# Still super timid? :(



## elishax (Oct 10, 2011)

My hedgehog isn't warming up to me at all  I got it on Friday, left it alone that night and had it out twice yesterday, and then for a half hour tonight for now. I'm going to take it out after. I'm unable to get meal worms until Tuesday, I heard they sped up the bonding process. Is there anything else I can do now? I lie down with it and just relax but it doesn't uncurl and gets in a tighter ball if it sees my hand coming or anything. I try to make it more snuggly in the towel and if I'm covered up in a blanket it starts to puff and hiss  I know the bonding process takes awhile but I'm afraid it's a cranky hedgie!  I'm kind of afraid of it since it's my first hedgehog, I havent taken it out of its cage myself yet but I do have a worn t-shirt in there! PLEASE give me some advice on how I can speed up the bonding process!


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## shawnwk1 (Jul 8, 2011)

relax and read some of the other threads on here about bonding there are a lot of them with great advice and just remember that it is going to take time and some can take years to warm up and others never warm up and that's perfectly okay, that's just who they are and you WILL learn to love him/her for who he/she is just like that grumpy/huffy or not and the sooner you learn and accept that the less stress it will be for both you and the hedgie both (please don't take me saying this as me being mean in any way i only say this from personal experience as i too along with many many others here have dealt with shy and grumpy (some way grumpier than others) hedgies and we've all been here and had to learn this). i kept wanting jeremiah to be less grumpy and less jumpy and huffy and would get soooooooooo frustrated with him because he just would NOT cooperate and no matter what i did he refused to calm down and just relax enough to realize that i was a safe haven and i would not hurt him. finally i realized that the problem wasn't him it was me, I was trying too hard and it was stressing him out even more and i didn't even realize it. once i just let him be him and realized that he may just be one of those hedgies that could always be a grumpy man then he totally turned around and started playing more and unballing, letting me pet him, no longer pops, rarely huffs, and it's almost like i have a totally different hedgie now (almost lol). he's still not ready for a show or anything. i still can't touch his visor most of the time, but we're working on that and he does still get mad at me often. point is they can turn around sometimes, but you gotta work on you too and just relax and let them be them and not stress so much cuz you are stressing them out they can feel your anxiety and frustration. just put him/her in a fleece blanket on your lap while you watch tv or play on the computer and chill out. let him/her come to you in their time. patience and consistancy are your best friends here. you have to be patient and you have to be consistant. you have to take him/her out for bonding every single night 7 days a week for at least a half hour to an hour if not longer even just to put on your lap during the tv/computer time.


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## Alastrina (Sep 18, 2009)

The bonding process can take weeks, months even, and yet there is still no hard and fast guarantee that a hedgehog will ever seek out or really even seem to enjoy human attention.

I'm not trying to discourage you, but to prepare you to hang in there because it can take a little while before those little signs of your hedgie relaxing and accepting you will appear.

Yes, mealworms can help because they let the hedgie know that food comes from you, and treats/bribes have never hurt any developing relationship ^_^ Having a blanket or a shirt with your scent on it in the cage can help too because they will become familiar with your smell and know that your smell means a safe place.

Two days is hardly any time at all, so be patient with your little one and give them all the love you can.


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