Hi! Ms. Frog here to tell you about the basis of hedgehog care and why I chose a hedgehog as a pet!
To start, I was an eager 4th grader who wanted something of her own, so naturally I started my research, I looked up many pets and many just didn’t fit my schedule or had very short life spans or were too high maintenance. This is what led me to get a hedgehog. To start, hedgehogs are very low maintenance, they require a cage clean about once a week but other than that, you can put out as much food as needed as hedgehogs only eat until full.
You need to hang out with hedgehogs for 30 minutes – an hour every day, but you can be doing something else at the same time which is what makes them so easy to own! You must change out their water and clean their litter just like any pet, obviously.
They are also nocturnal, so as someone still in school, they can be a nice fit as they fit your schedule considering I get home around 4:13 every day and then have some homework to finish, but then I am all hers and she is not opposed as it is late in the day and she is not sleepy anymore.
Hedgehogs are not a problem to take care of whatsoever and their life span can last anywhere from 5-8 years, which means you have lots of time to build a strong relationship with them. Some hedgehogs are shyer than others which means they might take a while to warm up to you, my hedgehog got used to me about 3 weeks in, but some hedgehogs can last up to a year to warm up depending on the personality and social-ness of the hedgehog.
They do NOT work well with other hedgehogs so please do not house them together!! They like their own space, so sure they can meet each other but you need to keep an eye on them to otherwise they will fight to the death, which might sound a little scary but it’s the truth, hedgehogs will preferably not do this with different genders, mainly with the same gender, but this is still scary to think about, so please just avoid housing them together. HEDGEHOGS ARE SOLITARY!
Hedgehogs can be a great family pet. You just need to all hold the hedgehog, that way is it used to all of you, this way if someone else is busy, they can watch the hedgehog for the 30 minutes with no problem or anxiety being arisen within the hedgehog.
Some fun facts:
-Hedgehogs eat kitten food as hedgehog food is actually bad for them
-They are nearly blind, so ramps in their cage is a no
-They don’t have the part that digests vegetables in their digestive system
-They are deathly allergic to tea tree oil
-They are sensitive to smoke (like most small animals)
-They love to burrow into things
-They make sniffly noises sometimes
-They are very skittish if they want you to leave them alone so they can go back to bed
Thank you so much for reading!
Ms. Frog
