they both pale in comparison to the following from Cathy Johnson-Delaney
who contentedly referred to her FussGus as a ``Tribble from Hell.''

With the media's love of ridiculous catchy names, it probably comes as no
surprise that the term ``Yuppie Puppy'' has begun to appear in some places
(including the N.A.H.A.?!?!) applied to hedgehogs.

While I'm on the subject, baby hedgehogs are usually referred to as 
``hoglets'' or ``hedgehoglets'', or more frequently as ``aren't they so 
CUTE!''  The term piglet seems to be used quite frequently in Europe, and 
sometimes elsewhere as well.

I don't know if an official term exists for a group of hedgehogs (other than 
maybe a ``contradiction-in-terms'' since hedgehogs often don't tend to live 
in what we would consider groups.  The official name for a group of hogs is a 
``drift'' but I question if that applies to hedgehogs.  Most breeders appear 
to refer to their hedgehogs as a ``herd'' but I have to admit the thought of 
trying to ``herd'' hedgehogs strikes me as somewhat ridiculous to say the 
least!

------------------------------

Subject: <3.8> Her-hog or Him-hog?  What sex is Prickles?

One question I get asked a lot, and I haven't the slightest clue why
I didn't add the answer here earlier, is how do you tell what sex a 
hedgehog is.  

Unfortunately, hedgehogs don't come with blue or pink tipped quills to make 
the job easy.  (At least most dont.  Some breeders add a spot of non-toxic
paint, etc., but even that's no guarantee.  There have been more than a few
people who brought home ``male'' hedgies, only to have them give birth to a
litter, only a short time later.)  In fact, it can be downright difficult, 
to figure out the sex, unless your hedgehog is willing to let hold him or her 
on their back long enough for a look.  The idea is to get a good look at 
their tummy.  If you can't get your prickly little friend to unroll enough 
while being held in your hands, you might try a piece of glass or clear 
plastic and look up at them while they are wandering (hopefully not too far) 
on it.

Anyway, enough beating about the quills, on to how to tell if you have a
her-hog, or a him-hog.

For male hedgehogs, the sex organ is located about 2/3 of the way from the
nose to the tail (along the tummy), and looks like a large belly-button.

In the female, the sex organ is located all the way down the tummy, directly
adjacent to the anus.  The female will also have a row of nipples along
each side, below the quill line, within the soft tummy fur.  These are
often hard to see, but do show as small pink spots, if you have the chance
to look carefully.

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4. *** Getting a pet hedgehog ***

------------------------------

Subject: <4.1> Which types/colours are there?  Male or female?  What age?

There are generally three varieties of hedgehogs that are available
as pets:  African dwarf or pigmy (white-bellied) hedgehogs, Pruner's 
(Cape) hedgehogs, and Egyptian (long-eared) hedgehogs.

Of these three, the first two are similar in appearance and temperament.
African pigmy and Pruner's hedgehogs tend to be very well behaved, and will 
rarely, if ever, nip an owner, but like with any animal, given the right 
(or wrong) circumstances, it can happen (see [3.1] for advice on biting).  

African pigmy (white-bellied) hedgehogs tend to have a whitish or light 
coloured face, while Pruner's hedgehogs have a darker or masked face.  The 
real difference, though is in the number of toes on the hind feet:  Pruner's 
hedgehogs have five like most hedgehogs, while the White Bellied hedgehog 
(the one we most often refer to as the African Pigmy hedgehog) is also known 
as the Four-toed hedgehog for obvious reasons (but only the hind feet).

Egyptian or long-eared hedgehogs (the ears being the most obvious 
differentiating factor) are, however, known for having a somewhat more 
aggressive personality, and will frequently nip or bite, as suggested here 
by Nathan Tenny:

    [Cerebus] (one of Nathan's former troupe -- ed.) is an Egyptian hedgehog 
    (_Hemiechinus auritus_).  The [care instructions in this FAQ also] 
    apply to him, but his personality is rather different.  There aren't 
    many on the market as yet, but they're distinguishable by their 
    loooong ears.  They are extremely cute animals, very active and 
    seemingly rather intelligent, but they *really* bite, and are not 
    recommended as cuddly pets!  We hand-raised Cerebus from a very young 
    age, playing with him a lot in hopes of making him comfortable with 
    us, but to no avail; as he's reached adulthood, being comfortable has 
    come to mean that he's not scared to bite us.  Oops.

