# Hedgehogs sensing emotion?



## phoenixjay (Nov 18, 2014)

I broke up with my boyfriend of a year and a half yesterday. There were multiple reasons, but no matter how bad the reasons were, I was extremely upset yesterday. Still am. But I'm basically a lizard's tail. I can recover pretty quickly. It might take more than usual in this case, but I'm okay. 

I took Moyo out like I usually do, and I put him on the floor. He sniffed around for a few seconds, and then ran for me and crawled up my leg so he could be on my lap. He usually just falls asleep on me. But instead he curled up, purred, and on occasion looked up at me as if he was saying "you okay?" It was different for him. He was like this until he saw the sweet potato baby food. :lol: But even after anointing, he crawled back and sat next to me for a little while. 

He is a cuddler through and through, and he is so loving. But he has never been like he was last night. Is it possible that he knew?


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## Nick120180 (Oct 27, 2014)

Yeah I think so. I'm pretty sure a lot of people struggle holding their hedge because of fear being transmitted.
If mine has a freak out all I have to do is hold him in my arm with 1 finger on his head and gently say "calm" and as long as I'm projecting calm he'll calm down almost instantly. So yeah they can respond to the atmosphere around them.


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## MistyDay (Oct 31, 2014)

All animals are hyper sensitive to our emotions. This is especially true for the ones we take care of. Moyo sees you as his mom, and knows when you're upset. Tulsi, only being with me for a few weeks, responds to my emotions as well. If I'm nervous, she squirms. If I'm sad, she either snuggles into the crook of my arm or into my neck. If I'm happy, she's all over the place. :lol: Our hedgies will always know when something's up, even more so when there is a strong bond.


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## hedgielover224 (Feb 16, 2015)

Whenever Lester gets scared, I gently pet him and am perfectly calm, I just whisper "you're okay, Lestibournes, you're okay" and he begins to calm down. It's so sweet to know I've only had him for a week, but he is already quickly warming up to me! I love him so much!


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## Katten (May 10, 2014)

They absolutely can! I have an extremely huffy, wriggly, independent hedgehog, but one day I was feeling really awful and was crying and just needed someone to snuggle, so I took Tinkerball out and put her on my chest and she flattened herself out and just lied there and fell asleep. It was so sweet! Usually she has to expend her energy before she'll even consider lying on my chest without huffing. 

I had a similar experience with my roommate's dog. Someone I knew died the day before Christmas eve, and I was an absolute wreck. The dog came to bed with me and lied with his head on my back the whole night. I took him out to pee once, but other than that he just stayed with me. In the morning, my roommate had to leave to go to her parents' house, and the dog refused to get up. My roommate picked him up and brought him to the car, but he got out of the car and ran back into the room and crawled into bed with me again. The next time my roommate came to get her dog, he growled at her and got closer to me. It wasn't until I brought him to the car myself and kissed him on the nose and said "bye bye" (he knows what "bye bye" means) that he would leave my side. It was honestly one of the most touching moments of my life. 

I can sense animals' emotions too, as well as other peoples' emotions. (Although I have high functioning autism (asperger's) and supposedly autistic people aren't supposed to have empathy, I don't really believe that because I have intense empathy. I've always had a very strong connection with animals, though, and not people, because I know how to react when an animal is upset, but if I do the same thing to a person they find it weird. )

They did a study with small children to test them for empathy. The scientists went into homes observed what would happen when a parent pretended to be upset. The children reacted as suspected -- even the young ones would get very close to their parent and try to comfort them. Some of these families had pets, though, and what surprised the scientists is that the pets would act the same way. 

Animals are amazing.


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