# New Baby



## paidyndark (Apr 7, 2011)

was not sure exactly where to put this but I work at a local Veterinary Clinic and we had a baby hedgehog brought in to the clinic, the people who brought him in found him in a drainage ditch, and after the doctor and my manager checked him over and agreed he was fine, he was released to go home with me. However we do not normally have hedgehogs in the area or none that I have ever seen, so I am not really sure how old the little one is (he seems way to tiny to be an adult) or what color he is either and none of the local pet stores near me carry any type of hedgehog food. Is there a online website food can be ordered for hedgehogs and sent to you?
I have a few pics that I can share to help a little. I've been reading up on the food and nutrition and would prefer to use a hedgehog blend more than cat food.


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## amber.vroman (Nov 2, 2010)

How on earth did this a little guy end up in a drainage ditch? Poor little guy. Everyone here recommends a cat food blend. There is not a lot of research in the area of comercial hedgehog food. They are carnivorous (like cats). In the wild they eat insects and sometimes lizards and frogs. I recommend looking at this for cat foods.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15

and this for insects.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=151

Please make sure that this little guy has some sort of heat source especially after finding him in a drainage ditch. Take a look at this for heat set ups.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4579

This is the best place for information on hedgies. You have come to the right place.

As for age. One of the breeders can better answer this, but he only looks to around 8 weeks old.


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## pearlthehedgie (Feb 15, 2011)

Oh my gosh!! Poor little guy. It's amazing he has survived. Good thing he got taken in by someone like you. We have one hedgie and just got her in February, so we are new at this whole thing too. This website is truly invaluable with a wealth of information!

As for your question about food, we feed our girl a mix of 6 different catfoods. We order it from this breeder (below) so we don't have to buy huge bags of catfood and have it around forever. She seems to like it and I looked up all the ingredients of the individual foods listed and it looks like a good, well-rounded diet. No by-products or other stuff that's bad for them.

http://www.dormanexotics.com/hedgehog_diet.html

Is the hedgie friendly with people or scared out of his poor little mind??


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## Judi (Jul 9, 2009)

A couple of good cat foods will be better than commercial hedgehog food. Just because they write "hedgehog" on the box doesn't mean that it will provide the right nutrition or even be safe to eat.


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## Sunflowerseeds (Mar 3, 2011)

What an adorable little hedgehog, I can't believe he was in a drainage ditch! As already said, make sure you have adequate heat for him and use cat foods high in protein and low in fat. There are some good lists on here of foods that work best.


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## Puffers315 (Apr 19, 2010)

Oh god poor little thing, and it looks like a baby. Read all you can on the forums, there is hedgiecare.com which I wrote that goes over all the basic care and there's also this book by a forum member that has tons and tons of great info (http://www.hedgehogbook.webs.com/).

He needs to be kept warm, 73'F to 78'F, and they need a light source for 12 hours during the daytime, no special bulbs, just a desk lamp or the room lamp on per say from 8am to 8pm, both are precautions to keep these little guys from hibernating.

To sex them, if you can get a look at his or her underbelly, if there's a belly button type thing in the lower middle stomach area, its a boy. If its down by their bum, its a girl.

Poor little thing, enrages me that some idiot kid probably bought him, didn't like what they got and tossed him. If you're on the America side of the world, it was definitely somebody's pet.


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## paidyndark (Apr 7, 2011)

Yea I live in the southern part of the us and am pretty upset myself because I don't know of any place near here that sells them so the person would have had to go pretty far to buy the little guy and then just to get rid of him like that... ooo it angers me
I have a heating pad from work at the moment, pretty used to handling babies because we do wildlife rehab at the place I work at. 
But yea I will get to work on the cat food, have a petco and petsmart nearby so that should not be to hard


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## shetland (Sep 2, 2008)

That beautiful little baby. It is remarkable that he survived. How terrified he must be. He must have a will to live!


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

Welcome to HHC! We'll do our best to help you out.
I'm so glad that he's with someone who will love & care for him. Good job! He's just adorable.


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## HappyHedgies (Feb 17, 2011)

He is such a stunning looking hedgehog! As for colour wise, he is looking like a chocolate pinto or a brown pinto  

Again, it's great you are able to take care of him and try to get the info you need to make him most comfortable, good for you and Best Wishes!


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## NoDivision (Aug 29, 2010)

pearlthehedgie said:


> As for your question about food, we feed our girl a mix of 6 different catfoods. We order it from this breeder (below) so we don't have to buy huge bags of catfood and have it around forever. She seems to like it and I looked up all the ingredients of the individual foods listed and it looks like a good, well-rounded diet. No by-products or other stuff that's bad for them.
> 
> http://www.dormanexotics.com/hedgehog_diet.html


Thanks for that link, I might try ordering some - I'm having a hard time finding the foods I need to give Sherlock some more variety, it's nice someone else has done it for me! XD


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## paidyndark (Apr 7, 2011)

well he is slowly getting use to me I've been taking him out for an hour or two every so often and letting him sit on a towel in my lap to try and bond, at first he doesnt want anything to do with me, curls up and starts huffing and wont come out, after about 20 or so minutes he unrolls and I let him wander my room and then after a few, I pick him up and let him sit on my lap or hold him in my hands which he does not seem to mind, he has not bitten me yet or tried so far that I can see, he still freaks out and starts huffing though if I move to quickly, any other ideas on good ways to bond? I dont want to hand feed to much because i do not want him to associate my fingers with his food and have him trying to bite me


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## ShutUpAndSmile (Mar 7, 2011)

Try putting an old shirt with your smell on it in his cage so he'll assosiate your smell with a safe thing.
Good luck! =)


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## beehivehedgie (Feb 13, 2011)

Hey is SOOO good looking!!!!!!!!!!! They are just grumpy sometimes too  My hedgehog likes to be bribed with mealworms. You're doing a great job!


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