Me and my first ever Hedgie

Shackdweller said:

Hello everybody,

I decided to come to introduce myself, and my new Hedgie, when I bought him/her in November she/he was reportedly 6 months old, I bought her a big wheel which she immediately got attached to, I clean it every night, at the moment its summer by us and pretty warm, she doesn't have a proper cage yet but is in the process of being custom built with heat emitters, thermostats, etc. everything premium and best I could get.

I'm very much uneducated when it comes to Hedgies, I wish I knew of these forums before I bought her, I could have done with the advice beforehand. Nevertheless, I'm a big animal lover and will never give her up due to the difficulties.

I'm here to ask for advice on taming her, I don't watch television, I work from home, and the majority of the time i work in my room, people say to let them out cage where you watch television so they can explore, but how? you need to watch them constantly unless you hedgie proof of the whole place,

I work at night while sitting on my bed with the laptop, I have now resorted to at night covering my whole bed in puppy training pads a fleece over that, her food and water bowl on there and a tunnel, take her out of her carry bag where she resides till the cage is built, and she has not moved or anything, that's where she stays until I put her back in her cage area, I could really use some good advice.

also, what do hedgies apart from cat food and water need as a daily intake? i have mealworms which I mixed into a bag of cat food so it's only a couple of worms each feeding that she gets if any, I didn't really know it was only a treat so that was a big mistake number one I made.
I considered getting a bonding bag, but have been hesitant as I am one a male, and two I'm extremely active, going up and down the whole day, won't the movement during the day while she sleeps stress her out even more?

I have been replacing used shirts in her home to get used to my smell. handling her physically I don't want to do so much until she relaxes with me a bit more, I can see handling her against her will is really stressing her out.

Thank you in advance to anyone willing to bestow some knowledge on a nooby

Regards
Shack and Porky

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Emc said:

Dried insects are not good for hedgehogs; they need live bugs, and they need a variety of them (you cannot just rely on mealworms). Other examples to feed include dubia roaches, locust, morioworms, crickets, black solider fly larvae, etc. Bugs must also be gutloaded (fed healthy veg) prior to feeding your hog to ensure maximum nutritional value.

in terms of bonding, I honestly pick up my hedgehog a few times a week for health checks, nail trims, etc. I just sit on my floor and wait for him to wakeup and come out of his enclosure himself to play and run around, and he sniffs around me and explores me then. He’s a very friendly outgoing guy despite the fact I don’t force him to bond with me every day haha.

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