Now we have lately added a brand new pet to our family – an African Pygmy Hedgehog. A gorgeous animal, with a really cute face, and a beautiful nature made much more endearing by their shyness.
They’re an uncommon pet, however are getting more and more common as time goes by. The African Pygmy Hedgehog comes from northern Africa, and was first domesticated in the late 1980′s – that is almost 30 years! I only grew to become conscious of them being pets a few months ago. They aren’t so much pygmy as somewhat smaller than the standard european hedgehog, and they come in many various color variations at a price that’s not too cheap – store round although and you can get som real bargains!!
“Do not they’ve fleas?” was the very first thing my mother asked, once I broke the news that we had one other pet. They don’t! Wild ones do, however captive bred domesticated animals are free of these pests. Clearly if another animal in the home will get them, a cat or a canine maybe, then the parasites will latch on to your hedgehog.
As pets, they are fantastic. They make some very strange noises – they “humph” and “pumph” as you disturb them, curling themselves up and making their sharp spines rigid to the touch. Word of warning: handle your hedgehog with care, as the spines are extremely sharp and harm, so use a towel or glove to handle your animal and avoid injury. This mentioned inside about a minute of protesting, your hedgehog will come round and curiosity will get the higher of it (if it takes longer than this, then your hedgehog might be careworn or unwell) and it’ll uncurl and start sniffing. Put it down on the carpet, and let it explore. It is advisable to preserve your eye on the place your animal goes – as hedgehogs are nocturnal, they are going to seek out the darkest spot they can discover and curl up in!
The spines, like baby tooth will fall out at around three months outdated, and then again a few months later. This is nothing to worry about. They change their spines like we substitute tooth, but they’re slightly thinner after they fall out and due to this fact sharper! Speaking of enamel, hedgehogs have a pleasant full set of tooth that are fairly sharp and when they chew they are going to latch on! To make them let go, there are a couple of issues you possibly can try – blowing a pointy burst of air instantly into their face can work, as can dowsing them in chilly water.
You possibly can hold a hedgehog indoors in a comparatively small cage (36″ x 24″ x 18″), though some folks prefer to go to town. They are very inquisitive and clever creatures who must keep their minds occupied – a tube (old carpet roll), a ball, a toy with a bell in it are all welcomed. At round three months of age you can too introduce a big wheel (for rat or chinchilla/degu) to permit your hoglet to exercise – they’ll stroll round 7 miles each night time!!! Straightforward to feed too – they are going to eat fruit, vegetables, dry cat food (bet quality), moist cat meals, minced unseasoned hen, beef, turkey, mealworms, morioworms, crickets and many others – so just about anything! Simply make sure that you add essentials to their weight loss plan like nutritional vitamins and important oils which might be bought at your native pet store.
With regular dealing with, your hedgehog will grow to be used to you, used to the sounds and smells of the home, and enterprise out once you least count on it! They change into much less “huffy” and extra social, and can fortunately take mealworms out of your hand (watch the enamel) and let you stroke them with out spiking you! This is nice and you will very quickly fall in love along with your new pet, as they’re so adorable. They will be bathed, though they are not too keen on the process, with child shampoo and heat water, followed by a fast dip in olive oil and heat water to situation the pores and skin – in any other case they suffer with dandruff.
One closing thing to inform is that they’re simply litter educated – it took 2 days to litter train ours. The secret? Line the litter tray with smooth paper towel, the primary time that they poop (which they do a lot), transfer it and put it of their litter tray. They are going to associate this then with the toilet, and within 24 hours you will see that your hedgehog makes use of its toilet and nowhere else.
They are surely great enjoyable to own, and upon getting one you wont look back. Ours known as Pink – because like the singer she has blonde spikey hair and is stuffed with attitude and boy does it swimsuit her!!!! Read more other FREE articles about dog training courses, protection dog training and obedience puppy training