# Is biting ALLWAYS bad?



## OrlyEstrin (Apr 25, 2012)

Robert has bitten my dad twice and me once this evening. We have had him for less than a week, and I know this is bad...... But......... I havent picken him up yet w/ bare hands. I know, I know thats bad, but I plan to soon. Anyway, is biting allways bad? And do I need to andything to the one spot wher the skin broke?

Thanks!

Oh and I put purell on after he bit me, will that help?


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## HedgieQuills (Apr 11, 2012)

Hmm.. well if he licked the area where he bit prior to the bite , it means he liked the taste and scent and decided to eat it 
Did you have anything like hand cream or scented soap or food scent leftover on the finger? If so , then that was probably why. 

If he just bit out of the blue, it may be because of his cranky baby blues  Its always important NOT to wear gloves just so that he will know your scent. If you have a hedgie sack, just leave him inside there , put him on your lap, and continue doing whatever, such as homework  That all counts as cuddling ~

No matter how cranky a hedgie gets, its still important to play with it!

For the broken skin.. I would put something on it, but usually I just wash it off  


Good luck~


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## cthom (Nov 15, 2011)

dini bites me constanyl and its rough bites. i just put some disinfected on it. or else its gets werid and yellow :shock: . 
ocean has decided my fingers taste good, but she dosent really bite.
how is robert adjusting? ocean is a bit hissy and runs away from me tons  but she loves to run on her wheel. 
hpe robert is doing ok!


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## pickles17 (Feb 18, 2012)

Hedgehogs don't always have the easiest time adjusting to new owners. My best guess is that he is scared, and because he doesn't have a familiar scent to hang onto as you have been using gloves, he might be more prone to biting. Did he by chance come from a petstore? Petstore hedgehogs also tend to be a lot less socialized than those who come from a breeder, if so, he has likely been carting around a bunch of times and is now having to adjust to you as well. 

Just try and be very calm with him, and hold him with your hands. Even if he tries to run away see if he will sit in your lap. Always make sure your hands don't smell like food, scented soap or lotion or else you're asking for it! In addition, try to make sure you aren't wearing any sort of perfume or cologne. Maybe try feeding him some treats (mealworms, kibbles) on your lap to help him realize you are a friend not a foe! Best of luck.


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## OrlyEstrin (Apr 25, 2012)

pickles17 said:


> Hedgehogs don't always have the easiest time adjusting to new owners. My best guess is that he is scared, and because he doesn't have a familiar scent to hang onto as you have been using gloves, he might be more prone to biting. Did he by chance come from a petstore? Petstore hedgehogs also tend to be a lot less socialized than those who come from a breeder, if so, he has likely been carting around a bunch of times and is now having to adjust to you as well.
> 
> Just try and be very calm with him, and hold him with your hands. Even if he tries to run away see if he will sit in your lap. Always make sure your hands don't smell like food, scented soap or lotion or else you're asking for it! In addition, try to make sure you aren't wearing any sort of perfume or cologne. Maybe try feeding him some treats (mealworms, kibbles) on your lap to help him realize you are a friend not a foe! Best of luck.


I haven't held him with gloves, just his snuggle bag (wich he LOVES  ). Also he is from a breeder, but speeking of petstores, that reminds me of a petstore rant I wanted to post.  I think Ill try feeding him something like mealworms of watermellon tonight.

Thanks


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## OrlyEstrin (Apr 25, 2012)

cthom said:


> dini bites me constanyl and its rough bites. i just put some disinfected on it. or else its gets werid and yellow :shock: .
> ocean has decided my fingers taste good, but she dosent really bite.
> how is robert adjusting? ocean is a bit hissy and runs away from me tons  but she loves to run on her wheel.
> hpe robert is doing ok!


So far Robert is a verry grumpy gus, but whenever I give him extra of his favorite kibble he's like "OK, I lufs U nao!" :lol:  He also licks my fingers alot to, so maybe I shoud be more carefull! :shock: Other than that I think he is adjusting fairly well. He just got his new bucket wheel yesterday, and from looking a it, he only investigated. :roll: oh well.


