# Way to grumpie hedgehog !!!



## chuckyfo0l (Aug 10, 2015)

Hello,

first of all, please note that english is not my first language so it may be difficult to read and understand me.

For a couple of months now, we got ourselves a baby hedgehog that was about 2 months old. We named her Pixelle. She is pretty healthy but she is way to grumpie. 

Everytime we try to pick her up, she quills and make a noise that mean "LEAVE ME ALONE !!!". We are unable to take her as she always does this. At first, i was really afraid of her as i'm new to hedgehog but my girlfriend already had one before so she convince my to buy one. Since i was really affraid, i thought it was easier to put her in a little pocket as she was less sharp with her quills. So, in her pocket, there were no problem exept she "jump" a few time when she was afraid. I tried to hold her in my hands 3 times and she bites me really hard ! My girlfriend thought i was faking and that she probably does not bite me that hard.

So we tried to work on her temperament, we tried to hold her, we tried to give her worms, we tried to leave her alone for a while, we tried to let her go off her cage so she can explore a little bit but it seems nothing work !

About three weeks ago, we decided to buy another hedgehog (another female) and she is really really nice. she is kinda really fat but she is really lovely and we can hold her and do anything with her. We tought maybe if we have a second one, our first one will start to socialise more.

few days later, my girlfriend was holding both hedgehogs on her hand and Pixelle bite her really hard and she was bleeding.

Whatever if we wash our hands and if we let her the time to wake up, she is really really really grumpy.

we really don't know what to do with her, it seems her behavior are not getting better.

at least, she seems nice with our other hedgehog even tho if she looks scare sometimes.

Do you have any tricks that we can try to make her less grumpie and stress...

thanks,
charles


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## chuckyfo0l (Aug 10, 2015)

this is both of them:









this is pixelle:


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## writergirlmel (May 16, 2015)

What you're describing is a perfectly normal hedgehog.

Hedgehogs are prey animals. To them, you're a giant who may or may not eat them. So, they start using their only defenses -- their quills, ability to ball, and noises -- to scare you away. You're exactly right; she's saying, "Stay away from me!" Where you go wrong is in staying away. It's your job to show her that you aren't going to stay away or hurt her, and the only way you can do that is by handling her consistently. That means every single day for at least half an hour a day -- the more, the better. It can take weeks or months for a hedgehog to become socialized to you.

Hedgehogs are not generally aggressive toward people, so it's likely you were bitten because you smelled delicious or interesting. The best way to avoid that is to wash your hands with unscented soap before handling her. Other common causes of biting are the need to eliminate (potty), hunger, the need to explore, etc. In addition to making sure you don't smell delicious (unscented soap), the best way to curb biting is to remove the opportunity. Watch her body language. If she begins to sniff you closely or lick you, move your fingers away because she's getting ready to taste you. If you do get bitten, don't react. Don't pull away. Yes, I know it hurts, but you don't want to risk injuring her, scaring her, or making her think it's a game. Just wait for her to let go, and move your skin away. There is a pinned/sticky topic about biting under Hedgehog Behavior that you should read.

Finally, the reason your hedgehog injured your other hedgehog is because hedgehogs are solitary animals. They do not crave or even enjoy the company of other hedgehogs, and placing them together -- even for play time -- can often stress them and cause aggression. Minimal, closely supervised playtime between hedgehogs _of the same sex_ is okay, but you should always be prepared to intervene if things go awry, meaning you need to be within touching distance and have your eyes on them at all times. But truly, they'll be happier if they're kept separate.

As for tricks, have you tried the "t-shirt trick?" Wear or sleep in a t-shirt for a couple of days/nights, and before laundering it, place it in your hedgehog's cage for a few days. Repeat the process as many times as you'd like. The shirt will smell like you, and since it will be in her safe cage, she will begin to associate it with safety. Before we brought Fitzgerald home, my entire family slept with snuggle sacks, and we kept snuggle sacks that smelled like us in his cage for the first two weeks.


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## chuckyfo0l (Aug 10, 2015)

Hi,

the t-shirt tricks seems like a pretty good idea. I will separate them tonigh and continue to hold her as we do. We usually take her out about 1 to 2 hours each day but now, both of us are afraid to get bite if we hold her so we argue to choose who will get who...

