# Playing, or irritated with me?



## CarlaB (Nov 16, 2011)

When we have Spike out for "play time" he takes a few minutes to unball and start sniffing around (he's one of those grumpy hedgies when he gets woken up and it takes him about 15-20 minutes to decide he's going to come out). After he's "awake" and exploring around (usually we have him on my bed with lots of barriers up so he won't walk off the edge) we feed him his mealworms or other treats and he climbs on us, burrows under the fleece blankets we put on the bed, etc... He is fine with me stroking his quills after he's awake and realizes that it's just me and not a big scary monster trying to eat him - if I talk to him and say "it's ok, it's just me" he relaxes and I can pet him. Now to my question... When he has been out for 45 minutes to an hour he starts getting really active and crazy and runs around and does NOT want to be held - we pick him up to move him and he's constantly running his little feet trying to get out of our grasp so he can get down and burrow/run around. When he gets like this he keeps his quills flat and I will start stroking his sides and he JUMPS in circles - like he's popping but his quills are totally flat. It's SO funny, but last night as I was petting him and he was doing this I thought... "Hm... I wonder if he's just super annoyed at me and that's why he's popping, or if he's playing?" If his quills were up and he were super huffy I would know that he is irritated, but when he does this he has his quills flat and isn't trying to stab me when he pops - he just jumps around in circles when I touch him. Does anyone else have a hedgie that does this?


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## lehaley (Jun 25, 2011)

Felix does the EXACT same thing, including the spinning around in circles and popping. I'm not entirely sure, but I always just assumed that he's one of those hedgies that just isn't a big fan of being pet. Sometimes he will settle down and let me pet his back, but very rarely. He will sit still on my lap for 20 minutes or so, then he gets super hyper and pretty much wants nothing to do with me touching him anymore. I think Felix is more of an explorer than a cuddler. He's perfectly happy running around and climbing all over me, but he doesn't seem to like being forced to sit still and being touched like that. Maybe your hedgie has a similar personality.


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## Nebular (Dec 28, 2010)

Norman has the occasional like this. He'll decide that running around like and idiot and/or crawling over everything he can is a hoot and will squirm and fuss if I try to pick him up. Other night he just goes absolutely bonkers and jumps and turns around at the slightest touch, doing the whole popping with flattened quills bit at the same time. He'll still snuggle in as usual but will freak out if anything new touches him or if something covering him shifts the tiniest little bit. No idea why he gets like that since he's usually a very relaxed and snuggly litte guy and likes being petted. When he gets like that, he's usually that way for most of the night but *may* settle down if he quietly snuggles for a few hours. Some times it seems that a few wires get crossed in that little hedgie brain. :roll: :lol:


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## silvercat (Oct 24, 2008)

Annabell does the exact same thing too. She'll cuddle on the sofa then wants to run like a maniac around on the floor. My living room is hedgie proofed, so I just put the wheel in one corner, lie down on the floor & let her go to town running around the room, on the wheel & climbing Mt. Human as she pleases. (watch out for your hair though, hedgies seem to love to try to eat mine)


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