# Hedgehog that hasn't been handled...



## joshb. (Aug 11, 2010)

I am considering adopting a hedgehog soon, but he hasn't been handled much at all. He is about a year old, and he apparently balls up and huffs when handled. Is there any chance for him to bond? Has anybody here had a hedgie that wasn't handled that they were able to bond with?


----------



## jinglesharks (Jun 15, 2010)

joshb. said:


> I am considering adopting a hedgehog soon, but he hasn't been handled much at all. He is about a year old, and he apparently balls up and huffs when handled. Is there any chance for him to bond? Has anybody here had a hedgie that wasn't handled that they were able to bond with?


I don't know how much he was handled, but I have a hedgehog that was mistreated. I got him when he was just over a year old and we've bonded. It took a while and it required a lot of patience, but it's worth it.


----------



## schmelderz (Jul 7, 2010)

Thanks for offering to take him in, that's nice of you  Best of luck to you and your hedgie!


----------



## DeniseLynette (Aug 12, 2010)

I adopted a hedgehog about a week ago that was horribly treated.
Wrong food, cage, wheel, & they would get him high.
He didnt like anyone at all, but since then (& its only been a week) he has seem to like me more. There is & will probably always be that huff & puff at first, but he comes out of his cage & will run around & explore, not minding if I stroke his quills or scratch his chin.

Hedgehogs need to learn to trust. You can always sleep in an old T-Shirt & put it in his cage so he can burrow in it or sleep in it & get used to your smell a little bit more.

Good luck with everything !


----------



## EryBee (May 23, 2010)

Yep, like everyone else has stated it'll take patience. But it sounds like this little hedgie needs to some love, so I hope you're the person to give to give him some TLC. He'll need time to adjust to new surroundings, so giving him space at first is important. After that, just cuddles, treats, and good maintenance. I like to have a special towel or cloth set aside for my hedgie so that he can curl up in it and sit in my lap while I watch movies. This way we log a lot of bonding hours without him getting into trouble.


----------



## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

Can they learn to trust and bond again? Yes. However, it can be a very long and often challenging process at times. And do remember that not all will be friendly, so think hard about if you can deal with a hedgehog that may always be defensive and stays in a quill ball when you are near. There are those that are handled daily from birth that will always be very defensive. Its just their personality. 

As an example of those that can become friendly, let me introduce you to Cooper's story. 

Cooper arrived at my home as an extremely combative, angry, biting hedgehog. At first all we ever saw was a hissing, clicking ball of quills. Then he started to unroll... only to bite. His bites were latch on to whatever he could, and curl back up with that said piece of skin still between his teeth while grinding his teeth. These bites were meant to hurt, and hurt they did, often drawing blood. After many months of patience, understanding, and a lot of respect to back off when he was really upset, he has turned into just a sweetheart. He still is defensive, but I can now rub his ears, his toes and even put my fingers in his mouth to rub his gums, all without even a threat of a bite. So it can happen


----------



## Sela (Apr 10, 2010)

My Quillamina was completely neglected in her first 'home,' if you can call it that. (Which you can't, by the way, they were horrible to her.) As we all know, neglect is a form of abuse, and I'm not sure what else the poor thing was subjected to. I do know that she was never held, never played with, and never fed any form of treats. She was nine months old when she came home with me, supposedly; I have no way of knowing whether they lied about her age or not, saying she was younger than she was to make her more appealing, perhaps. They had had her five months, which makes me suspect she was a pet store hog, because what breeder keeps a baby for four months if they don't intend to keep her indefinitely? Quillamina didn't even have a name when we got her, that was how little they cared about her.

She was a little terror when we brought her home. She hissed constantly, she was almost always balled up, and when she wasn't balled up, she was biting. She was terrified of humans, because she had had such little contact with them. No hedgehog hates humans, but Quillamina came as close to hating us as any hog could.

What happened to her, you may ask? Well, we didn't give up on her. (Read: I didn't give up on her, Dad didn't pay her much attention after we brought her home, even though she was supposed to be his hog. Don't be too angry with him, though; we were all fragile because my grandfather had died only two months before) Quillamina started to come around after a little while. She would hide behind a stack of pillows while my dad and I watched soccer, and in this way, she began to grow accustomed to our voices and our scents. She would cower in her blanket while I held her and watched TV, or played on my computer. eventually, she really started coming around to me and started to enjoy being petted. She even took mealworms from me for the first time a few months ago. (Mind you, it took her more than a year to even think about doing so.) She still huffs a lot, and will hiss and jump at me if I pet her when she doesn't want to be touched, but she loves to cuddle. She's actually sleeping in my shirt right now, and I'm trying to deal with the prickling. I always itch for a while after she leaves said shirt.

It's definitely possible to bond with an unsocialized hog, but it is by no means easy. The most important things to remember are that no hedgehog hates humans, and that you can't give up.


----------



## susanaproenca (Aug 14, 2010)

Mustard came to live with us when she was turning one year old. She wasn't living in the best conditions and her owner (a 8yearl-old) didn't handle her at all.

It's been only 6 weeks she's living with us and she's is the sweetest thing ever! We handle her every night no exceptions, for at least 20 min. Even when I took her to the vet 2 weeks ago, everybody wanted to see and touch her, and she didn't ball up at all! The doctor was very surprised.

So, it is possible to bond, but it will take you lots of patience. On the first few weeks she might huff and puff every time you go near her -- don't let that stop you from handling her though. Eventually she will come around.


----------

