# aggressive baby



## pinkkita (Aug 17, 2012)

We recently got a baby hedgehog through a local petstore. He is about the size of a computer mouse. When we brought him home he immediately went after one of my daughters foam toy buses. We thought it was a little cute. But I was also a little concerned as all of my research said that they didn't bite. We found out that he had mites the second day we had him and I brought him to the vet later that week. He has now bit everyone in our family, and actually lunges out to get them sometimes. We often will hold him during the day while he is sleeping so he can get used to our scent. He is fine, but at night when we think we should play with him he bites. He has actually peirced through the skin of my mother and my husband. I am sick in my stomach over it. I am also very teary over it, as we have all fallen in love with him. I was hoping I could reach out to you and you could give me a few suggestions. He is so little and I dont want to give in to his bites however he is so darn cute that people want to touch him, including us. We just cant have a pet that is aggressive. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Angela
I also wanted to mention that we wash our hands before handling and that hasn't seemed to help.


----------



## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

When hedgehogs bite we need to try and figure out what the reason is. Sometimes it's easy to figure out, often we never do. 

Possibly he is hungry. As soon as you get him up, set some food in front of him. 

I assume you are holding him when he bites? If so, possibly he wants to get down and biting is how he is telling you. Giving in to those bites will teach him that all he has to do is bite and he gets put down. He may also have to go potty. I've had some that would bite if I was holding and they needed to potty. 

Some hedgehogs are very oral and like to chew and tug on fabrics or things that smell good. Try offering a hedgie safe cloth for him to chew on or wear something old that he can chew on. Just make certain to pull the fabric away from your skin so he doesn't accidentally grab you. 

When you wash your hands before handling him, what do you use? Perhaps he likes it so try using something else or plain water. 

Some hedgehogs just like to bite and we can discourage that behaviour. Never put your fingers in front of his face like people do with dogs. This is an open invitation for hedgie to bite. If he bites, try not to put him down. Hard to do, but it reinforces the behaviour. Don't hold treats in your hands for him to take. That makes some of them think we always have something good in our fingers. Hold him in a hedgie safe small cloth so he doesn't have access to your fingers. What he can't get to he can't bite. Keep exposed skin away from his mouth.

Try and figure out what is triggering his biting and if you can avoid it, he will stop.


----------



## pinkkita (Aug 17, 2012)

Thank you so much Nancy, some things I hadn't thought about that could be triggers. I will keep handling him and try different soap and offering him food before we really engage. We just started carrying his cloth with us. That just might be his thing as well. Thank you again.


----------

