African Pygmy Hedgehog Care Sheet

When buying a hedgehog you need to consider the commitment, do you have time in the evenings to spend with your new pygmy hedgehog?  They sleep all day so it is evenings that are important.

Buy from a good breeder, ask questions, we believe certainly with ourselves when you meet us you will see what a good home our hedgehogs have and our love for animals, we dont just keep hedgehogs but other pets too.  We have now included testimonials here for you to look at, as they reflect others experience with us.

African Pygmy Hedgehog Care Sheet

 

A good healthy hedgehog can live for 4-6yrs. Please see our information guide below on what to buy for your new Baby Hog!! Leave your new baby/babies to settle for a day or two, if it seems confident and happy then you can try to handle him/her. Your new hedgehog will have to live indoors.

The perfect temperature for Hedgehogs 20-26c, which is the average house temperature, anything below 7.2c and it is very risky as they may go into hibernation which is dangerous for them, they can be bought out of hibernation but sadly it might be too late. Our hedgehogs have never needed heat mats although I keep a reptile heat radiator just incase, I have a thermostat in their room that maintains their ideal temperature. I personally keep my hogs at around 24c, under 18c they became sluggish and not as active, if you cant maintain this temperature then purchase a heat mat.  If you dont want to run your house like a sauna then I recommend a reptile radiator, I use them and whilst they are pricey, they are fantastic at providing a heated end for the hedgehog, they heat like a radiator so the ambient temperature rises, you can buy one here Habistat Reptile Radiator Heat Source 75W - they also stock safety guards for the reptile radiator, I have ferplast cages with bars so there isnt a risk of over heating, if using zoozones or similar you should monitor the heat and make sure there is a cool end.

Your new African Pygmy Hedgehogs will also need on average 10-12 hours per day of daylight, you can achieve this with either natural day light.  Please note UV lights should not be used as they can be dangerous to hedgehogs, you can use a normal light bulb to provide light, or leave a light on in their room, mine are on timers.

African Pygmy Hedgehogs can be kept on their own or two females together can work, never two males they will not get along and a male and female will obviously multiply, they are more than happy on their own. The best is two females that are from the same litter and are used to each other.

The perfect housing for an adult African Pygmy Hedgehog is an indoor rabbit cage 100cm long, we use the ferplast 100, its quite spacey and airy for the hedgehogs, they will need a large rat wheel, generally start with 12” wheels, they need lots of exercise, being nocturnal they will be up all night. It has been said that African Pygmy Hedgehogs will use their play wheels during the night and some can walk up to 10 miles in their wheel.

You need as a guide, a cage we use ferplast 100 as they are easy to clean, they do have wire but there is no chance of the hedgehog getting feet stuck as they are spaced well apart, if your hedgehog is a climber you may need to put something around the bottom half to stop them, having said that we have had hedgehogs for many many years and never had an injured one from climbing, they do all have 3-4 inches of soft bedding too, it is a good size, airy and you can fit an extra large comfort wheel in, a house for it to sleep in, I personally like my hedgehogs to have air flow and they do not get very much with a vivarium, a wheel for it to run in, toys, food and water dish. If you live in a cold house you will need a heat mat, they need a temperature of around 20c plus, mine are not very happy at 18c, this is only my personal experience and ultimately the choice is yours as to how you would like to house your hoglet. What suits us for our hogs may not suit you.



Cleaning Your Hedgehogs Cage

I clean my hedgehogs weekly and spot clean in between, I disinfect with a veterinary strength disinfectant available online, one of the best available, it can be sprayed on and left to dry, it is safe for use around animals and being veterinary stregth you know it will kill fungus, bacterias and viruses, its called F10SC.  You can also get one with cleaner included but this needs to be washed off it is called F10SCXD. 

It is worth using the F10SC disinfectant to spray cages, wheels and housing etc, as these can habour germs, mites and fungus. F10 disinfectant is effective against bacteria, fungi, spores and viruses.  I always spray the wheels with F10SC solution and allow it to dry before placing them back in the cages.

African Pygmy Hedgehog Health

Firstly we would advise treating your hedgehog for mites, you can’t always see mites and by the time you can they can cause skin problems. We use stronghold prescribed by our vet as we feel this is one of the safest options available for hedgehogs, we always discuess options with our vet to keep our breeding herd in good health.  Beaphar for small animals and xeno 50 can also be used, please note if your hedgehog weighs under 300 grams you can use the Beaphar spot on treatment for hamsters and gerbils, if your hedgehog weighs over 300 grams then you can use the one for rabbits, guinea pigs and rats.  Always follow the instructions and give the correct dose, ivermectin can be dangerous in high amounts.

Hedgehogs can scratch more from being stressed or anxious, it can also be caused by quilling (losing their spines) so this is a good time to use a spray for dry skin to ease the uncomfortable effects of quilling. You can use the following 100% pure coconut oil (must be white), almond oil, vitamin E oil, Aveeno oil, olive oil and vegetable oil.

Litter Training Your African Pygmy Hedgehog

You will need to put a litter try in their cage, if they keep making a mess outside of their litter try keep putting them back in they will pick it up, give them time and patience. You can fill their litter tray with clumping cat litter or sawdust, dust extracted is ideal and has been used for years for other small animals, there are also many other products you can use including natural cat litter and also paper products. All of mine have extra soft bedding given to them weekly, you can use small animal bedding for hamsters etc, they pull it into their houses and make cosy beds.  Another we use now is straw that is cut very short, it is extremely soft and our hogs love it, its supreme natural supersoft straw.  Please note not all hedgehogs will litter train.

