# grooming



## basmati (Feb 13, 2009)

I have a survey question about grooming behaviour. When I take Bas out at night, she'll run to a darker area of the room, behind the TV, and proceeds to groom herself all over, systematically running her claws through her spines, from shoulders, back, to buttocks. Those little legs are flexible! She only does this at night in a spot where she believes she is in private. Once she has done this, then she is off exploring. Is this a typical behaviour for a hedgehog? Just curious. Thanks.


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## Reaper (Aug 22, 2008)

One of my hedgies is a prissy girl as well. She will go into her covered litter box and primp and scratch until every quill is perfect. Then she comes out to wheel, eat, and conduct her hedgie business.


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## Mika (Dec 4, 2008)

What's mean "grooming". Is it "scratching"?

Thanks,


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## basmati (Feb 13, 2009)

Not a quick scratch, but more like a comb, going through her spines, and not her underside. It is the oddest behaviour. Not being familiar with hedgehogs, I wondered if this was 'normal'. Perhaps she is more on the prissy side. However, it is not as if she keeps herself super tidy. After a night on the wheel, can be the call for another bath or at least a march through some water. Another grooming question, what do mother hedgehogs do to 'groom' their babbies? Do they lick them at all?


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## dorasdaddy (Dec 23, 2008)

basmati said:


> s. After a night on the wheel, can be the call for another bath or at least a march through some water.


What you are referring to is a foot bath, and MOST of us have to give one to our hedgies daily.
I usually just do it in the sink with about 1/4 - 1/2 inch of water in the bottom. She also thinks this is time for her morning potty break....lol


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## Zalea (Sep 12, 2008)

dorasdaddy said:


> What you are referring to is a foot bath, and MOST of us have to give one to our hedgies daily.
> I usually just do it in the sink with about 1/4 - 1/2 inch of water in the bottom. She also thinks this is time for her morning potty break....lol


I use a wet washcloth and wash my little guy's feet with it. If I put him in water of any sort he ends up getting soaked so I prefer not to do so. It's also easy to take a towel or a washcloth and totally soak it in water, then let them walk back and forth on it (making sure to watch out for any loose strings or loops, of course).


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## ellencho (Jan 23, 2009)

Anyong does a nightly dustless dust bath. Every night at the start of her free range time she'll go straight to this one corner of the room and do this little twisty dance on a folded over piece of fleece. I've offered her acual dust baths, but she's always runs in fear from the chin dust that I've offered her.

The other grooming type behavior that she does is a tummy/arm/leg/toe cleaning. I used to catch her in a sort of pulsating ball activity and assumed it was sleep related. But one day I actually caught her cleaning her arms and I realized what her pulsating ball meant.

The other "grooming" she does is on me - when I get on the floor eye level with her she'll clean my lash-line. At first I thought she was going to annoint, so I braced for the possible nip, but she just kept licking, so now if I offer her a lash line, she'll clean it for me.


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