# Bonding question



## TortoiseLady17 (Aug 14, 2012)

Hello! On Saturday we welcomed a 4 month old albino hedgie into the family. I had done lots of research before hand, and he is adjusting well. I have seen people talk about bonding pouches and taking their hedgie with them when on the go. My question is how long do you keep them in the pouch. It seems like they would want out after a short while or would become to hot in a pouch. I am a teacher and once our hedgie is settled I would love to take him to school for my students to see. I wasn't sure if a pouch would be a good way to do this. Thanks!


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## MurE (Aug 29, 2011)

I would say that how long you keep them in the pouch depends on the conditions and your hedgie. 

In the current hot weather, a bonding pouch against your body would get pretty hot pretty fast. So you would want to keep the opening wide so that there is good airflow, and keep an eye on how hot your hedgie is getting. If you notice that your hedgie is totally splatted and heavily sweating, you should move her to a cooler location. Plus you should give her some water.

When it's cooler, your hedgie may like the warmth of the bonding pouch.

Other things to consider with a bonding pouch are if your hedgie poops/pees in there. That would be a good time to take her out too.

As for taking your hedgie to school. I would be wary of that. Children want to touch things and may get poked by your hedgehog accidentally. It may also stress your hedgehog out to have kids touching her and overstimulating her. The germ freak in me would also bring a bottle of hand sanitizer or get all the kids to wash their hands before touching your hedgie too. Plus there is the risk that your hedgie would want to annoint with the children's hands and may bite them in the process. 

It would probably be best if you brought your hedgie in a cage or pet carrier so that no one could touch the hedgehog except for you. Like a "Look but don't touch" policy. Then the hedgehog could hide inside of a pouch safely in the cage most of the time while it is at school with you, and you can just take the hedgehog out when you want to show the kids and that's it.

That's just my thoughts, but maybe see what other people say with more experience in this area.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

For having them out and about, it's best to make sure they're in something that can be closed while still providing ventilation. Some people put a snuggle bag inside a large purse or bag that they've cleaned out (and make sure it's easily washable, in case of potty accidents). If they have this, they have the option to come out of the snuggle bag and lay on top or away from it in the bag. You can also specially make or buy hedgehog carrying bags, like one that I bought from Nancy -

http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt13 ... C00926.jpg

It depends on the hedgehog for whether they'll want to be active or not, and whether they'll be comfortable with going places - some might sleep right through everything, some might be curious and want to come out to smell all the new smells, and some might be upset and huffy. If the third, it'd be best to avoid taking them out just for fun, obviously. The second might be more interesting, just be careful to keep an eye on them if they're in a bag that's easily escaped from - a bag that can be zipped or secured in some way would be good, as long as there's ventilation.

For an outing to the school, as long as he does okay with being out and about, I don't see a problem. I would limit the actual show-and-tell part to maybe a half hour or so, depending on he's doing. If you have to have him there the whole day, make sure you have a cage or something that he can hang out in for the rest of the day, as well as a way to make sure he'll stay warm enough. Taking some food and water is a good idea as well.


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## MurE (Aug 29, 2011)

Oooh, I like that carrying pouch by Nancy!


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

Taking hedgehogs on outings is one of the best ways to socialize them.  We take ours almost everywhere, on rotation. As with all things, some do better with it than others. Sometimes they're very squirmy, which requires you to pretty much pay attention to them at all times, whereas others are fine sleeping in a bag and just being carried around wherever you happen to go. I wouldn't say to not do it if your hedgehog seems disgruntled by the experience - if you continue to do it regularly she'll get used to it. Definitely do a few normal, non-school outings first to get her used to the experience in general, and it'd be a good idea to use those as a chance to have her handled or pet by one or two strangers to get her used to that too. It'll depend completely on her personality as to how soon she'd be ready for something like a school classroom. You want her to be fairly comfortable with people nearby and not just a huffy ball, which might mean waiting until she's done quilling. I can tell you from experience that doing a "show and tell" with a hedgehog in a classroom is a great experience, for everyone involved, but it takes a hedgehog with the right kind of demeanor to make it work. If yours ends up being fairly relaxed, she should have no problems being shown off to students and handled by them under close supervision. That may mean you hold her while letting the students pet her one at a time, or you could have her on the floor with the kids in a circle and let her scamper around while they watch - or whatever else, those are just some I've personally experienced. For obvious reasons, you should have the kids wash their hands both before and after the hedgehog session.

The other reason you'd want to wait a little while before introducing her to the class is so you get a good feel for her behavior and can easily read signs of stress or of having had enough. Again, that will vary by hedgehog. We brought two of ours (Zombie and Anubis) to a school for a full day of being shown around to various classes, and while Anubis had no problems the whole time (7 different classes), Zombie was ready to go home halfway through. Since you're the teacher, and won't be able to be holding her the whole day, you should have a carrier or small cage available where you can put her when "hedgehog time" is over, without having to worry about her getting out or the kids getting their hands in when you're not looking. Carry bags can easily double as cuddle bags inside carriers or cages, but for a full day I'd suggest having at least one spare bag, especially if she's still pretty young at the time, to avoid getting stuck with a poopy bag for half the day. Since it would be daytime, you won't need to give her food, but once she's back in the carrier/cage you should have a water bowl - just don't leave the water in there when you're moving it around, to avoid spills. If you decide you're going to bring her in regularly, you can easily set up a smaller cage in the classroom itself so you don't have to carry it back and forth.


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## TortoiseLady17 (Aug 14, 2012)

Thanks for all the helpful replies! I figured it would be a while before I could take him to my classroom. I was figuring I would start by taking him on teacher workdays so that he can checkout the new place in peace. If he did well doing this multiple times then I wold try him with the kids. I am a special education teacher and I have a bearded dragon in the classroom and another teacher has a dog that she is training to be a guide dog. The students are very used to animals coming into school and are very well behaved with them. I have not tried him in a snuggle bag outside of the house, in the house he moves around in it for a little while then seems to settle down and sleep. He also does the same when on me, I will watch tv or use the computer and he curls into my elbow and sleeps and lets me just pet him. Someone mentions quilling, I have read about it abut didn't see any info on how long they do this. It seems he has most if not all of his in.


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