# New Hedgehog; haven't experienced this kind of behaviour before, a little discouraged



## KosherLatkes (Dec 22, 2013)

It's true we've only had her for a few days, and she is a rehome and I fully understand her reasons to act the way she does, defensive, mean, ect, and I try hard to cope with it because I do believe it's a fixable thing, but at times I just feel really discouraged with her progression. One moment she seems to be warming up and then the next she just balls up, and even bites me. I can't even hold her without receiving a forceful chomp on one of my fingers, and twice she's managed to break the skin doing this. I know she's trying to tell me something, but I don't know what I can do to make it better. It's just a little discouraging because of the drastic change from my old hedgehog, who never once huffed and hissed at me, to this new one. 
I don't want to give her back because I know there's good in her, and her before owners never really loved on her because she wasn't a favorite, and she's uncomfortable with being held because of it. I'm just looking for tips on how to better this, tips with the biting(which is really upsetting me most of all), or even stories of your hedgehogs who perhaps were once the same way and are now better, just to sort of cheer me up and show me some hope. 
Thank you.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I'm sorry to hear you're having a bit of trouble with your new friend! Thank you, though, for taking her in and giving her another chance at a loving home that can spoil her as she deserves. Hopefully she'll start to reward you with warming up to you soon.

Do you have any scents on your hands at all? Scented soap, lotion, sanitizer, etc.? Make sure you're washing with non-scented soap before you get her out, just to rule out a scent-related chomp. If it's definitely not that, she could just be a biter...or she's probably just very scared and defensive and this is the only way she knows to try and get you to go away.

How do you handle her? Do you use a blanket or anything to pick her up and hold her in? What do you guys do when you get her out for bonding time? Sit in a room & have her out in the open? Sit and watch tv? Try & play? Is the room well-lit or more dimly-lit?

In general, try to keep something between her mouth and your fingers for now - picking her up and handling her with a fleece blanket might help discourage her from biting your fingers, or at least give you some small measure of protection. If you don't already, I would stick to very calm, hands-off bonding methods. Let her stay covered up in a blanket or a snuggle bag. She may feel too exposed if she's not already covered up and it's making her more defensive. Covering her up can make her feel more comfortable and help her relax a little. Don't worry about handling her a lot directly or being able to touch and pet her. Just hang out & watch tv, read a book, something relatively quiet, while she sits in your lap all nice & covered up. If she falls asleep...be flattered! She's decided she can sleep without risking you trying to eat her. Give her lots of time to start to realize that you're going to be getting her out every day at x time and that you're just going to chill and get used to each other. She'll start to catch on that your scent = hey! I don't get eaten! And actually this thing makes a pretty nice warm bed to sleep on, which isn't too bad. Treats can help things as well if you're not already using them, just make sure not to hand-feed them since that will encourage the biting. If you find a special treat that she snaps up right away (for a lot of hedgies, it's mealworms), save that treat for only when she's out with you & possibly do your best to save it for when she's showing improvements like no longer hissing after you've gotten her out, starting to slowly relax quills, etc.

It may take weeks. It might even take months for her to fully come around. And just to forewarn you...she might never fully warm up & be as snuggly as some other hedgehogs. I know it's hard, but try not to expect too much from her or compare her to your previous hedgehog. They're very different and it doesn't sound like she's had a fantastic introduction to humans. Hopefully you can change her mind with a lot of time and patience.


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## emmaleigh (Dec 23, 2013)

KosherLatkes,

Just as further encouragement, I just got my first hedgehog a week ago this afternoon. He was very intimidating at first, balling up and hissing and jerking around trying to poke us with his quills...if it wasn't for my husband being brave enough to even uncover him in his cage, I'm not sure what I would've done. At least you have the courage to pick up the little guy!

I would definitely try all the suggestions LilysMommy has outlined above - there could be a lot of different factors, one of which is that he's apparently gotten used to doing it. Just make sure you're not leaving him to himself once he bites - because that is giving him what he wants and encouraging that behavior. I was sure that my hedgie was going to be one of those that took forever to come around, but as I said, it's only been a week, and now he's already very comfortable with both me and my husband (He did bite my husband once, but that was because he'd just eaten some salty food - I did warn him that could happen!!).

We have had him biting our clothes though. He tugged at one of my shirts quite a bit, and at a sock once as well. I heard that blowing in their face to make them uncomforable can discourage it as well - though not too mean, just enough to make them let go. I forgot about that when he bit my shirt, but I tried it when he was biting the sock, and it seemed to help.

It could also be that he's still getting used to the new environment in your house and is feeling very overwhelmed. The first day, our hedgehog was _very_ upset. I'm not sure if he ever did more than poke his head out for a moment. Still, he balls up frequently even after he's been out and about exploring us...sometimes they just get startled. If you put on some ambient noise, that could help as well - no action TV with explosions and abrupt noises, but maybe some soft music. Sometimes even the slightest movement by one of us can put our hedgie on edge. Just try to be observant, and see if there is anything in particular that is getting him upset (besides just being picked up).

I'm sure that getting bitten is very uncomfortable and disheartening - but give it some more time and patience with him...I hope you start to see progress very soon!! I wish you the very best of luck!


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