Thinking about getting a pet Hedgehog?

Thinking about getting a pet Hedgehog?

Things you should know before getting a Hedgehog
There are tones of videos about Hedgehogs being adorable on the Internet nowadays, such as a series of hedgehogs stickers, household items, and even advertisements, they use Hedgehogs as the main character. There is a higher chance that more people want Hedgehog as a pet at their home due to the popularity of them. If Hedgehog is well kept by the owner, it can also bring endless fun to the house, and even make you love it more. Before you decide to keep a Hedgehog, do you exactly know how to raise a Hedgehog correctly? Please be sure that you have done enough research, money, patience, and any other preparation that was needed before making any decision.

There is one advertisement published during Christmas 2018 created by Erste Group, they use Hedgehog as the main character and show the warmness of other animals. Comments all about the video being so touching.
[youtube url="https://youtu.be/Icx7hBWeULM "]

(1) Hedgehogs are quite timid, easily irritable, nervous, and seldom want to stick around with the owner. Hedgehogs are not the type of animal that will interact with their owners well. Instead of that they will shrink into a ball and turns prickly when they feel the discomfort of the surrounding. What we suggest you do is to be patient at waiting for them to let go and let them slowly get acquainted with the surrounding environment. The times could not be predicted and it could be in a day, a week, or even a month in order for them to be comfortable with you and the environment. Hedgehogs might not be that clingy with the owner even they are already familiar with them. There are some hedgehogs who will bite their owner after they feel frightened or mistake you for food. 

(2) Training a Hedgehog for defecation properly required certain patience plus uses the correct way. This is a very challenging task as you will find out that they will rather step on their own poops instead of pooping in the toilet properly. In fact, it has been proven that Hedgehogs can train by changing the toilet type which is also the main key to ensure that they mastered this skill.

(3) Honestly, there aren't any pet foods that are only made for Hedgehogs which causes most of the owners to feel confused about feeding them either cat or dog food. Hedgehog is a mammalian insectivore species and requires a high protein intake. Wild Hedgehogs hunt for various species of insects, such as caterpillars, snails, earthworms, and other small animals that are able to be fed. For a home pet Hedgehog, you can prepare some human foods for them as they can be reared in proportion to meat off-legs, grain and by-products, and vegetables. However, please be aware that Hedgehog is sensitive to lactose, do not try to feed them any dairy products which will cause them to death.

4 facts about Hedgehogs that you should know!
(1) First thing you do not nid to be worried about is that their spikes are non-toxic. But it's not the same as a dog's fur as their spikes will only fall off under certain circumstances. It's just the same as how we lose our baby teeth, Hedgehogs will shed their small spikes as they grow and will be replaced by the mature spikes. 

(2) Hedgehogs are nocturnal creatures by nature as they will sleep during the day and look for food or mates after night falls. If you have a Hedgehog in your home, you might hear them topping the house, topping the potty, and scratching. It's a very common thing to be awakened by the sound of a Hedgehog at midnight. If you want Hedgehog as a pet, please ensure that you will respect their sleeping time. 

(3) We will not recommend you to find a companion for Hedgehog to avoid them feeling too lonely in the cage as they usually live alone and it's already a fact from before. They have territorial awareness and will be aggressive towards other Hedgehogs that pose a threat to them. Of course, not to mention about them getting along together, they might hurt each other as well yet it depends on your Hedgehogs. 

(4) Hedgehogs often like to "anoint themselves" and this kind of behavior can only be seen on them. I believe that you have a bunch of question marks above your head, let me explain to you what do I mean by "anoint themselves". When a Hedgehog discovers a new, particularly pungent smell, it will lick it until it forms a scented bubble in its mouth. Then, they will use their tongue to apply the foam to their body and use the newly acquired scent to smear themselves. You definitely saw some online images of Hedgehogs with bubbles in their mouth or drawing images. Hedgehog in the wild does this too in order to hide their own scent perfectly and not be discovered by the enemies.

As a result, it's quite challenging to raise a Hedgehog as it requires a lot of patients to open up their hearts to you. Do not make any decision to purchase or adopt any animals without doing research about them. If you hope to give them a home, take the whole responsibility, and do whatever you can to show them your love. Hedgehogs are actually adorable and they are not that hard to be raised if you are able to put the effort into it. I hope that information provided above could be helpful for people who either want a Hedgehog or already has a Hedgehog.

However, if you are still being confused about keeping a Hedgehog, try visiting PetBacker's official website or app to get a job of being a pet sitter. You may get the opportunities to learn to be patient in taking care of others' pets at the same time experiencing having a pet in the house. Why don't start from the beginning by bypassing our sitter vetting process first, click here for more!

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