pips_pekins Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I have been thinking of getting one for a while but wondered how difficult they are to look after properly. I know some of you keep these and wondered what equipment I would need and what advice you have to ensure a happy and healthy hedgie. An idea of your daily/weekly routine would help me decide if it was going to be too much to take on at the moment. Many thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftyhunnypie Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I think Martin used to have these? Emma.x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pips_pekins Posted January 8, 2012 Author Share Posted January 8, 2012 I think Martin used to have these? Emma.x Thanks Emma. I have seen a previous thread of Martin's from a couple of years ago with pictures of some baby ones. Really cute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Hi there, We have a pygmy and he is easy to look after. We house him in a very large rabbit cage (the indoor kind, with a large plastic tray bottom), and he has a large exercise wheel (they're a must, he runs on it all night long), a little hideaway wooden house, and a soft tunnel he likes to sleep under. We give him a thorough clean once a week, and it's easy to spot clean the cage on a more regular basis. His wheel needs more frequent cleans, as he tends to poo while he runs!! We have two wheels and just swap them regularly, soaking one for cleaning while the other is in use. He eats Spike food, which we get from a pet shop, you can find dry and semi moist and wet spike food, he likes them all. I understand you can feed them on cat food too, but I have never tried it. He likes treats too, and loves dried worms, which you can buy from the wild bird section of garden centres. We hid his worms around his wood shavings to encourage him to forage for them. He is very sweet, and quite tame with my daughter. He's her hedgehog and totally tame with her, as she is the one who handles him all the time. It takes a bit of patience to get them so tame, so they don't roll up in a ball in fright at the slightest sound and movement, which is prickly for the handler, but with a bit of gentleness and patience it is easily done. My daughter was ten when she got the hedgehog and tamed him very well by herself! All in all I find them very easy to look after, and extremely cute. They definitely are no harder work than rabbits or guinea pigs, except in learning how to handle them at first, until they relax with you. What I did for my daughter was buy her strong garden gloves and some oven gloves, which she used to handle him at first to build her confidence. Soon she could handle him with bare hands. Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pips_pekins Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 [*]That's really helpful, thank you Ziggy. You make it sound very straightforward but how do you ensure he is kept warm enough? I've read that this is a really important aspect as they mustn't try to hibernate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Hi there, Yes they need to be kept warm, we have a heating lamp that we use when the weather gets really cold, although we rarely need to use it as his cage is away from windows and his room doesn't get very cold (it used to until we had the radiators changed - so we used our lamp more when we first had him). We just got a kit from a reptile shop, with a red heating lamp and a thermostat. Cheers, Ziggy Sorry if I take a while to reply, by the way, I'm not often on here, but if you have any queries you can always message me, I get alerts to messages by email, so can reply quicker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickcluck Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 I'd really love to see a picture of one of these Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kazmac Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 I have two APHs and agree that they're easy to look after. We house ours in rabbit 100 cages and yes, t a wheel or a flying saucer is a MUST as they run constantly al night. In the wild they can cover up to 6 miles in one night! They definitely peep and poop as they run, so cleaning the wheel is a constant activity. Mine have Bed Xcel as substrate, a newspaper under their wheels to catch the floods , an igloo with several pieces of polar fleece for warmth. They're warm enough in a centrally heated house, but if it's particularly cold (as it is frequently up here in Scotland!), we leave the heating on overnight on a low setting. They're definitely away from draughts etc. Plus they need light for a minimum of 12 hours a day, so they know when it's day and when it's night. A light on in the room will do, it doesn't have to be natural light. Mine are fed a mixture of dry cat foods - chicken based. Other things will upset their tummies (definitely no fish or red meat). Now and again they get a treat of some wet Applaws cat food (chicken breast) and it disappears very quickly! Mealworms now and again as a treat, but they're full of protein, so lots will make them fat. But they would take your arm off for a mealworm, particularly live ones - as they would eat in the wild. They don't tend to eat fruit & veg much - some will and some won't. Every couple of weeks they get a mashed mix of steamed chicken breast, sweet potato, carrots, swede and brocolli (hubby goes nuts at me if I get the chicken in the butchers - for the hedgies and the rats!!). I'll try to add a photo on here of them. They're very cute. Some are happy to be handled and some are a bit grumpy - mine are a brother and sister and she's quite sociable but he's a grumpy little sod! I'm also happy for you to ask away if you have any other questions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffin Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 One of my regular customers breeds them in Gloucestershire http://www.freewebs.com/happyhogs/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kazmac Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Ah, yes, I know of Bonnie through my dealings with the 'hedgehog world'. My hoglets came from a registered breeder in Glasgow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pips_pekins Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 Thank you for the replies. I am still very keen to get one but need to work on OH first but I now have a lot more info to sell the idea to him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
