# Mental Short-Circuit



## Nebular (Dec 28, 2010)

Most nights, Norman is his usual calm, cuddly self. Every now-and-then, however, his little hedgie brain seems to short-circuit and he goes completely nutty. Touching him results in him jumping, occasionally spinning around, huffing, and finally ends with a "grr, don't touch me!" glare. The back of my hands also seem to become the tastiest things in the world. If he catches a whiff of them, he'll dart out from wherever he is hiding and feverishly lick and nibble the back of my hand until he either spazzes out again or I move my hand (also resulting in him spazzing out). He's still perfectly content to snuggle on my chest while covered in one of his shirts, but touching him results in the whole freak out routine again. I haven't kept track of how often this happens but it's pretty rare; once every 4 or 5 months if I were to guess. It only ever lasts one night. The next night he's back to his old self. He's warm, well fed and watered, has his wheel that he religiously uses, all of the snuggle time he wants, in perfect health according to the vet, etc. No change to hand or laundry soap or light schedule. Nothing else unusual. I'm not worried since this isn't unheard of for him, just amused and somewhat baffled by the why of it all. Has anyone else seen this with their little monsters?


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## SquiggyTheHedgie (Jul 26, 2011)

Squiggy has a bit of that some nights. Hes very set in his routine, hes healthy, gets lots of cuddles, loves his wheel, and still has tons of hedgie-tude. But he does sometimes space out randomly, or there have been times where I'll watch him wheel and he will just plop down on his belly and lay there swinging. He will lay there a good 5 min just staring off into the blue until something interrupts his mental tirade. This happens maybe every few weeks or so. On these nights he will also throw a mini riot while I'm asleep and trash his cage. I think he does it just to keep me on my toes :lol:


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## Nebular (Dec 28, 2010)

Bah. Put this in the Housing & Accessories forum instead of the Personality and Behavior forum


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

Every once in a while, Pepper will "wig out" on us. :lol: I have no idea what it's all about. I think she just has to use the restroom.


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## smhufflepuff (Aug 28, 2008)

Satin would have her huffy nights too... for no reason that I could figure out. 

As long as it didn't continue over a long time and nothing else seemed wrong, I figured this: if I can have a huffy (bad) day for reasons a hedgie cannot discern, it only makes sense that hedgie can have one too.


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## LaurenR (Dec 22, 2011)

Do you have a special-occasions-only perfume or beauty product? Or maybe just something you put on your skin every so often? I wonder if his freak-outs coincide with your using it? The nibbling on your hands is what made me think of it. It could also be nail polish related. Vlad's never as happy to see me one the rare occasion that I've done my nails or I've got on the expensive date night perfume. (Luckily, he's not a bitey one though.)


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