Brought new hedgie home

I picked up my new, and first, hedgie today from the airport. She was very huffy at first, I would be too. Then she was super friendly. I finally got her home. She explored and ate right away. I am so excited for this. Just wanted to post!

Congrats on your new hedgie. Definitely looking to hearing more about her adventures

hooray for you both. my boy has been with me about a month and he's still not very friendly, but I see progress, ever so slight. he is an enjoyable little spiked kid nonetheless.
I'm looking forward to hearing your updates and pictures too! - such a fun time getting to know your new girl.

Hello. So, she sure loves to eat and run on her wheel...and ohya..she LOVES to poop on me. At first I thought she needed to run around for a while before I pick her up. Nope...that didnt help...she constantly loves to poop on me. Doesnt matter where...on my shirt...my hand. I hope that stops. I dont much like being pooped on constantly.

Babies are poop machines. Look for clues that she's just about to go: a wide-legged stance and/or her tail popping out in a "turkey's done" fashion. Then either set her in (or hold her over) her litterbox.

I mention the "hold her over" part as I had one hedgie who would only poop when on her wheel or when being held. So we learned to do a "pooprun" at the start of each snuggle time. She'd run from hand to hand like a treadmill and when her tail started to emerge, we'd spread our fingers wide and hold her over her litterbox so the poop and pee would fall into it instead of on us. We tried to set her down to do her business, but the moment she was out of our hands, tail went back down, no poop. Pick her up, tail out, poop's-a-coming!!

In the meanwhile, hedgiewipes (unscented baby wipes) are going to be your best friend!

Thanks for the advice. It has been working thus far. Im gonna lose a lot of weight running her back and forth. My goodness can she poop, but only when we hold her. She is super grouchy lately...must be quilling. She loves to sleep and eat for sure though. Im still a little apprehensive when picking her up...I dont want to hurt her nor I.

You can't hurt her. Quills will puncture your skin first. Which I have had little red spots before. I don't notice anymore. I just scoop them up irregardless of the pain or roll them over on to my hand and then make them upright. Within 5-10 mins you won't feel the pricks anymore anyway and like I said you can't hurt the hedgehog unless you really hurt yourself. So long as you are lightly pushing them around while in a ball all that will happen is some tingling on your hands for awhile. My husband does have the same pain tolerance and always uses a chunk of fleece folded over or a tshirt to scoop up balled hedgehogs and then set them on his hand.

barett said:

Im gonna lose a lot of weight running her back and forth. My goodness can she poop, but only when we hold her.

Click to expand...

Consider bringing a litter box out with you. I kept one in Satin's cage... she almost never used it on her own. But I'd bring it out of her cage during each evening's play & snuggle time and we'd use it each time.

barett said:

She is super grouchy lately...must be quilling. She loves to sleep and eat for sure though. Im still a little apprehensive when picking her up...I dont want to hurt her nor I.

Click to expand...

When she's quilling, I'd suggest scooping her up and letting her sit, lie down, or run around on your hands, arms, wherever. I'd just refrain from directly petting her on the back/quilled area when she's actively losing quills and growing in new ones. Otherwise, I'd go ahead and get her used to your touch. You can give her an occasional oatmeal bath to help with some of the ouchies she may be experiencing from quilling.

smhufflepuff said:

You can give her an occasional oatmeal bath to help with some of the ouchies she may be experiencing from quilling.

Click to expand...

I've never gone through the quilling process, both my hedgehogs were already adults when they came to live with me, but I did have a mite problem with Garnet, and she loved her oatmeal baths! Easiest way to do it is to put a little bit of uncooked oatmeal in a clean sock and swish it around in the bathwater before you put the hedgie in. I read that somewhere on here and tried it. It works great!

She was a grouchy little bag last night. Holy smokes. I hope that goes by quickly. I dont like being pricked that much.

so tonight's handling session was alright. She was beyond grouchy to start....then FINALLY she calmed down and was pleasant. Like always she pooped alot..but I was smarter and had a poop catcher on my lap. She never just sits in my hands...she is constantly moving...so that makes it hard to handle her.

Glad she was able to settle into a happy spot. AND that you got out the poopcatcher
Sounds like she's really warming up to you.

I found out tonight she likes the smell of my after shave. She kept biting me. That was unpleasant.

I feel like we are regressing. She seems huffier and huffier as the days go on. What can I do to make this better?

Keep a consistent schedule so she knows what to expect and when to expect it. You may be in a bit of a rough patch where she really needs to you keep your end of things super consistent and learn that you're going to be there for her through thick and thin.

How old is she? (I'm thinking about quilling and such - can be more or less difficult for different hedgies)

She is around the 10 week of age mark by now. So yes to the quilling. I am cleaning up quills all the time it seems.

I am one of the hedgie parents who has a very huffy puffy clickie kid. I also feel that sometimes we are regressing and it makes me sad. It seems like some many hedgies are so lovable, but mine is not.
With that said, I do not miss a single night of handling him. I am going to prove to him that we are in this together! I have faith that one day, with patience and love, we will turn a corner. I wish you the best of luck. Even if we don't have cuddlers, they are our funny little spikey kids all the same. Who wants ordinary, right?

It's just funny because she was so cuddly and loving at first. Then when quilling started she hates everything and is so very huffy. True...ordinary sucks!

Awww... 10 weeks. She's a wee baby. Bet you can see her grow a bit just about every day. She's probably at the height of quilling, so it absolutely makes sense that she's feeling out of sorts. Imagine how you'd feel if you were growing in new big-girl quills all over the top of your head and your back. Owie!!

Stay nice and consistent. Keep providing snuggle time for her. Respect the owie spots by not petting them. An occasional oatmeal bath may help. And hope that she passes through her quilling stage quickly so she can start feeling less out of sorts soon.