# Constant Biter



## sleepsinashoe (Dec 2, 2010)

Hey everyone, I've had my hedgehog for about 4 months now, he was about 6 weeks old when we got him. He's been very shy from the get go (he's always hiding under something in his cage unless all the lights are out, and never runs on his wheel), but what's most worrisome is that he's been biting us no matter what whenever we pick him up. 

The biting started about a month or so into our ownership of him. At first it was only a bite or two, and then he'd chill out, but he's started to bite so much (and hard!) that we've resorted to wearing gloves when we handle him. What usually happens is that we bring him out of his cage, then feed him some cat food, then try to handle him or let him sit in our laps for a while. After a few minutes he'll bite a finger or a leg, and we'll try to swiftly punish the behavior by a little puff of air to his face, or a little spray of water. It'll make him stop biting pretty quickly, but he'll inevitably bite again. The only sounds he ever makes is huffing by the way, so I don't think he's trying to be particularly intimidating.

I thought hedgehogs very rarely bite, does anyone have advice to help us and our hedgehog be friends?

Thanks,
Sleeps in a shoe

Edit: And we never put him down right away when he bites anymore, so I don't think he's doing it to get away. Also, I don't think it has to do with him smelling food on the fingers, because he's bitten folks who've never touched our food stuffs. Do hedgehogs defensively bite a lot? That's the most plausible reason I can come up with


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## nibletsmom (Dec 20, 2010)

I am sure there are people who have had their hedgehogs for a long time that can offer a lot of good advice but I can say that our hedgie went through a phase where all he did was want to bite. He would bite everything from me and my fiance to his fleece to anything that was in biting distance.

I remember someone telling us that they bite when there are obstacles in their way.

And someone also suggested letting them have a little time to themselves in their cage to eat and sniff around before taking them out. We tried this and he did a lot better. We would wake him up and let him eat out of his food bowl for a while and then we would pick him up.

Sometimes if he is really really huffy we will try treats or food pellets. Before picking him up, we always put our hand in the cage and let him sniff us out to know it is us. Then we would put a treat or a few of his food pellets in our hand. He eats them and then climbs into our hand.

I have been told to never use gloves because they can't smell you through them. But to use a piece of fleece or something like that to pick them up.

Also try looking up "biting" in the search box in the corner. It will give you some other threads to read and offer more advice.

Good Luck!


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## cylaura (Jan 13, 2011)

My hedgie is definitely a biter - he will nip at ANYTHING you put in front of his face. As far as people biting, he usually only goes for fingers, so I try my best not to put those under his nose. Mostly he seems to bite to explore or because he smells something tasty, not because he's feeling defensive or angry. 

I mentioned his behavior to my breeder, and she said that biting excessively is something that hedgies do more when they're younger, and can grow out of it. In the few months I've had mine, it seems to have slowed down somewhat, so maybe that will happen with yours. 

The advice in the above post sounds good to me. I usually let my hedgie have some alone time after I wake him up before I take him out to play and that seems to cut down on any bad behaviors (biting, pooping on me, etc.). Just wanted to know I sympathize with your plight! The little nips aren't so bad but when he decides to chomp down - does it ever hurt!


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## rivoli256 (Mar 1, 2009)

I have a life-long biter. I have posted a couple other times about him. Henry is now 2.25 years old & he will never quit. When it first happened, I flipped out...especially since he was my first hedgie & a wild-caught, abandoned rescue. I got him at 3-4 weeks. & I was raising him on the sly. Loooong story. Anyway, the first time it happened, he was snoozing happily away in my pants leg. & the rest is history. I eventually had to come to accept that he is one of the oddballs that communicates through biting. Sure, he bites when he wants me to stop clipping his nails or is royally PO'd. But that makes up about 1% of the biting. The rest of it is truly expressing playfulness, curiosity, & affection. I say this b/c he's always doing something enjoyable & the biting obviously did not originate from a bad place. For about a year & a half, he bit only me. As he has gotten older & more secure, he spreads the love! :twisted: :lol: He gets all snuggly & makes the sweetest face & the KA-BAM! & he likes to gnaw. & then he will proceed to snuggle some more or crawl around in/on your clothes, have a treat if available, or take off to explore. he's a biter & that is all there is to it. i also find it really funny that he tends not to bite people he doesn't like. & perfumes & soaps & food smells mean nothing to him...he bites who he wants, when he wants, how he wants. his most gentle bites are actually when he accidentally grabs food out of my hands!?!? :roll: :shock: 


