How to bond with an explorer hedgie?

chonkykiwi said:

I have 2 hedgehogs who are biologically brother & sister (on separate enclosures ofc), I’ve had them for 7months now and with my male one, Kiwi, we don’t have any issues with bonding aside from usual huffing when picking him up from his bin but when I have him in my arms he just sleeps so I get to do other things while we bond. For my female, Cherry, on the other hand, she’s quite the explorer. She doesn’t huff that much when picking her up from her bin but whenever I have her in my hands she just walks all over me in all 360• I have to catch her with my shirt or else she’ll fall and there was even a time when I attempted to bond with her and she went inside my shirt which was a 5 minute full of struggle not to get my chest and tummy poked! I love her and would love to bond more with her like how Kiwi and I do. My bf said I can always let her go and find another owner for her but I’m afraid she won’t get treated right even though I feel bad that I am able to give her proper needs aside from a proper bond. Help please ;c

Click to expand...

I've been waiting for someone to ask this question lol. Explorers are my fave personality type. I have a super explorer hedgie. Very hyperactive. With explorers, they bore easily and love to play. So with my hedgie I just watched her and experimented with ways to let her indulge her hyperness while finding a way to bond with her. I found out she likes it when I pick her up and plop her down on her rooting rug (gently ofc) or snuggle sack, let her sprint towards me, pick her up, and plop her back down on her rooting rug/snuggle sack. We do this like 30 times in a row because she likes the repetition of it. It's like a game (I personally call it "catch and release" because I catch her and release her onto the rug/snuggle sack lol). Over time, I started adding little obstacles in her way because she likes to feel like she's "tricking me" to get around the obstacles. And the more I played this game with her, the more she got used to my hands touching her, and she eventually started being more cuddly and affectionate with me. Now she's fine with either playing OR cuddling. Hope this helps 😁

(Also, while playing with your explorer, make sure you put a big pee pad or big towel down, because she will poop and pee lmao)