x-posted!

[caleighgreen]

How do i make my hedgehog love me? Ive had him for over a year, and he still stabs me and snorts and huffs and puffs, i try handling him so much, i use gloves and leave him on my lap but he refuses to be nice, just stays in a ball and wont move. I don't wanna have to use gloves! I wanna hold him and love him without him eating me! Oh, and does

Comments

[sterlingspider]

I highly suggest getting a small animal pen and plopping yourself down right in the middle. Bring food and water in the pen and let him run around, but don't poke at him or try to pick him up. Eventually he will stop seing you as quite so threatening and start seeing you as terrain. This is good, this means he's not as frightened by your smell. I put my hand down on the floor and just let him run around and over it so it wasn't so frightening.

This all made a really big difference with my guy. Also it was a lot easier to pick my guy up from there as opposed to from his cage, I figure the situation is more neutral so there's less of a terratorial issue.

I have an albino too, and he seems to be extremely light sensitive, moreso then other hedgehogs from what I've seen. Make sure that he is comfortable with the light level when you have him out and it is likely that you will get a lot more interaction out of him. Pretty much anything brighter then a candle flame and my guy wants nothing to do with anything outside of his blanket.

Also I agree with the above poster about cleaning albinos. Other then poop boots my guy doesn't seem to get that dirty. Is it possible that your guy may have runnier feces then he is supposed to? Hedgehog feces should be fairly firm, like a cat's, if something in his diet is off it could account for some of the mess.

Try also taking him out with his own blanket instead of gloves, it is entirely possible that he has learned to be afraid of the gloves and you will never get a good reaction out of him as long as you are wearing them.