Quigley's Journey; not quite so grumpy anymore

[hedgielover]

I was going to ad this to the end of my other post but decided it belonged in it's own thread.
The other post is here: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3907

I've been reading lots of "introduction" and "just got my first hedgehog" posts lately. It seems like lots of people are unsure or unaware of how long it can take to have a hedgehog come around. Quigley is a bit unusual because I got him when he was two years old and he had never been handled or cared for properly but I don't think he's so unusual that others won't have a similar experience to mine.

So, although I am relatively new to hedgehogs myself I wanted to show Quigley's journey.

When we first got him he looked like this all the time.

At first he was violently popping and hissing eventually it settled to just hissing. All I saw of his face for the longest time was his nose.

Then after a month or two of handling he started sticking his face out (and keeping it out) but his Quills were still up and ready for anything. He looked like this.

At the slightest move or sound he would (and still does) put his quills over his face but may not ball up completely.

Now sometimes he looks like this

His quills are flat and he's a relaxed little explorer.

He usually still looks like the second picture and often looks the like the first picture but the times when he is completely relaxed make the grumpier times worth it. Also during those grumpier times if I'm ignoring his squirming or warning hisses I get a nice hard warning chomp on any soft flesh he can find including arms, the space between finders, and even my armpit once (ouch!) he also bites for apparently no reason or because he thinks I smell good.

It took over 6 months of handling to get him to the point where he would display some of the behaviours towards toys that are mentioned in the other post (linked to above) and another few months before he started to show signs of actually liking us. i.e. not completely balling up (but still putting quills up) and opening to my voice sometimes.

[smhufflepuff]

quite the quilliness journey

glad the little guy is feeling more relaxed in his home