# housing 2 females together



## hedgielover88 (Dec 11, 2010)

My hubby and I have a female hedgehog that will turn 1 Oct. 31, we love our hedgie and everything about hedgies and are talking about getting a second hedgie but we are not sure whether or not they can be housed together. We have all the supplies for a second cage set up because we figured even if they can be housed together they would still need to slowly get to know each other by spending a little time together everyday in a nutural area. I was just wondering if anyone else houses them together or if they should have their own space.
Oh and they hedgie we are looking at adopting is a 1.5 yr old female. Thanks for your help.


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

Almost always, the answer is 'no'. There is one case on HHC I know of where two females were housed together but they were Tumbleweeds and were together in the ****-hole they lived in before they were saved.

Males + Females = Babies
Males + Males = Aggression; Territorial Tehavior
Females + Females = Territorial Behavior

Sometimes, sisters or moth & daughter are housed together successfully; often everything seems fine and everyone's happy until one day...no know reason...and the result is never good.


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

I have two pairs of females that live together. 

The first pair is Pita and Maggie, Pita is a retired breeder and Maggie is a rescue. I introduced them slowly and am always ready to seperate them if the need arises. The reason I house them together is that they both are older (over 3) and both require softened kibble. I've found that being with Pita has made Maggie ( the grumpiest hedgie in the world, she can hiss and pop for over 2 hours when you take her out) slightly more socialable with me. Now when I go in to check on everyone or clean cages she will actually peek out from her ball, which is a great improvement for her. 

The other pair I have is Sophie, a rescue, and Boots, a Texas Tumbleweed. Sophie had be housed with another rescue who had to be helped to cross due to oral cancer, I noticed after that she seemed to be eating less, and not as active. When I got Boots she had been housed with two other female Tumbleweeds and I knew she was happier with company, so I introduced the two of them and they got along great. 

Now as I said I have extra cages where I can seperate either pair at anytime, and I check carefully to make sure there has been no fighting. They also have two wheels and two sleeping places, althought they always seem to be sleeping together. It can be done, but has to be done slowly and carefully, and stopped at the slightest sign of agression from either of them. You don't want to wake up some morning and find that they have fought during the night and someone is injured. 

My one pair has been together happily for over a year now and the second pair almost a year. I should also mention that these are all hedgies that I had had for awhile and knew their personalities well before attempting to pair them, except for the Tweed. They were all older hedgies, again except for the Tweed.


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