# Ridiculous Mood Swings



## OnigiriZen (Apr 21, 2012)

Hello everybody!
First of all I want to say hi. First post here! I am a complete newbie to having a hedgehog, so I wanted to ask your opinion. About a month ago my boyfriend and I got a little girl that we called Saria, and she's the most awesome hedgehog ever. Well, except for the fact that I can't seem to understand her. We got her she she was 6 weeks old, and from the start she wasn't shy. We brought her home and she fell asleep in our hands, let us pet her quills (even if not her belly) and was pretty relaxed. Even from the beginning she would splat on us, and life was good. But then, she began quilling. I still took her out, didn't pet her but just let her sleep on my lap every day for a couple of hours. She was moody and bit me sometimes, but nothing terrible. Fast forward to now. She's not quilling anymore (she only drops about 2 or 3 quills a day... I know because I change her liner every day) and she doesn't seem to be sick (even if she licks her nose quite often). There are some days when she's the sweetest thing: lets me tickle her tummy and face, play with her little feet, sleeps on me and splats, climbs on my hand or follows it when I outstretch it to her. Then the next day she won't even let me touch her at all! Or she'll climb on my lap and fall asleep on me, but the moment I touch her she bites me viciously. She's drawn blood a couple times. The change in behavior can occur from one nap to the other, even when I give her time to wake up. Do any of your hedgies do something like that? I really don't know what to do to her, so any advice would be quite appreciated!


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## coribelle (Jan 20, 2012)

I can't say that I am too particularly experienced either. However, I do know that when I wake up my Kazooie at a time that she isn't used too, she is much grumpier than usual. I try to wake her up at the same time every day. Could this be the problem perhaps?


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## Guest (May 5, 2012)

I agree with coribelle. I have 5 hogs and some of them prefer different time to be out. i have 2 that will come out anytime and the other it has to be past 9 pm and dark


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## OnigiriZen (Apr 21, 2012)

Thank you for taking the time to respond!
I don't know. I've tried to wake her up at different times, to see her reactions. The first days she seemed to be more receptive around three, lately she prefers it after 8. Tonight I woke her up at 8:30 and she was grouchy, she went to sleep in a blanket on my lap. I had to work on dinner so I left her sleeping on the couch and after I came back she seemed more receptive. She ran all around the couch sniffing and then climbed on my lap and fell asleep in a blanket as I stroked her quills. At one point she shifted so I could scratch her tummy in the most adorable way. We were like this for about half an hour, she kept moving until she was almost on her back and she seemed to enjoy the tummy rubbing. Then all of a sudden she balled up and bit me again. I really don't know why, since I was doing the same thing for about half an hour and she seemed to be enjoying it. It was really unexpected. Maybe it's hedgehog puberty? I don't know. :lol: 
Anyway. I adore her even if she's weird, but it would still be nice to not get bitten like that.


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

Is it possible that the biting is prompted by smelling something on your hands? If you wash your hands with scented soap, use lotions, or handle food beforehand, it could trigger the seemingly random bites when she detects that smell. That happened to me once when Archimedes was sleeping against my hand for a while, then suddenly nipped. I had food-smell on my hands.


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## GoodandPlenty (Feb 4, 2012)

I would continue to make notes, with a particular focus on discouraging biting. Biting, if it becomes a habit, could be an awful problem to correct. You cannot 'reward' it in any way, but punishing it is another set of problems. Distraction can be effective.

Sophie has 'quirks' to keep in mind. When I get her out in the late afternoon (4pm - 6pm -ish) she only wants to sleep, but is a real sweetheart about it. She'llsleep in my hand, behind my head in my office chair, in my shirt, basically anywhere I put her and physical contact is totally fine. I can pet her, move her from one position to another, whatever. When I get her out at night (10pm - 11pm -ish), she will usually want to run around her play area. No physical contact. Sometimes she may not want to runaround and just want to hide and sleep. So long as I don't start any contact, she'll find me and snuggle into my shirt. She gets prickly if I try to be nice to her in any way though.

So, she's out at twice a day, and her behavior is completely different at each time.


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