We have two wheels, two cages and two "igloo" so there might not be a problem to separate them. most of the time, they sleep together and we found it pretty sweet. But Pixelle really like to run and Atchew (the second one) really like to play with toilet paper roll. Atchew hit Pixelle really often with the roll as she's nervous..

i think separate them and try the t-shirt tricks might really help.

thanks a lot,
charles


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## chuckyfo0l (Aug 10, 2015)

Hello,

Yesterday, i woke her up around 6PM and put one of my jersey that i wore for sleeping on her cage. At first, she smelled it really hard and took a few bites. After that, i removed my shirt from her cage and she did eat a little. So around 6:30PM, i took her and put her on a sheet on my sofa and put my shirt close to her again. she smelled it and try to bite it a few time. When she did it, i just blow air in her face.

After a few time, i decided it was time to take her. so i did make a comfortable bed with my shirt and took her. at first, she was really grumpy and did a lot of huffing and hissing her quills. but, after few minutes, she started to calm down and i was able to caress her spines for like 1 hour. I was really happy and she was really a good girl. I give her some worm before i put her back in her cage.

I will do this process as this seem to work pretty good.

By the way, we separated both of our hedgehogs yesterday. they both tried to get to the other side of the cage where we did a hole so they can communicate. they both seem a little confused about that but i think this will work great for both of them to be alone.

thanks,
charles


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

Charles, not sure if we are talking about the same material. You say jersey, I'm thinking athletic shirt with little holes all over or a soccer jersey where the material is somewhat shiny. We are saying t shirt as in undershirt. 
Now you can toss it in there and leave it for a while. You don't need to bring it out with him to play because you smell like you. 
If he bites fabric he is either exploring or testing it's ability to be used as a toy. Some hedgehogs enjoy chewing on fabric, especially if it smells interesting. 
Please don't blow in his face. It scares him and tells him you can't be trusted. Even if he bites you there are better ways to deal with it. Blowing in their face doesn't really work either.


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## chuckyfo0l (Aug 10, 2015)

Hello,

As i said earlier, english is defintively not my default language so i might be confusing some words..

I was talking about a t-shirt that i put on her cage.

I'll try not to blow in her face as this seems pretty "unresponding" from her. I'm not sure what i can do... Maybe just shake a little bit what she's biting...


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

English not being your primary language is why I had to double check if we were talking about the same item. 

How you respond to her biting, will depend on what she is biting. Pulling away usually causes them to clamp down harder as their thing, is going to get away from them. It then can become a game of tug of war. Their force equals your force for the most part. You aren't fighting a grizzly bear. Great with fabric or toys, not so fun when it's your finger.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Honestly, the best thing you can do when your hedgie bites? Nothing. I know it hurts (a lot!), but hedgehogs are prey animals. Most of the time, they are biting because they are scared or upset. Any negative reinforcement at all - blowing in their face, shaking your hand or whatever they're biting, pushing back towards them, etc. - is going to scare or upset them more and make the problem worse. It is difficult, but it's best to try & wait them out if you can. Make sure you do not put her back down after a bite unless it's bleeding & needs to be cleaned - and if so, have another person hold her. She needs to know that biting does NOT get her put down & left alone. That's a reward for her. Try & keep your skin away from her face & mouth as much as you can. Handle her only with fleece or blankets between her & your hands.

Because she was trying to bite your shirt, it sounds like she might just be a hedgehog that likes to explore with her mouth. Some hedgehogs are like that and you can't do much to change it. I know at least one person on this forum has had good results with training her hedgehog to bite fabric, not skin. She watched his behavior and started to notice when he was about to bite based on what his face looked like, and what his body language was showing. Before he bit her, she gave him a small piece of fleece to bite instead and would gently tug to play tug-o-war with him. It turned into a game for them and as he was rewarded for biting the fleece instead, and still had an outlet for that behavior, he stopped biting his owner. It might be worth trying that out & see if it helps with your hedgie.

Good luck and hang in there.  It sounds like she's trying to be a friendly hedgie, but I'm sure she is still scared and getting used to things. Give her some time and patience and hopefully she will start to figure things out.


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