# Quilling Question: With regards to petting



## SarahBuffington (Jun 5, 2012)

Hey guys, I have been very curious about this matter for a while. I am a first time hedgehog owner and have had Phoebe for over a month now. She's is wonderful and has fit into my life like it was her place. My question is regarding actually petting her back. 

She recognizes my scent and I have no problem at all with handling her. She also recognizes my boyfriend, but it troubles him a lot that he cannot show affection to her by petting her. Whenever anyone tries to touch her back from above, she cannot stand it. First the quills on her head go down, then the quills perk up everywhere and she huffs and hisses and jerks her head. She is generally like this most of the time. The only time she will allow her back to be petted is right after a bath when they are completely flat, and she is very relaxed. The quills are also so much softer after a warm bath too, so that's a perk.

Do hedgehogs generally not like their quills touched? Or is this behavior from the process of quilling? She is close to three months old now and I found a multitude of quills about a month ago steadily for a week. Is qulling over for her now? I have not seen any quills in quite some time. 

So my real question is, is this behavior from the quilling process or is it a permanent hostility towards petting? Are some hedgehogs less accepting of having their backs petted than others? 

She is a very affectionate hedgehog, don't get me wrong. She lets me touch/pet her belly, snout, and even her forehead. She enjoys cuddling and is so sweet. So this behavior is what makes me very curious. If it's caused by quilling, I can definitely understand. I give her baths frequently to relieve any pain and she enjoys them so much! She loves the warm water and oatmeal baths I give her and all of the cuddling afterward. She seriously loves baths. She sits in my sink and just closes her eyes when I pore water on her back. 

I'm curious to know if this is because of quilling or just a tendency of some hedgehogs to hate being petted on their quills and back area. Thank you!


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## HedgieGirl519 (Oct 21, 2011)

Each hedgehog is different. Some will let you pet them, some won't. They also will let you pet them in one area, but not another. Petting her back can be worked up to. But if could take months or years even. It could be from quilling. Quilling hurts. People generally don't want to be touched where they are sore, same for animals  For one of mine, I could always pet her face but NEVER her back. They are all different and have spots they don't want to be touched


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## hanhan27 (May 12, 2011)

My hedgie has a similar issue. I asked about it a while back... here's the link in case you want to read through it

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=16784&p=145309&hilit=hates+having+her+quills+touched#p145309

Just to clarify, are you trying to pet her back by just putting your hand on her back? I know that if my hedgie doesn't get a chance to see my hand coming, she freaks out if anything touches where she can't see. I always attempt to pet her back by starting my finger/s by her nose and running them up her forehead and over her visor quills. She is much more jumpy if I don't let her see that it's just my finger and give her a second to realize it's my finger on her back, not a predator lol.


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## SarahBuffington (Jun 5, 2012)

Thank you for the helpful answers! I also read the link to the forum and I think it helped a lot. I tried petting her head first and then going down her back so she knows it's my hand that's touching her and sometimes she's fine with it and sometimes she's in it. It seems to just depend on her mood. Just like with her visor quills, sometimes she seems to like it and sometimes she drops them like she doesn't like it. I haven't really been able to find a sweet spot on her back, unless it's the one that I used to touch between her shoulders when I first got her to get her to stiffly unroll from a ball. Sigh, maybe I just have a hedgie that doesn't like her quills touched very much.


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