Daily Life: a hedgehog is normally a solitary, nocturnal animal. During spring and summer days it sleeps in a temporary nest and wakes up at dusk to venture out and hunt for food. It is an insectivore and eats all sorts of invertebrates, is partial to birds' eggs and raids mouse nests for newborn young.
These animals root through hedges and other undergrowth in search of the small creatures that compose the bulk of their diet—insects, worms, centipedes, snails, mice, frogs, and snakes. As a hedgehog picks its way through the hedges it emits piglike grunts—thus, the hedgehog.
Vocalizations. Your hedgehog can make a variety of noises. Chirping, whistling and purring usually means that the hedgehog feels safe and content. A puffed up hedgehog that is snorting, hissing or clicking is frightened or aggravated.
Some things your pet may enjoy include balls, small cars and trucks, and stuffed animals. You can also offer him DIY toys. For instance, the cardboard tubes from toilet-paper rolls make great chew toys. (It's probably worth noting that hedgehogs seem to prefer bright colors.)
A hedgehog's go-to vocal is huffing and puffing, but he's not trying to blow the house down. This sniffing is a normal vocalization he makes while going about his business of exploring. An unhappy hedgehog, on the other hand, will show his disdain with a hiss or a clicking sound.
Annointing. If an African Pygmy Hedgehog comes across a new taste or pungent smell it may trigger an odd behaviour known as annointing. This is where they froth at the mouth and then lick this frothy saliva all across their back.
If you handle your hedgehog, enough these little critters can be quite friendly and learn to remember your smell and sound of your voice. Often hedgehogs that are not handled daily can become skittish and huffy.
Hedgehogs are covered with sharp spines. When frightened, they curl up in a prickly ball. During the day, they sleep like this so they are safe. They come out at night to hunt.
The intelligence of a hedgehog is to that of a hamster, they may learn certain behaviors through positive reinforcement or conditioning but only at a very basic level. Hedgehogs are known to be very communicative when it comes to their needs, and often make a low purring sound when they are happy or content.
Hedgehogs are nocturnal. They sleep during the day and are very active at night.
Hedgehogs like to rest in damp, dark places, like log piles or composts. If you have any areas like this in your garden and notice a place of disturbance, it could well have been made by a hedgehog.
Hedgehogs have the ability to camouflage themselves from predators. They do this by licking certain objects or food until a frothy saliva forms, then rubbing the saliva onto their skin and spines, which is believed to make them smell less palatable to predators.
There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduction. There are no hedgehogs native to Australia and no living species native to the Americas.
The most important invertebrates in their diet are worms, beetles, slugs, caterpillars, earwigs and millipedes. As well as these, they also eat a wide range of other insects. More infrequently, they will take advantage of carrion, frogs, baby rodents, baby birds, birds' eggs and fallen fruit.
However, you should try to use gloves when handling a hedgehog for your own health and safety. Hedgehogs can bite you, but very rarely will that happen. This usually happens when they are young and think your fingers are going to feed them (if they have been fed via a syringe as they had no mother).
Some hedgehogs may bite to express their irritation with you because you woke them up too early or tried trimming their nails. One of our customers said one of her hedgehogs would bite out of jealousy – if she didn't hold that particular hedgehog first before any other hedgehog, it would bite.
Some hedgehogs do seem to like to snuggle up to their human companions, while others might be shyer or simply prefer exploring and moving about over sitting still and cuddling.
Observe the sounds your hedgehog is making towards you as well. If he is purring, he is happy and content.
Hedgehogs are very sensitive to smells. Often, when they encounter a new smell, they will start to produce a large amount of frothy saliva. Then, they reach to their side and spread the saliva over their spines. They often wiggle around in weird positions in order to try to cover all of these spines.
The average hedgehog is content to do its own thing and may not show any outward sign that it cares about its owner's existence unless you have a treat in your hand. Despite their somewhat solitary nature, they can become very affectionate with their owners and will even enjoy snuggling on your lap.
Signs of stress
The stressed hedgehog may also twitch or shake its head nervously. It is almost as if the hedgehog is saying “Sensory overload. I can't take it anymore.” The hedgehog might give you a warning bite if the first two signs are overlooked.
If you hear a hedgehog scream you may well think the sound is coming from a very upset human baby. This noise is only made by hogs in severe distress and pain. The hog will be injured or maybe trapped somewhere. If you hear this noise you should definitely investigate as the hedgehog will need your help.