Hedgehog Care

Bringing baby home

It is important to spend 30 to 60 minutes a day with your hedgehog when you bring them home. This will allow your baby to get to know you and feel comfortable with you. Hedgehogs identify people by their scents. Until your baby has bonded with you and adjusts to your scent, they will be a bit timid. You can also put a worn t-shirt into their cage for them to snuggle with. This will allow them to adjust to your scent a bit sooner.

Nutrition

At Blizard Babies we recommend feeding PNC's Hedghog Blend or a high quailty blend of Hedgehog food. We will give you an initial supply when you purchase your hedgie kit from us. You may then continue with the PNC Food or  a diet change .If you are not purchaseing a kit please remind us you are just getting the baby only and will need a bit of the current feed to transistion to , or we make think you are already are prepared with our food that you have pre ordered.  If you choose to feed a different food, you will need to mix this in slowly with our food so that your baby does not get an upset stomach. Upset tummys last for just a few days.  Some hedgehogs also enjoy mealworms and crickets. You can offer those to your hedgie about 3 times per week. Fresh fruit, hard boiled or scrambled eggs, baby food and boiled chicken are also possible treats for your hedgehog. Make sure to only introduce one item at a time so that if there is a reaction, you will know which food caused it.

Housing

There are several different housing options that you can choose. We prefer l to use wire cages with the large solid pan underneath of them. These are much more visually appealing but also allow for fresh air which is a need for a hedgehog.  And a final note -  a solid bottom surface to walk on is a must as their little feet cannot handle walking on wire bottom cages.

Bedding

There are a lot of choices available for bedding. We also offer Fleece liners for the cage kits we sell feel free to ask. Some folks prefer liners while others like aspen or Carefresh. All of these are very good options just depending upon what you would like. Keep in mind that hedgehogs are natural burrowers and you can run into problems occasionally with liners. Providing them with an igloo filled with cut up fleece pieces can help to fulfill their need to burrow. In the end it is a personal choice as to which option you choose. My only caution is to NOT use cedar. It has natural oils that can harm your hedgehog! 

There are many wonderful sites out there that have tons of information. I have lightly touched on a few areas. I recommend you visit Hedgehog Central for a more complete education on proper care.