oh, i should also add in that if indeed your little man is a communicative biter like mine is...discipline probably won't work...never has with Henry. of course, Henry is also very stealthy & gives no warning, which does not help with any sort of preventative behavior regime.  i would love for him to stop but by the same token if he's "talking" to me & expressing his wee hedgie feelings, i don't want to always be shutting him up either (that's the soft, squishy side of me! i also am apart from all my hoggies right now. talk to me again when he's been gnawing on me for days on end! kidding! i love the rascal no matter what.). if that makes any sense...you know, just seems unfair to silence his main manifested method of communication - even if it is unpleasant to me. still...it would be lovely if he didn't & had another outlet that we both enjoyed. a perfect world. just haven't been able to figure that one out yet. 

ah, the mysterious world of the hedgie. 

good luck with your biter. he just loves you soooo much he's trying to show you! :lol:


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

I don't have biters, but from some of the advise I can remember, someone mentioned to give them a little something to snack on. That the biting might be hunger. I think it's helped at least 1 person. 
I would personally, just try to keep all my flesh away from biting range. Wish I had more to offer!


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## Hedgiepets (Aug 21, 2008)

A couple of things. I had one male the would bite aggressively. The vet suggested that it was hormones and suggested a neuter. After he was neutered, the biting stopped. He was a sweet guy that actually lived with females.

2nd thing, Rivoli's male is an Egyptian Long eared, who bit my vet! Hahaha. I have heard that Egyptian's tend to be more nippy. My desert hedgehog is also very nippy. I always make sure she has a blankie to bite when I hold her.


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## Kuzukuzu27 (Oct 20, 2010)

Yoshi went through a long, difficult phase of chomping.

I thought there was no hope for him, especially since my reaction 99% of the time was to pull away. One day, however, I sucked it up and let him gnaw my pinky finger half-way off(exaggeration). :lol:

Getting several swollen fingers did NOT sound like a fun plan, so instead I started to really work with him on his biting. I'd already ruled out hunger and smells. I washed my hands before handling him(and he was never one to bite smelly fingers), and let him have a couple hours in the dark before handling.

What I did was hold him in his fleece blanky, and basically annoy the crap out of him. I know, I know, it seems really mean, but it WORKED. It took a few weeks, but Yoshi hasn't bitten me in over a month. I'd hold him on his back in the blanket, and then rub his tummy and face with my thumbs through the blanket. He'd bite, chomp, gnaw, chew, snap, and all that jazz, but I'd just keep petting him. Then, as soon as he'd let go, I'd stop.

I did that for probably a week, and he stopped almost completely. After that, I wore some leather gloves(I know gloves aren't recommended, but for this purpose they worked wonderfully), and held him like that and did the same thing. He'd already learnt that he can't bite blankets when being held, and this way, he learned he can't bite fingers either.

It was a slow process, but VERY rewarding. Yoshi still bites sometimes, but it's VERY rare.

Good luck to you! Hopefully you can stop the biting completely.


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## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

An idea came to mind but not sure if it would apply. Is it possible he's biting cause he has to go to the bathroom. The reason I wondered is you said a lot of times it happens after you get him out to eat and after he's had his food. My girl hedgie goes frantic if you are holding her and she has to go, she has never gone as far as biting but she kicks up a fuss and wants away. Just an idea and wanted to share on the small chance it might help. If I wait til after she's gone to the bathroom she's in a wonderful mood.