This behaviour has been confirmed by Anja van der Werf, who has also pointed
out that in spite of this, they are generally more popular as pets in Europe
than are White-Bellied or Pruner's hedgehogs.

Regarding colour, most hedgehogs are covered with white and grey or brown 
ticked quills (sometimes called salt and pepper coloured, or more officially,
agouti), however, there are some hedgehogs known as ``snowflakes'' available.  
These are generally all white, or almost all white, but do not possess the
albino gene.  Albino hedgehogs also exist, and apparently the early problems
with them being unhealthy and not terribly robust, are now largely a thing
of the past.  In addition, there are a number of new colours coming out,
which are officially recognized (at least by the IHFS [2.7]).  The official
IHFS list currently consists of:

       	- Grey
       	- Cinnamon
       	- Grey Snowflake (Silver)
       	- Cinnamon Snowflake,
       	- White
       	- Albino, and
       	- Black

Prospective hedgehog owners should beware of large areas of white quills 
amongst what looks like normal colouration as this can indicate an animal 
that was injured at some point (quills that regrow in injury areas tend 
to be all white).  Not all hedgehogs showing white patches have necessarily 
been injured; there are some colour patterns starting to show up involving 
white patches, but this is a point of caution.

I recently received the following list of colours and descriptions from
Christi Cantrell that she acquired from a breeder in Texas:

       	Salt and Pepper (normal colouring) 
       	Snowflakes      (75% white)        
       	Whites          (90% white)
       	Cinnamons       (light brown)        
       	Creams          (light beige/ivory, ruby eyes)

It seems pretty clear that diversity in hedgehog colours is beginning to 
show up.  While the last on the list (Creams) certainly seem to be a variety
of albino (which wasn't actually listed, so they may be the same, just under
a different name), the rest appear to be actual colouration differences.

As far as personality goes, it has historically been thought that females 
are generally friendlier than males, and will become familiar with a new 
owner more quickly.  This, however, appears to be primarily a result of how 
a lot of breeders handle their animals -- males are usually not handled as 
much, and hence are not as gentled down.  Properly handled when they are 
young, there is little or no personality difference between sexes.  Being 
friendly generally means their quills will be laid back smoother, and they 
will have less of a tendency to roll into a ball.  

Females tend to be more expensive, both because of their perceived 
friendliness, and because of their ability to produce more hedgehogs.  
Breeders usually keep a ratio of several females for each male, which makes 
for a higher quantity of males available as pets, and hence another reason 
for the usually cheaper selling price of males.  Males on the other hand, do 
tend to self-anoint [7.1] more often than females, and this amazing feat of 
dexterity is something not to be missed!

The unusual colour varieties, such as snowflakes, were originally considered 
to be somewhat more high-strung in temperament than the more common salt and 
pepper hedgehogs.  From what I have been able to determine, this is not 
directly related to the colour, but is more a side-effect of the inbreeding 
done to try and propagate the special colouring.  In any case, temperament is 
going to depend largely on both the breeding, and on the type and amount of 
handling, rather than the exact colouration.

It appears there is another way to create a different colour hedgehog ...
while not quite in the same genre as the colourations above, one of the 
people I've been in touch with on the net (whose name I will withhold to
avoid potential embarrassment) passed along a story to me.  This kind hearted
hedgehog addict once fed her little herd of hedgies a treat of strained 
carrots (baby food) one night along with their normal food.  The hedgehogs 
seemed to find this new item interesting and proceeded to munch on it, then, 
as hedgehogs will do, they all self-anointed.  My friend thought nothing of 
it, other than that hedgehogs don't really like strained carrots.  In the 
morning, however, when the light wasn't quite so dim, my friend (who is 
probably a lifelong enemy by now) discovered an entire small herd of very 
``orange'' hedgehogs!  There it is folks -- the latest in hedgehog fashion -- 
the Orange Hedgehog.  I have since learned from friends and relatives with 
small children, that few things come close to strained carrots in staining 
ability, so I can well imagine that the effect of this was pretty amazing.  
I know I'll probably be blacklisted for life for adding this, but it was much
too good to resist!  ;-)

