Author: Laurie Reed

Happy Pooping Hedgehog

Hedgie seems content and happy. He has been with us for officially one week. He is a regular poop factory. Today he peed on the cloth while Breighton was holding him. We are using the same fleece scraps for his cage as handling him. Maybe he thought it was his bedding? Maybe he is a hedgehog?May need to reevaluate this choice for homding him.

We are getting used to the fact that if the hedgehog is in motion he poops. Not so glamourous!

But he is cute and he givea a littlw signal of lurching forward before he goes #2! We can now catch most dropping in a tissue.

After Breighton’s holding time he passes of to Mom for a while. Mom is working on touching his cheeks, feet and belly.

New Home

David is busy working on getting Hedgie’s new habitat set up while we are still in North Carolina a few more days. We opted for a larger cage to allow Hedgie lots of space to explore. We need to buy fleece for the bottom when we get home but other than that it is pretty much good to go.

David will venture to Ikea and purchase a table for the cage to sit on, as this little table just doesnt work right.

Nail Clipping 101

Hedgie’s nails were a bit on the longish side so after much hesitation and research we opted to trim them tonight. First we gave Hedgie a little water playtime.

After the warm water he relaxed a bit and let me hold a little leg and snip the nails. Seriously, have you ever tried to clip something so small and wiggly! Let alone wo SPINES! It was NO easy task! It involved braving my comfort zone and holding Hedgie with his spines in my hand. It actually wasn’t that bad!

After the deed was done, Hedgie enjoyed some warm blankets and snuggle rubs to help him dry off.

He also got a strawberry as a treat!

Which resulted in a foaming mouth, body contorting and some serious self anointing!

Happy little guy who now smells like strawberry scented foamy slime!

Who said owning a hedgehog would be glamourous!

Hedgehog Crafting

When we were in St Louis at the City Museum we hung out with Ms. Marion, The Snowflake Lady. Ms. Marion creates all sorts of fun snowflake designs! She even has many published books, of which we own about 6 or 7. Anyway, she helped convert a spiney fish into a hedgehog. This is the only hedgehog snowflake in the world, well at least we think so!

A close up of the hedgehog.

The amazing Ms. Marion!

Breighton also made a quill jar. Sadly, he stepped on the bottom half. We will have to rebuild one when we get home.

So for now the quills/ spines stay in a little plastic bag.

No Disco Inferno

Hedgie had an odd night. Well, odd for him in his almost first week with us. Before we went to bed he dumped his water bowl onto his food bowl and was walking around his cage very upset. He was quiet last night compared to the previous few. When we got up today his cage wasnt destroyed. There was no poop strewn about. Upon closer inspection and working around a VERY huffy hedgehog he kept the majority of his poopies in his house. Breighton noticed more spines on the fleece liner. He counted almost 30! That is the most Hedgie has lost in a night yet. Usually it is 3-4 at most that we find.

We read online that when hedgehogs quill they can be a pill! Well, Hedgie seems to fit this catagory this morning. Tonight’s holding session will have to be extra super fun for him. Maybe some new treats. We need to trim his nails and we think we know how we just have to get Hedgie to cooperate!

So quilling hedgehogs are grumpy!

Self-anointing is a strange behavior. Hedgie has only done this one. We are going to feed him a strawberry or banana tonight and see if he does it again!

Slime Coating?

We read about hedgehog slime coating but had no clue until Hedgie tried to coat himself today. In the below photo you can see little bubbles of white.

Breighton is getting more comfy day by day.

Hedgie has some killer blue eyes.

We love when he plays peek a boo! His “visor” is so pretty.

Hedgie is letting us pet him more and more.

Even Emmerson is getting in on the action.

Breighton’s required 30 minutes of holding is up. We did a little floor time.

What could be cuter than the hedgehog? His little feet! He shared his back feet today.

Sir Hedgington

Hedgie didn’t throw any parties today. We shall see what night brings.

Today Laurie worked with Hedgie on his back a little more. He was much more receptive today.

Almost a hello?

Hedgie saying STOP with the darn flash persons!

Trying to unroll.

Almost there…

Victory! Followed by lots of huffing. Hedgehogs HUFF!

Time for play with the Laurie.

Hedgie the hedgehog actually started purring? He was super relaxed and purred a few mintues then fell asleep in my hand.

Snack break!

Habitat all prepped for Hedgie’s evening party!

We still need to do more research on litter traning. It is a bit hard with the small litter pan. Maybe it will work with a large one better? Also, we have seen videos of people clipping their hedgehogs nails. We want to figure out how to get Hedgie comfy enough to allow at to happen!