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

[bawloo]

Some hedgehogs just don't enjoy human interaction. It's a scenario that you have to be ready for with any pet. I have one boy, Dante, that I never expect to uncurl on my lap. Instead of stressing him and trying to handle him every day, I've spoken with his previous owner, and come to the conclusion that he's better off in a playpen than on my lap. He loves to uncurl and explore once I'm not handling him, so even though I don't get the pleasure of being able to hold him, I can still watch him, and he can have fun comfortably

[mcsassypants]

Seconded.

I'm the proud owner of an extremely grumpy hedgehog. He turns two this month, I've had him since he was about six months old and he still huffs and puffs any time I pick him up. The closest I've been to having an ungrumpy hedgehog is when I feed him treats, after about the third one he'll unroll a bit and stretch out his back legs, but rolls right back up and huffs and puffs the moment I move or even breathe funny.

Does that make him a bad pet? No, it's just his personality. He's happier running around and exploring things once everyone else is asleep than he is sitting in my lap.

[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