# My hedgehog bites me a lot



## the_brat (Aug 26, 2014)

Hello! I hope I am posting my question to the right category.

I have bought a hedgehog from a breeder a month ago. From the first moment he was scared all the time and it was very difficult to pick him up. He also bite me all the time. I read many forums and information about how to handle hedgehogs that bite but I can't find something that really helps. After all I read I stopped putting body cream with scent and I was washing my hands with soap without scent also. I try every day to "play" with him and let him out of his cage but he still doesn't like me, he is always afraid the moment he will hear anything , inluding me, and he is doing this strange sound. He bites me almost every time I pick him up (and not only one time). I have also thought that he will bite me some times to see how I taste from curiosity but he is still licking me and after that if I won't take away my hand or whatever he is licking (inluding my clothes) he will bite me  
I don't know what else to do. He also bites hard  Also I think one time that I bathed him he bite me on purpose. I called the breeder and asked him but he said that this is the first time he hears something like that 

Thank you (and sorry for my english:???


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## rerun (Jul 25, 2014)

mine has bit me a couple times when i first got her. I blew in her face when she did it, and after twice she hasn't done it again. hope this will help some. It will take a while for him to bond with you. Have you put one of your shirts in his cage so he can get used to your smell? i also wash mine's fleece with the same stuff i use on our clothes so that smells like us also. Best of luck!


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## Amanda:) (Dec 9, 2013)

It sounds to me like he's trying to annoint with your scent. To echo rerun's question, have you put a recently worn t-shirt in his cage, so that he can acclimate to your scent? It won't make him super friendly overnight or anything, but it will definitely help him get used to you, and it might make him less interested in biting you. I've read different things about punishing them, but the general consensus seems to be not to blow in their face or anything like that, because they'll associate it with you, and not necessarily with the behaviors you're trying to discourage. (Which, in turn, may lead to even more negative behavior towards you due to fear.) They're very defensive animals, and so most of their behavior that seems aggressive is actually their fearful reactions to what they perceive as some sort of predator (you.)

Definitely keep handling him though! If/when he does bite you again don't put him back right away, because it'll make him think it's a cause/effect relationship.

Good luck! You'll get him there eventually.


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## the_brat (Aug 26, 2014)

Ok I will try what you told me with one of my t-shirts. I hope it will help but I am not very optimist about it. He also whenever he eats or bites something he puts something like foam in his body. It is kind of strange, I read that many hedgehogs do this but I don't understand if it is part of quilling or if it will do it always. If he is quilling there is a possibility that after quilling he won't be so aggressive?


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## Amanda:) (Dec 9, 2013)

He's annointing. It seems they do this with new smells that they like. Some do it quite a bit, others rarely ever do it, and everything in between. It seems like you were just blessed with a hog that annoints a lot! It's normal, lifelong behavior. (Though I imagine it slows down over time, as there are only so many new smells you can introduce him to.  )

How old is he? If he is quilling, it may affect his behavior as well, since he's got to be very uncomfortable! He might calm down when he's finished, if that's the case; I know two of my three were extra grumpy when they were quilling.


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## the_brat (Aug 26, 2014)

The first time I saw it I thought that he ate something bad and he had a seizure or that he was dying Anyway now is kind of funny with all these strange positions he does. Based on breeder he is 3 months old. He losts some quills but very few.


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## Crowley is loved (Aug 27, 2014)

*annointing*

The first time Crowley did it i didn't really see her  but i stopped her cuz i didn't know what she was doing and i didn't want her to get messy and just removed the blanket she was licking and attacking thinking she thought it was a threat.

the second time, i gave her a peach and she started scrunching up her face and craning her neck in weird positions and i thought the peach poised her or something, ( i may have had a mini panic attack thinking i might have made her sick with nothing i could do about it and seriously considered calling the vet at 4am  ) but than she just started licking herself and seemed perfectly fine.( after that i figured out what she was doing) I let her do it still she was happy with it, than just gave her a real bath so that she wouldn't be sticky  i still cant get her to actually eat the peach tough 

for the biting though i would recommend after gently waking him to put your fingers about an inch or so away fro his nose so that he gets a good calming whiff of your scent before you try to pick him up. so that he knows its you and not some stranger out of nowhere just grabbing him.

and it will help you two bond if you cuddle with him with a blanket  something he can hide in and sleep on you in


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