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## OrlyEstrin (Apr 25, 2012)

HedgieQuills said:


> Hmm.. well if he licked the area where he bit prior to the bite , it means he liked the taste and scent and decided to eat it
> Did you have anything like hand cream or scented soap or food scent leftover on the finger? If so , then that was probably why.
> 
> If he just bit out of the blue, it may be because of his cranky baby blues  Its always important NOT to wear gloves just so that he will know your scent. If you have a hedgie sack, just leave him inside there , put him on your lap, and continue doing whatever, such as homework  That all counts as cuddling ~
> ...


Thank you so much! I realy appreciate this help, and I promise never to wear gloves. My cousin's familly friend two nine year old boys taking care of a hedgehog, and they carried It around with _oven mits_ on!


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## OrlyEstrin (Apr 25, 2012)

OrlyEstrin said:


> HedgieQuills said:
> 
> 
> > Hmm.. well if he licked the area where he bit prior to the bite , it means he liked the taste and scent and decided to eat it
> ...


Not that I do wear gloves, of couse not. I probably should have specified. I hold him in his snuggle bag only.


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## HedgieQuills (Apr 11, 2012)

> Thank you so much! I realy appreciate this help, and I promise never to wear gloves. My cousin's familly friend two nine year old boys taking care of a hedgehog, and they carried It around with _oven mits_ on!


Not that I do wear gloves, of couse not. I probably should have specified. I hold him in his snuggle bag only. [/quote]

That's great !) Yeah , snuggle sacks are great for cuddling , or just plain relaxingg ~


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## HedgieQuills (Apr 11, 2012)

> Thank you so much! I realy appreciate this help, and I promise never to wear gloves. My cousin's familly friend two nine year old boys taking care of a hedgehog, and they carried It around with _oven mits_ on!
> Not that I do wear gloves, of couse not. I probably should have specified. I hold him in his snuggle bag only.


That's great !) Yeah , snuggle sacks are great for cuddling , or just plain relaxingg ~


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## GoodandPlenty (Feb 4, 2012)

I've never needed to handle Sophie with gloves, but my breeder feels strongly that gloves are absolutely okay if that is what it takes to help get in daily handling. Then you gradually adjust how much protection you need to get in daily handling.

Sophie's behavior is generally excellent, so even if she's balled up a bit and huffy from getting woken up, I can still handle her with bare hands. She pops on me once in a while, which hurts a bit, but it's not too bad.

She is totally fine with a lot of physical contact in her afternoon outing, but not during her night outing. At night, she needs a hedgie sack.

As far as biting:
Sophie's not a biter, but she will bite out of the blue once in a while and I don't know that there is much you can do about that. It's what animals do. Even a quick bite from Sophie hurts a lot. That's just the way it is.

You certainly do not want to in any way 'reward' biting by letting any animal get their way. You could be many, many months breaking that habit, if ever. But rarely do you want to 'punish' biting either. 'Discourage' might be the best word for what you want. Distraction to something else is often a successful tactic.

As has been suggested, if your hedgie licks you, bites are likely to immediately follow. You should almost always put a stop to the licking. It's a good idea to always wash your hands before together time. That will eliminate a lot of potential problems all by itself. (I usually wash up after also, because I'll sometimes (without even knowing) get stuck with a contaminated quill and the irritation can hurt quite a bit for a few days.)

Exceptions to biting as a bad thing: Sophie tends to strongly anoint one time with new smells / tastes and then not feel the need to do so again. For example, she loves sleeping between my head and my office chair in the late afternoons. She anointed with my hair / shampoo one time and I let her. She pulled my hair HARD. She bit the back of my head several times, HARD. I discouraged her just enough each time that I could stand it, but let her continue. She got a big anointing from that one; twisting and turning and flopping over, foam all over - but she hasn't done it since. The couple of times that she has maybe showed an interest, I've 'discouraged' her and she's settled down without a problem.

Sometimes we take a nap and she sleeps in my shirt. I was fully expecting her to really make me suffer from biting at my underarm - partly smell, partly because that skin is so accessible and tempting for a bite. She didn't, and I was shocked. I figure that she already was okay with the smell because of already being around my shirts. I won't willingly be changing my deodorant any time soon. If I ever do, I'll make sure that she is introduced to it with a shirt that doesn't have me inside it, first.


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