# Pindsvin likes metal?



## Chihirolee3 (Nov 27, 2012)

Pindsvin is 3 months old as of last Saturday!  He's is growing like mad and I am using two bowls to feed him instead of one now. He's settled in pretty well and we have a pretty good routine going in his care and attention needs. He's such a little ball of energy! At first he'll huff and puff for about 2 minutes after I take him out of his cage, but he always calms down (I'd be grumpy too if I was rudely awoken all the time). Now that we have a basic "understanding" of each other, I have noticed some very interesting personality quirks that I thought I would share/ask about/get opinions on. 

Now this one is acutally pretty funny and cute in my book, being blacksmith's and all. I haven't seen Pindsvin annoint much in front of me, but lately, when my husband and I let him run around a bit (doubly supervised in a hedgie safe homemade pen), he loves to annoint using a little stump anvil and wheelwright that is in our library. When I hold him, I've grown used to taking off my rings becuase I have gotten into the habit of cleaning out his and Rhododendron cages before I give them attention, so I don't want my rings getting all poopy. But there have been a few times I've forgotten, and when my ring is near him, he takes it in his teeth and hides it under him and really "fights" me to keep it (he's gone so far as to bite me over it). I think it's adorable what he does this, but I want to know if this is "normal" hedgehog behavior or is this something out of the ordinary. I know hedgehogs use their senses to figure things out, and I am not suprised by him licking, but annointing with metal, is that normal? And is being possesive over metal objects, is that also normal? It's not just my copper ring he goes ga ga over, i have a small old diecast tractor that is in his cage (it's heavy so he can't dig under his liner, and there is no delicate pieces or pieces that he can get hurt over or caught on, thought it was better than a rock). I cannot, for the life of me, take this toy out of his cage while he is in there, he starting hissing and everything if he sees me touch it. I put this tractor in his cage about a month ago, and he's really become possessed over it. I do believe he annoints with this tractor too (it is not painted, and my husband ground it to a nice polished look), since every time I clean his cage, that thing is always slimey feeling (to which I wipe it down with a vinegar/water cloth). 
Again, I do think this is adorable behavior of Pindsvin (he is so much more flamboyant in personality than Rhododendron), but is it normal?


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## abbys (Oct 13, 2012)

Yay that he's settling in so nicely! 

I think they'll anoint with pretty much anything, and the more potent the smell, the better! Piglet even anointed with 409 cleaner a couple months ago (and now I have the number for Poison Control in my phone).

Although with metal, I would be worried about 1) ingesting some of it, even if it seems like a miniscule amount. And 2) chipping/hurting his teeth when he bites it.

You'll hafta get video of him protecting his toys, because that sounds adorable!


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## AngelaH (Jul 24, 2012)

:lol: sounds adorable! Thistle will 'attack' metal zipper pulls on my clothes, bite on it and try to pull on it and back away with it. I sometimes get fearful that she will hurt a tooth doing it.


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## GoodandPlenty (Feb 4, 2012)

There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that suggests hedgehogs are drawn to checking out metal objects. Sophie has shown an interest herself, but I've always been afraid that she might go too far in her investigation and won't let her. When checking out a new smell / taste, she is pretty aggressive with biting and tugging. I wouldn't want her hurting her teeth.

I think we are too careful with hedgies with some things, but it so hard to know what is probably okay and what is too risky to allow.


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## Chihirolee3 (Nov 27, 2012)

I've been worried about his teeth too, last month I myself chipped a tooth by accidentally biting down on my fork while eating a salad :? I wouldn't want that to happen to him. I haven't seen him try to bite his little tractor, although he does like to lick it. I think he's smart enough to know it won't fit in his mouth :lol: 

I wonder what really gets their attention with metal things. Different metals obvioiusly have different smells, and if there may be paint, cleaner, food, sweat, outdoor air, or whatever is common to be on metal, it is obvious that metals would have different tastes and smells to them. I have two rings (both are wedding rings, it's hard to explain). My copper one is the one he goes gaga over, while my tungsten carbide one is just ignored.


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## Gero (Sep 10, 2013)

My Yuki loves metal, once he smells it he wants to pull it out from where ever it is. At first I thought that it was because his water comes from the metal water bottle, but he tries to tug on metal on his wheel too.


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## ZeeMartin (Aug 5, 2013)

this makes me wonder if there isn't some trace-metal need that's not supplied in the feed they're getting.

With my farm animals and the wild deer on our property, we'll see them lick the limestone rocks, and they actively choose between the mineral-salt, selenium-salt, and just salt blocks. 

Copper in particular is a question - goats need it, horses need less of it, sheep can overdose on it. sometimes the goats will choose the goat minerals (with copper) and sometimes the sheep minerals (very low copper). I wear a copper/silver/brass cuff when my arthritis is bothering me, it resolves the pain (after it turns my arm green) so I know that I'm probably either copper or silver (or both) deficient in my diet.

the particular attraction to copper and iron (both have a taste that I can readily identify) vs the ring that has no taste (tungsten carbide) is intriguing.


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