To compound the trouble I've gotten into above, I have also heard of another
kind hearted hedgie addice who offered her hedgehogs a treat of raspberries.
Come morning, once she realized they weren't showing the results of a vicious
fight and that the `blood' was nothing more than two seriously 
raspberry-annoited hedgies, it too, became time for a hogwash.  It seems you 
can create an amazing variety of impromptu colours (and flavours) of 
hedgehogs! ;-)

The best age to acquire a pet hedgehog is shortly after they have been 
weaned (after about 6-8 weeks of age).  Hedgehogs are completely independent 
by this stage, and adapt to new owners much more readily when young.  This 
doesn't mean that an older hedgehog won't become used to you and friendly 
towards you, it will just take a little longer and a little more patience.

Although hedgehogs can breed as early as 6-8 weeks, they should not be bred 
(especially females) until at least 4-6 months of age, and preferably about 
8+ months, when they become fully mature, both physically and mentally. 
Hedgehogs that have litters too early may not become good mothers, or may
experience a shorter lifespan as a result.

------------------------------

Subject: <4.2> How many should I get? 

Hedgehogs have historically been considered solitary creatures, that do not 
particularly get along well together, and in fact only like to be close to 
one another during mating.  This now appears to be changing, with many
breeders keeping at least females together in groups, and in some cases
even males.  I don't know whether this is the result of African Pigmy
hedgehogs taming down as a species, or whether they were always a bit 
more social than we gave them credit for.  In any case, keeping same
sex groups together can tend to be just fine, though it is always
important to keep an eye open for problems.  Kept together, hedgehogs
will often curl up together to sleep, and if one is quite young, it might
treat an older one as if it were its parent, and follow it around -- an
adorable site to see.

One of factors that helps in keeping groups of hedgehogs together is to
provide adequate space.  If things are too crowded, you can usually count
on fights (gee, that almost sounds like elementary school...).

All that having been said, hedgehogs are quite happy when kept individually,
and don't seem to miss the company of other hedgehogs.  There is no problem 
with having only a single hedgehog as a pet.

Keeping a male within vision of a mother with hoglets (even if in separate 
enclosures) can often result in the babies being eaten.  If you do want 
more than one hedgehog, be sure you provide plenty of privacy for each.

    Of course, opposite-sex pairs are a definite no-no unless you want babies.
    -- Nathan Tenny

------------------------------

Subject: <4.3> How can I introduce my hedgehog to my (dog/cat/bird/fish/
               rabbit/etc.) with the least trouble?

In what limited experience I've had, I have seen no problem with interaction
between hedgehogs and other pets -- my wife and I have four (+1) cats (Kit & 
Caboodle, Oreo, Snickers, and for now Scrapper) in addition to Velcro, Hocus 
and Pocus, our hedgehogs.  Velcro thinks the cats would make nice mealtime 
treats and chases them whenever possible, while Hocus and Pocus take little 
notice of the cats, other than an occasional duck of the head and a snuffling 
session.  For their part, the cats have only shown peaceful curiosity towards 
the hedgehogs.  The occasional very careful paw will reach out and almost, 
but not quite touch one of the hedgehogs.  The cats seem to know that these 
snuffling little armoured tanks are actually animated pincushions that would 
hurt if they really connected.  For his part, Velcro has actually shoved the 
largest cat (16+ lbs!) out of the way with nothing more than a slightly 
indignant look from the cat.  

Aside from this, I imagine that it will really depend on the personality
of your other pet(s).  I would expect more aggressive cats/dogs to try
nipping at or swatting at a new hedgehog (an action that is unlikely to be
repeated by any animal with the ability to learn from its mistakes).  
Hedgehogs are admirably well protected -- the worry is ``how safe are your 
other pets?''

As long as you supervise the first few encounters between your hedgehog and
your other pets, there should be no problem in either direction.  The only
time there should be cause for worry is if one or more of your other pets
could potentially be food in the eyes of your hedgehog (such as pet
mealworms?).

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-- 
My opinions belong to me and my company can't have them!
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