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## coreeenie (Jan 23, 2011)

My hedgehog is a selective biter! She doesn't constantly chew on things and fingers but often, when my younger brother handles her, she bites his pinky! She's about 5 months old so I dunno if it's because of her young age. Could she be teething? Also, she's never bitten me. She's only bitten certain people like 2 of my brothers and the vet I brought her to last week. None of her bites have penetrated through anyone's skin though. I was wondering, could it be because my younger brother, being only 8 ears old, has soft and tiny fingers? Could that be a reason? I'm concerned primarily because she chooses to bite my brother who gets frustrated but really wants to handle her. Occasionally, she'd chew on new sheets of cloth and self-anoint shortly after. But when she bites people, she doesn't self-anoint. What can explain her behavior?  Will she grow out of it? Please help  Thanks.


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

I have a really shy 2-year oldish hedgie who always has to be covered and when roaming free, either on laps or the floor, spends his time trying to find somewhere to hide. I've only had him for two months and every day he and I work at trying to get him comfortable being out and petted. We've been doing it slowly and incrementally (does that make sense?). So over the weeks, he has gone from staying in his bag while on a lap/floor to coming out and checking around a bit. Yesterday, for the first time - YAY - he allowed me to pet him with no blanket and barehanded...fell asleep with me holding and petting him waaaaay out in the wide open spaces...sounds small but this is HUGE for him. And I believe it only happened because I made a concerted effort and always pushed past where he was comfortable. I never stopped petting, for example, when he was huffing and balled up, I always waited until he relaxed, then pet him some more, THEN let him have his own way. You kinda have to force him to tolerate it. 

What if your hedgie is biting out of fear? Can you do much the same thing? For example: Begin by what is most comfortable for him - take him out of his cage while he is IN his bag, place him on your lap, and pet him through the bag...do this for a few weeks...then slowly put your hand - no gloves, sorry - in his bag and touch him...then maybe try and get him out with mealies (not with your hands!!! I use a little plastic cup and put it into the bag until he notices it, then try and draw him out)...then work up to removing him from bag on your lap with your hands. This whole thing could take weeks and weeks. Note: I would try this stuff while out of his cage. He has a right to feel safe and secure in his own home, so I never push Snarf while in his cage. When he runs and hides, I leave him be unless I'm trying to get him out and I always use a bag to pick him up. We haven't progressed to the point of being picked up barehanded yet.

You are doing everything right - esp ignoring the biting so it's never rewarded. I just picked a reason/behavior and stuck with it. I kept telling myself 'he's afraid...he's afraid...what would I do if I knew he was scared?' and did that.


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## Judi (Jul 9, 2009)

I have a biter who's never grown out of it. She doesn't bite as much anymore because I've learned to keep my flesh away from her mouth, and because Lulu's got whs and her back half is paralyzed, so she's gotten more used to being handled as it's gotten more necessary. There was never any trigger for her biting, or any explanation I could figure out. She wasn't hungry, it wasn't the scent of my hands, she didn't seem scared...just mean. She was about two years old when I got her, and I don't know what kind of life she had before that. 

We have two other hedgies, and both of them have had an isolated biting incident...Spikey thought that Perry Ellis Black cologne smelled too good to resist, and took a bite of my husband's throat one day. No lick, no sniff, no warning...we were on the couch and he ran down my shoulder, up my husband's shoulder, and chomp!!! He let go as soon as he realized what he'd bitten. 

Snowflake will bite if she is startled by a loud noise on TV. I've learned not to hold her if we're watching a movie with the stereo on. Snowflake and Spikey both use their mouths to try to move things, but that's not really biting, just jamming their noses between my fingers and opening their mouths.

Don't feel bad if you need to use gloves to handle your hedgehog, it's better than being afraid to handle him at all. They can bite through fabric too...Lulu bit me in a rather sensitive region once through a couple layers of fabric, and ended up tearing a hole in my shirt.


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