# Hedgies only like men/women?



## sebian (Aug 29, 2008)

I really need to stop going on Craigslist and typing in "hedgehog" or I will end up with a house full of them (not that that's a bad thing, but right now, it wouldn't be a very good idea for us  ). Anyway, one of the posts I found said that this female hedgie only likes women, so men need not respond. 

Can this be true? The lady giving her up didn't post any reasons as to why she believes that her hedgie doesn't like men and I can't recall ever reading about this subject or not. I know that cats/dogs can be gender specific in who they prefer to interact with...


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## sagesmommy (Sep 25, 2008)

i dont know if i will be much help but when i am hlding sage outside of her cage, she will run around and be happy. But when i have my brother in the room with me she will act scared until he leaves! So , Maybe?


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## r_k_chic47 (Aug 28, 2008)

sagesmommy said:


> i dont know if i will be much help but when i am hlding sage outside of her cage, she will run around and be happy. But when i have my brother in the room with me she will act scared until he leaves! So , Maybe?


It's possible that Sage just doesn't know your brother as well, so she's more unsure of him.  But anyways, I never really thought about the men/women preference with hedgehogs.


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## sebian (Aug 29, 2008)

Me either. I didn't think their little brains were capable of distinguishing between male and female humans.. although, their little brains ARE capable of interior design and eluding various authorities. Maybe this woman just said that because her male counterpart doesn't interact with the hedgie as much as she does and thus gets scared whenever he does?


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

I've heard of it before. Perhaps it is that men's voices sound more threatening or maybe they do recognize men from women. :?


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## Melissa (Sep 19, 2008)

I know hedgehog bond to a particular person more than others.. So maybe that could be it. Maybe the hedgehog bonded to the woman and not the man so she is just assuming.


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## PixiesExoticHedgies (Sep 4, 2008)

Melissa said:


> I know hedgehog bond to a particular person more than others.. So maybe that could be it.


This is what I was thinking, too.

But I also know that when my husband speaks to my hedgies, he has to raise the pitch of his voice a bit. Otherwise, it startles them and they will quill up.


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## padawanslacker (Oct 24, 2008)

I'm sure there are many animals that can distinguish male and female humans by smell . . . hedgehogs can have such funny aversions, and I suppose it's possible that this one finds something frightening about the smell of men.

I rather suspect it's just some variant of stranger-fear, though.


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## Reaper (Aug 22, 2008)

The first hedgie I ever came in contact with was a female hedgie and she did NOT like human females. She was kept in my house(we were pet sitting) and if any female walked past the door of her room she would quill up. But if I or my son were in the room next to her cage she was just fine. She would cuddle with me but wouldn't let a female pick her up. I can't explain it it was just how she was.


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## lilhoglet (Aug 28, 2008)

My hedgie, if given the opportunity, will gravitate towards my boyfriend more than me. He doesn't mind when I hold him or play with him, but he will 9 times out of 10 walk to my boyfriend over me. He was also very at ease with my brother. It might have to do with scent... I don't really know, but I thought it was interesting.


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## sebian (Aug 29, 2008)

That is really really interesting!

I suppose scent would make the most sense (no pun intended...?) since their noses are constantly going a billion miles a minute. Thanks for the input guys!


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## PinnyMommy (Sep 16, 2008)

Pin is an equal opportunity poop on you hedgehog.


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## sebian (Aug 29, 2008)

:lol: So are my guys!


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## iamdbf (Aug 28, 2008)

I think that its a case by case thing, both on the hedgie's preferance in human voice and smell, and what people fit that. Jade seems to not be sexist and she is friendly toward everyone, but one of my friends she just kind of likes, and a couple she really likes. It may involve how well they know to respect animals. (of course its mainly how well the hedgie knows u, but that goes without saying).
Jade seems to like me the best, and sadly (for me) , she only will poop/pee on me. It really cute though, if i am neeling and moving across the room in one way, or doing something similar to crab walking, i can get Jade to chase me. She will sprint her fastest directly twords me regardless of whatever turns i make. it's soooo cute! She will stop if i get to far away (about aa few feet) and don't worry; if she catches up too much, tough i can easily go faster than her, if she does get close, i will stop moving to make sure she won't get hurt. I just needed to point that last part out so no one got angry. :x One thing though, if there is a major difference in her surroundings, she will get curious and stop chasing me to investigate, and if we are near her cage, she will dart to it cuz she wants to go in, but besides that she loves chasing me cuz we bonded. i love my cute little girl.
Gosh i talk a lot.


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## PixiesExoticHedgies (Sep 4, 2008)

*dbf> *that's pretty cool. I'll have to get my son to crab walk and see if any of my hedgies will chase him. He'd love that playing that game with the hedgies.


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

I've noticed that if I set Inky out on the floor, he will run towards me as well. I don't think it's an "I like you" but an "I think you are a good place to hide and sleep" thing, hehe. He's crawled up my pant leg once and it hurt a heck of a lot getting him out! 

Make sure she doesn't run underneath you, and then move, so you don't squish her! :?


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## iamdbf (Aug 28, 2008)

Lg, of course i kno not to squish her!!!
as for her following me, i thought about that too and ur probably right, but i like to think its cuz she likes me. She does perfer me over others tho. i can tell.
Anyways, recently i've found that scooting back on my knees works best to get her to chase me.


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## jabment (Nov 14, 2008)

I don't know about hedgehogs but I worked in a vet hospital and boarding facility for two years and that was definitely the case with some of those animals. More the dogs than the cats. But we would get dogs that would come in with only females in their families so they were very aggressive towards any of the male workers. I remember one dog, Milo, was a big meanie to everyone but mostly guys. A male coworker was trying get him out for a walk but Milo was snarling a bit too much. I easily went and got the leash on. But some dogs who were mean to one sex might be totally cool with a member of their family of that sex (aka if Milo had a daddy, he would be nice to him and mean to everyone else).

So to sum up this big old thing, I think it might depend on the background and who they were raised around.


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## sebian (Aug 29, 2008)

That's true. One of my husband's male co-workers has a wonderful rescue sheltie who will cower when she sees my husband with his beard. Her owner doesn't have a beard so she's ok around him, but if there's a choice between the three of us, she'll come to me before the other two! But, if my husband shaves (even if he just keeps a mustache), she's completely fine around him.


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## ana (Jan 21, 2009)

Eva's still new to this place and still getting used to everything, but she really does seem to prefer women so far...

She's ok with Wes most of the time, absolutely hated his dad ('course his dad's kinda big and loud - I'd be scared too if I was a hedgie - but still, even when he was trying to be quiet and gentle she STILL puffed up and started making the helicopter noise), she wasn't super keen on his brother in law, but did let him touch her a little... 

When his sister and mother came over though she was totally fine with them though! (Of course, I think all animals love his sister. )

It's kind of weird because when I bought her I had Wes in mind, thinking she'd bond to him better because I've always, always, always bonded better with male animals than females. It's kinda weird how she's pretty much become my little baby.


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