# My hedgehog bit me...hard!



## Bookworm0824 (Jul 21, 2014)

Good morning,

I've had Sonic for 1 week now (he is a 1 yr old adult male rescue).

Up until yesterday he has been very friendly, cuddling in my lap and playing when I take him out of his cage. He is shy if I make sudden movements but, for the most part he is pretty easy going. :grin:

Last night though he bit me...hard. Like he was hanging on for dear life (I could have lifted him up in the air and had him dangling from my finger he was gripping so tight). :twisted: Anyways I yelped and sort of pushed my finger towards him (as I had previously read to do) and he let go, skittering off to hide under the blankets at the end of the couch. By this point both he and I were pretty upset. I was able to grab him in a blanket and get him back in his cage so I could treat my now bleeding finger.

When I first approached his cage last night he was very skitterish (usually he allows me to take him out without issue) but, yesterday he hid under his wheel. I gave him a couple minutes than was able to get him out but, he wasn't happy about it. Once out he sat in my lap and ate a piece of boiled carrot. He then proceeded to run up and down my legs on the couch for a few minutes. It was while he was running around that he bit me...he was very close to the edge of the couch and I didn't want him to fall off so I scooped him up (as I have done on numerous occasions) but, this time almost instantly he turned and bit.

Once he was back in his cage he went crazy. He was running around in circles, knocked his wheel over (I checked and he is fine it didn't land on him) and started to lie on his back and squirm. This lasted about 15 minutes then he settled down and hid in his igloo, snuffling and snorting if I went anywhere near his cage. Thankfully, he seemed calmer this morning when I changed his food and water.

I will admit that I had given myself a mani/pedi earlier in the evening and had applied hand lotion but, I had washed my hands since and it had been awhile so I had thought the smell had dissipated. Could he have been resentful of my taking him out of the cage later than usual? 

Any idea what could have caused this and will this become a regular habit? I must admit that I am a bit hesitant to handle him now as I'm afraid its going to happen again. :???:


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

It sounds like he was either having an off night or he could still smell the hand lotion. When you get him out tonight, make sure you haven't used anything on your hands, then go slowly and talk to him. Try to stay confident & not show any sign of being nervous - he'll sense it and get nervous himself, which could provoke a situation in which he tries to bite. It sounds more like he was defending himself when he bit you - perhaps he didn't realize it was you due to the hand lotion or something was bothering him & so he was already irritated/upset. You can try checking him over tonight to see if there's a quill that might be poking him or something, but if he's calmer today, hopefully that means whatever was wrong, whether it was a quill, the lotion, or something else, is gone now.


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## TikkiLink (Dec 4, 2013)

Luckily my girl has never bitten that hard, but she throws a huge tantrum and eventually bites if she feels like my hands are preventing her from exploring. Because of that, I do not let her roam on high places where I will have to use my hands to keep her from walking off the edge. For a while when she was little I became nervous about her biting after she bit me a few times, but, at least with my girl, she knows when you're nervous and you just have to be firm and persistent in handling. You will learn what things make yours really upset, so that you can handle the situation without frustrating your hedgie. If your hedgie seems frustrated, try to pick him up so that he can't get his mouth to your hands to bite. The best way to stop biting behavior is to not let them have the chance to do it! If you do get bitten again, don't put him away-- hold him for like ten minutes, wrapped in a blanket or whatever, so that he doesn't think he can bite you in order to get you to put him back in his cage.

It maybe sounds though like your hedgie was full of energy and was really frustrated because he felt like you were keeping him from exploring fully. Letting him explore a safe room or area on the floor with a playpen would probably make him happy.


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## Ashley.dear (Mar 31, 2014)

Sometimes it's just interesting smells, but it could just be that your fingers were in the way of where he was going. I was laying on the couch once with my girl, who is 5 months old, and she tried burrowing into my armpit area, and I didn't move, so she bit me. I'm not sure if it was because of me being in her way or if my deodorant smelled tasty... But once she bit, I sat up... And she had bitten so hard that she had actually latched on, and she was dangling for a second or two! She's only bitten that hard maybe four times in the 3 months that I've had her, and all the times could be explained to smelling tasty, or being in her way. 
Hopefully your Sonic's biting isn't a repeating occurrence!


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## hgual22 (Jun 6, 2014)

If he bites make sure you dont put him back in the cage. That teaches him that if he bites, he gets to go back to his warm cage.


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## Melanie G. (May 29, 2014)

If he is a year old, he could be quilling which could make him cranky.


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## shinydistraction (Jul 6, 2014)

I read somewhere that some hedgehogs don't like nail polish. Maybe something about the manicure bugged him?


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## Tongue_Flicker (Jun 11, 2013)

You could sound train him every time he bites. I would normally do a loud 'pssshhht!' On my hedgies especially my boy who seem to have a dislike of human toes. Works well on my sugar gliders too lol


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