# what else can I try to tame her?



## hank (Feb 27, 2016)

I know this question gets asked a lot so I'm sorry for creating another thread, but I've read and tried lots but can't get anywhere.

I got my hedgehog when she was a little over 10 weeks old. The breeder said the first owner returned her because her son wasn't taking care of her. The breeder said she is quite a grumpy one, possibly because she wasn't handled enough, so she may need a lot of work. Knowing this, I decided to take a chance on her anyway. She is almost 11 months old now but I'm not making any progress taming her.

She's got a big cage with a wheel, which she uses fairly often (not as much as she did before though), a fleece blanket, litter tray with aspen, a plastic igloo, a heat pad set to 24 degrees, and a constant supply of food (dry cat biscuits) and water. She used to always tunnel under the fleece, making a mess of her cage until I stuck a shirt into the igloo and now she tunnels into that.

She's got a bunch of toys but she doesn't take any interest in them apart from a little foil ball. She used to chew and tug on it, occasionally licking foam onto her quills, but now she has lost interest in that too.

I take her out as much as I can in the evenings but she still jumps at the slightest sound or movement. Even the crunching of her cat biscuits while she eats them makes her twitch and lift her quills. 

I read that leaving her on a surface for half an hour every day and not touching her helps them get used sounds, the sight of you and your movements but that hasn't helped. She just runs to find a place to hide and then stays there.

I sometimes use books to fence off a big area of the rug, put all her toys in there and hide mealworms and stuff under them for her to forage. She's only ever ran around once eating the treats, every other time she just goes to a corner and hides (or sleeps, hard to tell). I put her in my dressing gown while I lie on the couch watching TV thinking she'll come out when she's ready, but again, she just hides/sleeps. I put her on the couch and she runs straight for a cushion and hides behind it, never coming out.

Petting or stroking her is a no go unless it's her visor quills while you're holding her. Trimming her toenails is an absolute painful nightmare as she balls up as soon as you go near her feet and she huffs and puffs when you give her a bath.

Only progress I've made is that she's litter trained when in the cage (that may have been due to the previous owner though as it happened very quick), is balling up less when you pick her up (although still very huffy), takes treats from my hand, and she occasionally walks onto my hands for me to put her back into her cage.

I don't know what else to do, she seems to be scared of everything and just wants to hide all the time. Is there anything else I can try? Should I get her a big hamster ball for her to run around in?


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## Artemis-Ichiro (Jan 22, 2016)

I don't really have advice on the bonding but I noticed about the heating pad. Is that the only heating system you have?

The recommendation is a CHE with a thermostat. They need the air warm and a heating pad can burn them or overheat. 

Do you have a 12 - 14 hour light cycle? 
Do you have a thermometer in the cage? What's the temperature?


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## hank (Feb 27, 2016)

I only have a heating mat from Komodo (with thermostat). I got that one because it was recommended by the breeder. I have it fixed under the fleece, positioned under the igloo, and I attached the thermostat to the inside of the igloo, near the base.

I don't have a thermometer in the cage but I've checked readings with an infrared thermometer. The igloo generally stays around 25 degrees throughout the day and the rest of the cage fluctuates from 20 to 24, depending on whether the central heating is on or off.

The cage is kept in the kitchen and the blinds are never closed in there. So natural light during the day and then the ceiling light till around 11pm (a little later on weekends). I normally wake her up between 7 and 8pm and have her out in the living room for an hour or two with the TV and a lamp in the corner on. She spends most of that time hiding anyhow.

Would installing a timed light above her cage help regulate her sleeping / awake time? I don't think she's as active as she used to be in her cage, especially if I've had her out for a longer period of time that day.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

No hamster ball. They're dangerous. Honestly, she sounds like a perfectly normal hedgehog. They are not cuddly animals - it's normal for them to be jumpy at sounds, to huff a lot, not like petting, etc. She's never going to show outright affection - the progress you've already made is about as far as a lot of people get. When a hedgehog gets used to someone, they show it by being a little less defensive around them, so they ball up less, they may be willing to put their quills down faster with them, etc.

It also sounds like she's a cuddler type, not an explorer. She wants to curl up & go to sleep when she's out rather than actually move around or check things out. That's fine, and how a lot of hedgehogs are. The best way to bond with them is just let them sleep on you - put them in a blanket, a snuggle bag, or put on a hooded sweatshirt and put them under it. My girl likes to go up on my shoulder & sleep under my hair since I have long hair. They're not really interactive pets - they're cuddly pets or ones you observe while they explore, depending on the personality type.

Unfortunately, the breeder's advice on heating wasn't accurate. Heating pads aren't recommended for hedgehogs. They need the whole cage to be about the same temperature - having the igloo warm and the rest of the cage that much colder can cause a hedgehog to stay in their warm bed & not come out to eat/drink/run, or can trigger a hibernation attempt. The rest of her cage is really not staying warm enough & that's not safe for her. You want the minimum temperature to be 23, no lower. It would really be a good idea for you to get a ceramic heat emitter (CHE) set up. There's more information on it here - http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/113-heating/4048-heating-your-hedgehog-s-cage-simplified.html and on a lot of threads in that section as well. Even if she's not had problems yet, it doesn't mean she won't ever have a problem with it, and it's possible for hedgehogs to become more temperature-sensitive as they get older too. Hibernation attempts are dangerous & can cause URIs and other issues, even if you catch her before she dies from the hibernation attempt.

Edit: Forgot the lighting thing. It wouldn't hurt to set up a timed light for her! Natural light isn't always bright enough (especially on stormy days) and it's not long enough during the winter. That could cause a problem, especially if you guys are gone or something & don't have the room lights on. The less activity thing could be due more to temperature than light though.


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## Katten (May 10, 2014)

Hamster balls are bad for hedgies. Hedgehogs poop when they run -- imagine the mess!


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