Housing Materials For your African Pygmy Hedgehog

African Pygmy Hedgehog will need a wooden or plastic house, I use the Trixie Hanna House, a water bowl, I have used bottles but hedgehogs find them difficult and it is bad for their teeth, again I use a Zoo-Med Repti Reservoir, also include a feeding bowl and dust free sawdust, if it isn’t dust free it can cause serious problems and clog their bladders, also make sure it is not made out of cedar (the fumes can be highly toxic).

African Pygmy Hedgehog Diet/Feeding

African Pygmy Hedgehogs need a strict diet that is high in protein and low in fat. See our guide at the bottom, to find out what they can eat. They can eat chicken well cooked, baby food that is chicken based, and any good quality cat meat that contains high content of chicken. This will aid their digestion. You can also use a cat biscuit formulated from chicken and some stores will even stock hedgehog food but this can be a bit too fattening for your hedgehog, it is always worth registering your interest in hedgehog food otherwise there will never be enough demand for the manufacturers to consider making it.

They will eat live food such as insects that can be bought from pet shops or exotic/reptile shop like mealworms, crickets and wax worms, some of these stores are on the internet too. If you really do not like the idea of feeding live food you can buy them frozen or dried but we believe fresh is best! Fruit and vegetables are allowed on occasions, also baby food containing chicken/lamb and cooked egg. A fresh supply of drinking water should be readily available at all times. Hedgehogs seem to prefer bowls, so we try to offer both when possible, with the bottle being a backup should they tip their bowl over. You should include wet and dry food, natures best do a good chicken sachet which we feed to our hogs.

Do not feed your African Pygmy Hedgehog insects from the garden. They are also thought to be lactose intolerant please do not give them cows milk, if you needed to give a baby hedgehog milk then it should be goats milk. Do not feed peanuts as they can get trapped in the roof of their mouths. Offer your baby hedgehog a full bowl of food daily, once you see the amount eaten daily you can give this amount every night, avoiding wastage but also making sure no old food is left in their feeding dish. I generally give mine one to two tablespoons of food but most of my hedgehogs will stop eating when they have had enough, plus they get treats of mealworms, crickets and other items.

A typical adult African Pygmy Hedgehog weighs 250-600 grams. If you are worried about your hedgehogs weight one way to judge is to see if it can still roll up into a ball, if it can chances are it’s a big hedgehog, if it cant get into a ball then it could be overweight. All hedgehogs must have wheels, running outside the cage does not provide adequate exercise, remember they can run 5-10 miles per night.

African Pygmy Hedgehogs Playtime

Toys, like children they love to play with toys. The most important purchase you can make is their wheel, they will spend amazing amounts of time in the wheel and this in turn is fantastic exercise and will stop them becoming bored. The bigger the wheel the better. You can provide tunnels, noisy toys and balls etc, you can get hamster toys just make sure the tunnels are big enough, also give them a hiding area where they can sleep and go for peace!

Pet Hedgehogs love to be outside their cage for a wander and spend time with the family, as with all animals the more time you spend handling them the tamer they will be. If you can get them out for time in the evening their spines will go down so you and the family can stroke them like you would other pets. Hedgehogs are not overly domesticated yet and need a lot of time put into them, we start that here as early as possible but you must continue, otherwise you could end up with a huffy hedgehog. When you first handle your hoglet he/she may huff, do not be put off by this just ignore it and continue to handle your hoglet, remember they will be more huffy during the day as it is their sleep time. They are often much easier to handle at night when they are happier to be out and handled.

African Pygmy Hedgehog Behaviour

Hedgehogs are seldom aggressive, in most cases they only ball up and huff because they are scared or tired. They rarely bite through aggression or fright, I have not been bitten yet! If they start licking your fingers there may be something tasty on them so licking is best stopped to avoid an accidental nip. Having said that hedgehogs can nip, so be aware.

Self anointing is a very common hedgehog act and it is very amusing to watch. When they taste something new like food or an object they build up a frothing lather in their mouth then doing the most amazing movements they spread the lather on their backs.

Bathing Your Pet Hedgehog

You can give your African pygmy hedgehog a bath, keep it shallow starting with perhaps 1-2cm of water making sure the hedgehogs can keep his/her nose out of the water, I spray mine with 100% pure coconut oil (white colour) mixed with luke warm water or you can use some hedgehogs can swim but we advise much caution and monitor your hedgehog for safety, start very shallow and always allow a way out of the water for your hoglet. Never use Tea Tree oil it can be toxic to pygmy hedgehogs. You can add to their bath the following products which are good for their skin, 100% pure coconut oil (must be white), vitamin E oil, Aveeno oil, olive oil and vegetable oil. We also keep F10 germicidal shampoo which kills any fungus, bacteria etc

African Pygmy Hedgehog Safe Food List

Cat food is best aim for 30% protein, chicken is normally best, never feed them cat food with the main ingredient of fish, as fish is not good for hedgehogs. Cat food may have some slight fish oils in, this is ok. We use chicken Royal Canin and Royal Canin Babycat 34 - 4 kg, it has been great for our hedgehogs, we also use vionate vitamin supplement. Hedgehogs are insectivores in the wild so they should have some protein from mealworms, crickets etc, I use live and freeze dried. They can also eat sweet corn, fresh cooked chicken, scrambled egg, wet food with meat in but again not fish.  I am currently researching insectivore diet that may be suitable for hedgehogs.

All of our baby hogs and pregnant/nursing mums are raised on Royal Canin Baby Cat 34, Ive tried many brands and they love this, its a good brand and it has some of the smallest pieces which is great for baby hoglets little mouths, you can buy it here Royal Canin Babycat 34 - 4 kg