Many hedgies react when they’re being picked up – anywhere from a light huffing to a rather huffy protest. You might think of it a bit like being woken up in the morning when you want to sleep in… All. The. Time. There are a few things you can do to help.
Before picking her up, give her lots of warning. Come into the room and talk to her, sing to her, let her know you’re there (she may huff at you in response – that’s fine). Take some time cleaning up her cage, changing out her water and food dishes, etc… (and she may huff at you for that too – which is also fine). From there, you’ll need to start working on how to best pick her up. It’ll take time for the two of you to figure out the preferred method. I’ll give you a few examples from my hedgies so you can get some ideas.
With Satin, I’d let her know I was there, she’d huff softly back at me as if saying “I’m here mommy!” Then she’d stand up, I’d slide my fingers underneath her belly, and away we’d go! It didn’t start that way though. When she first came home, as a baby, it was more challenging. She was tiny and she liked to sleep in the corner where I could just barely reach her. She’d quill up and I’d have to use my fingertips to gently roll this spikey little ball toward myself until I could scoop her up.
Bella is high-strung. It’s like she’s always on the lookout for the next threat. So when I enter the room, I hear huffing. See, she has to scare the bad stuff away. When I lift her hat (she likes to sleep under a hat mostly), I get huffed at. Usually, she is standing facing me… prepared to deal with whatever threat is about to come her way. So I can slip my fingers under her huffy self and pick her up. When she first came home, she was on super-duper trooper high alert. She wouldn’t fully unroll when any human was near. For the first 1.5 months, she only let us see two of four feet. Suffice it to say, she was a challenge to pick up. Huffy. Spikey. REALLY spikey. Sometimes, still, she’ll perceive a threat and return to super spike-a-tude. And that’s really hard to pick up. Some people will use a small fleece scrap to scoop up hedgies who are like this. I don’t bother with that, I just very gently cup my hands around said spikey ball and gently lift.
I have a feeling that, with her, she could live here several years and I’d still get huffed at. And, when it was time to go back into her cage after snuggle time, she’d still scramble out of my hands as if she couldn’t get away fast enough. Thing is, I don’t take it personally… it’s just her. It’s her personality. She’s anxious. Mostly, I feel sorry that she’s always on such high alert. It must be hard to live like that. I celebrate her breakthroughs – like when she finally let us see all 4 feet!
Marlee, though laid back, presents a challenge to pick up. She’s typically sleeping when I go to pick her up. When I lift off her igloo, she huffs. But stays in the exact same position she was in before – which is in a crescent shape with her feet tucked into the ring of a doughnut-shaped bed made for cats (into which her entire igloo is nested). So, for her, I’ve adopted a bit of a shovel method. I get my hand really low and slide it under her. I’m hoping we might work toward what I was able to do with Satin. Though she’s just 4 months old now… so we’ll see.
Long story short, do not be put off by your hedgie huffing at you or being difficult to pick up – especially at just one week in.
Do your best to think a bit from your hedgie’s perspective… everything that she knew to be true in the world just changed for her one week ago. Her schedule, the taste of her water, what it smells like in the home, who her humans are, what her humans smell like, sound like, etc… It’s a big change. Gosh, when Texie came home, he had mean greenies for about a month (mean greenies = green poop that is a sign that they are stressed out). Some adapt more quickly than others.
Help her out by making sure you have a routine so she knows what to expect and when.
And, please, let us know how it goes when she’s actually out during snuggletime. If that part is not going as anticipated, we may have some good ideas to help improve the experience for the two of you. With luck, an improved snuggletime should help translate to some good bonding and that bond will help with pick-up and return to cage time.