# Two Unrelated Hedgehogs Bonding?



## crunchmouth (Nov 23, 2011)

Posted in the wrong board, deleted and reposting here.  

Tried searching the forum to see if anyone has experienced this before. Even though hedgehogs aren't social animals, and after doing a lot of research on owning two hedgehogs, I went ahead and got a second one. So now, I have Olive and Opal. Olive being the youngest/newest. I don't house them together for their safety and comfort, and for my peace of mind. But I do have them out of the cage at the same time.

Despite what I've read about hedgehogs being non-social animals, my girls LOVE each other. Olive will follow Opal around, she'll only eat mealworms if she sees Opal eating them. They even do things together when they're in their separate cages. Opal will wake up, start eating, then Olive will. Then when Opal gets on her wheel, so will Olive. They'll cuddle together when they're outside of the cage, during bathtime they'll try to coordinate an escape out of the sink (usually opal climbing on top of olive). When they're walking around, they're always within inches of one another, and whomever is leading (usually Opal) will turn around and touch noses with their follower to make sure they're still there, then keep going. If one chirps/squeaks/vocalizes the other does, which I assume is a reply. 

I never expected them to be this close. I had thought they would tolerate each other's existence, and I was prepared and already accepting that they wouldn't like each other at all. But this is just so adorable and unexpected. I've heard about Mother&Daughter pairs getting along like this, but not two non-nuclear girls. They're so bonded with one another I almost want to compare them to how bonded to one another rats or ferrets will get. They're like Big and Little sister, almost, even though they're either unrelated or relatively distantly related. 

Has anyone else experienced/witnessed this sort of behavior?


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

I have had some girls that would live with each other, but didn't really like each other, and right now I have two girls living together happily. I usually determine whether they like each other by seeing whether they'll willingly sleep together or not. Chances are, if they don't want to sleep with each other they don't really love the company. Girls who do like each other will definitely form a bond and if they live together and one dies or they are separated, the other is likely to become depressed. Obviously not the case for 99.99% of males, but females can and do on occasion get along very well and appreciate each other's company.


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## artistshrugged (Sep 5, 2012)

I have no personal experience with this, but the rescue I got my hedgehog from used to do some female pairs like this. She had two that would share a hedgie bag and walk around the playpen together. They were both unrelated rescues, but would follow each other around, etc. She told me that some female hedgehogs get along well and bond with others, but its no guarantee so she doesn't suggest doing it to novice owners. Its more of a watch-and-see I suppose.

I am not sure how many others have experience with this, as most are rightfully wary of introducing hedgehogs to each other or to other animals. Its great that it worked out with your two!


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## Sar-uh (Sep 6, 2011)

That's so sweet. Got any videos? 

I recently got a second girl hedgie, and once I've let her settle in for a couple of months, I plan on having the two meet in a supervised setting. I don't expect them to necessarily form any kind of bond, since my second girl is pretty huffy. I'm more interested to see what they think of not being the only hog on the block.


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

That's such a cute story! I've wanted a girl hedgehog for a long time (probably since the first time Quigley "enjoyed himself" on my lap) and now I want one even more, so adorable and lucky for you that they get along so well. I remember when we got our mouse some mouse friends and how much fun it was to watch them get to know each other, it really is amazing to watch animals form that kind of bond.


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

Girls can definitely get along. With a few exceptions, most of our girls enjoy being in the playpen together and can be taken two in a bag when we go out to the store, run errands, etc. We have one pair that lives together - had a second pair but had to separate them, not because they weren't getting along, but because the younger was a runt and is wheel-crazy, and she's been having trouble gaining weight, so we put her in a cage on her own so we can monitor it better and restrict her wheel time until she gains a little more. When we have a bunch of the girls out, they'll smoosh themselves all together into a bag or under a small fleece blanket in the pen and sleep in one big girl pile of 4-6 girls. Zombie and Anubis (the pair that are housed together) are very very bonded, although they've also been together since they were weaned (5ish weeks), and were introduced for the first time at 3-4 weeks - they were from different litters, born the same day. For girls that are already adults and are used to being solitary, it varies, because adults tend to be more set in their ways - but it totally depends on the individual personalities.

The thing is that you don't want to get two females and _assume_ they'll get along, particularly if housed together, so it's good that you have them housed separately, and just give them a lot of interaction outside their cages. I know some of ours would be fine with a housemate, and some of them might not be. When they're in the playpen for a few hours, it's fine, but knowing their different personalities I feel more comfortable with some of them being housed individually. Plus it's a lot easier to be able to monitor things like food intake, poop, etc.


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