I recently adopted a blind female hedgehog..will she still produce?

[Nattbell369]

I have just adopted a 10 month old female hedgehog who is completely blind, I have had an albino male hedgehog who is about 3 years old. Would she possibly mate with him? Or would she be too scared. Poor thing is so scared cause she doesn't know what to think. I don't want to breed her if it would be a bad idea, I'm new to the hedgehog game. I just need a little help is all. By the way his name is sonic and her name is Amy! Ironically she was named Amy before I got her and I had already named mine sonic when I first got him a couple months ago lol.

[Lilysmommy]

If you don't have pedigrees for both hedgehogs that can be checked for genetic issues, such as WHS, they shouldn't be bred at all.

[Sonics1AndOnlyGirl]

Sense she's blind and scared I don't think it's a good idea. If she did have babies and being scared as she is that might stress her out and cause her to eat the babies.

[Lilysmommy]

Also, keep in mind that since it'd be a bad idea to breed her, you'll want to keep them separated at all times - they shouldn't be out of the cage together at all, even just for a minute. They can mate very quickly, so better safe than sorry. Cages should be secure & escape-proof as well. An accidental pregnancy after she turns 1 year old could be very dangerous and possibly fatal for her.

I hope she settles in soon with you!

[DesertHedgehogs]

Physically, yes she would be able to mate. To reiterate lillysmommy unless you have pedigrees you shouldn't breed them, if you got them from breeders they will be able to provide these for you. Without a pedigree you can't guerantee that your hedgehogs are siblings or cousins or second cousins. All of which are bad to breed. Additionally breeders have been working hard to eliminate certain diseases from the hedgehog population getting a hedgehog from a petstore isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is if you are breeding, by doing that you might be increasing the number of hedgheogs in the world who have to die from WHS. If you got your hedgehog from a breeder and they are unrelated and you want to take the risk you need to do it soon. A hedgehog should not give birth to her first litter after 1 year old. If she's 10 months that means in the next 3 weeks she needs to be bred because after that the chances that her hips will have fused and the babies will be conceived but have no way to be born goes up. Sorry this got longer than I meant it to be.

[Nancy]

In addition to what the others have said. Why is the hedgehog blind? If blind from birth, it may be something hereditary that could pass on to the babies.

If she is scared, I wouldn't even consider putting a male in with her. Poor little thing would be terrified.

[DasIgelPoggie]

I had a rescue come in that was blind and pregnant, and the babies did not fare well. They are now buried in my garden under a little hedgehog statue... The mom was stressed the whole time and even now I believe that she is still a little rattled from that experience. Please don't put her, or potential babies, through that. For your sake as well-- it is heartwrenching to find half-eaten babies strewn all over a cage. I apologize for being graphic, not trying to frighten or be rude, but that is the reality of what happened here and what would most likely happen with poor Amy as well.

[ajweekley]

DasIgelPoggie, I'm so sorry for you and your girl having to go through that. Thank you for sharing your experience.

Nattbell369, I hope you take the advice you've gotten here to heart. Baby hedgehogs are adorable, but they're not worth putting Amy through that stress and terror, and they may not survive anyway if she's that stressed out.