Cannibalism

I have read various articles and forums of breeders who've experienced watching their pet hedgehog cannibalize the young ones, and I thought it will be something that I will only read on the internet. Unfortunately, I witnessed one of the young hoglets getting cannibalized by its own mother.

I have yet to figure out the reason why. Different information sources state that it could be due to birth defect, and some mentioned that the mother could've been stressed. The hoglet has been growing fine like its siblings, at least from the size observed, and being able to move and chirp normally I doubt the hoglet has any health problems.

And this is the third litter Quills gave birth to, so I expected her to be able to cope comfortably. She has been very good-tempered during the first week after giving birth that it came as a shock when I found the hoglet's headless corpse lying outside the hidebox.

It saddens me to think that the hoglet will not be able to see the world before going to heaven. It was barely a week old when its life ended. And I pray hard that the rest of the hoglets grow healthily until adulthood.

Baby hedgehogs

My traveling has hindered me from updating my blogs for the past month, and possibly in the coming couple of months as well.

But there's always some time to share some good news. :)

Last Friday Quills gave birth again, to five hoglets, again, and from the initial monitoring, it looks like the colours will be the same as the previous batch as well, 4 Salt & Peppers and 1 Albino, again!

All hoglets are in the pinkest of health, and this time around the young ones look to be a complaining bunch, squeking aloud everytime I open up the hidebox to have a look. Quills is a bit too familiar with everything though, she's much more relaxed and comfortable with me around taking a peek at the hoglets (newborn hoglets are not to be touched in the first two weeks to avoid cannibalism) without being possessive.

It took almost a month for my Cinnamon hedgehog (which I got early last month) to start coming out from the hidebox with my presence in the room, I actually managed to handfeed it for the first time last night. Still trying to tame it and make it feel comfy at home, and looks to be getting some positive results there.

By the way, I've finally decided on names the albino and cinnamon hedgehogs. I'm gonna name the albino 'Latte' and the cinnamon 'Caramel'.

Latte will be turning 4 months old next weekend, while Caramel will be 3 months old by the end of this week.

Won't be able to update pictures lately as my computer crashed last month with all the photos saved in the hard drive, but the pictures will definitely start coming in as soon as the computer is fixed!

New hoglet joining the family!

Tonight will be the night I pick up a female Cinnamon hoglet from a breeder friend.

At the moment, the only information I have about this hedgehog is that she's born on the 18th April 2009, which makes her approximately 6 weeks old right now and just ready to leave the mother hedgehog.

I will be dusting up a cabinet and improvising it to be a multiple-storey boxes as homes for my expanding number of hedgehogs.

And I am considering naming the two young hedgehogs (the other one is an Albino from Quills' second litter) after bringing the Cinnamon home.

Hmm, this will take some thinking.

Cinnamon

After over a year of keeping hedgehogs as pets, I've only came across the common Salt & Pepper and Albino colours. I've seen plenty of pictures of Apricots, Cinnamons, Champagnes and even combinations like Cinnicots, but sadly there weren't many breeders who are truly experimenting on hedgehog colours.

Picture courtesy of www.hedgehogclub.com

I mentioned previously that Quills gave birth to 5 hoglets about 2 months ago, and right now I'm left with a Salt & Pepper and an Albino. I've decided to keep the Albino male for future colour breedings, and I should probably thank my lucky stars that yesterday a fellow breeder sent me a message saying that his friend would like to get a Salt & Pepper but he only has Cinnamons.

You can't possibly NOT see what's coming up next, can you?

Yes, we agreed to trade our hoglets, a male S&P with a female Cinnamon. Although the Cinnamon is only about a month old and I'll need to wait until next month before I can pick it up.

If the trade's successful I will officially be keeping a male S&P, a unique white female S&P snowflake (which I have yet to be able to breed the colour), a male Albino and a female Cinnamon.

Four hedgehogs with different colour genes, although three of the hedgehogs will have same bloodlines which limits my colour experimentations, but that will be a good start for my hobby.

Apricots and Champagnes are a little more difficult to obtain, especially since keepers of these rare colours aren't breeders and the breeders who has these colours have retired from the hobby.

But this will be a start of something.

7 weeks and leaving

Today marks the 7th week since the hoglets were born, and how much have they grown.

And also means that they are actually ready to leave the mother hedgehog.

This time around, there are a lot more people who are interested in getting hedgehogs as a pet, and considering the number of enquiries that flooded in even before I make any notices of my intention to sell, I get to slowly screen through the interested buyers and make sure that they will be able to provide proper care to the hoglets in the future.

I will be meeting up with two prospects tomorrow and another two this Sunday, and if all are ready to commit, they will be bringing my hoglets back to their home. Let's hope that the hoglets will be showered with all the love from their new owners.

3 weeks old

I didn't expect to be having an albino in this litter of hoglets. Certainly not when neither of the parents is an albino to start with, so this really came as a surprise. All five hoglets are growing steadily and as of today, they are officially 3 weeks old!

I have yet to sex the hoglets, I think I'll do that in another couple of weeks, but right now four of the hoglets are common Salt & Peppers while there's one single albino. Two S&Ps and the albino seem to be larger than the remaining two siblings, I was somewhat worried that some may not survive initially.

But at the time being, even at only 3 weeks old, the hoglets are already starting to show individual characteristics that it is not hard to figure out which is which, despite all four S&Ps identical in colour.

Looks like these little fellas are already showing some attitude at a young age!

Litter's first week

Have been busy monitoring the health of the hoglets for the past few days. Sometimes having too many in a litter doesn't necessarily mean it's a good thing.

I was somewhat worried that the mother hedgehog couldn't proper care for all five hoglets equally, and a couple of days ago I was even more concerned to see three of the hoglets sleeping at the edge of the hidebox and were visibly very much smaller than the other two. Having too many siblings, there could be possibilities that some may not receive enough milk from the mother hedgehog and couldn't survive the first few weeks after birth.

However, I'm glad to say that all five are looking pretty active and grew longer quills during today's inspection, at least the growth shows that all are in proper health condition.

One of the hoglets looks like an albino, although it's still early to confirm. But it has reddish skin and all white quills, which will be something that needs further analysis as it grows older. Both parents are not albinos to start with, so if the hoglet really turns out to be an albino it will further concrete the idea that albino genes are recessive in hedgehogs. So far I've only seen albino offsprings if either or both parents are albino, but this is the first time to see an albino coming from non-albino parents.

The other four siblings are clear Salt & Peppers, and with only a little variation in size, all hoglets are doing great at the moment.

Next post, photo update!

5 little hoglets

As mentioned in my previous post, I am all prepared for Quills giving birth to a litter of hoglets within this week.

And as expected, the hoglets were born yesterday around morning to noon. Safely, for both the hoglets and the mother.

More good news, Quills gave birth to 5 little 'rambutans', which is quite a huge number in one litter, and from what I saw last night, they were all active enough and making plenty of squeky sounds, so I'm more than happy to see none being born with defects or died during birth.

Although Quills had been putting up a lot of weight in recent weeks, I certainly did not expect 5 hoglets, and for her to take care of the little ones for the next few weeks may be quite tiring. So I guess I will need to monitor Quills' health and condition tightly so that she won't be having any major incidents.

I am quite excited to see how the hoglets grow, and if I'm lucky hopefully this batch of hoglets I will get to see a different colour emerging.

Will keep this blog updated with photos for the next few weeks. : )

Expecting

It's been a short while since I last updated, but I have a good excuse though. : )

Quills have been piling up her weight in recent weeks, and stacked up her hidebox nicely with woodshavings for the last couple of weeks, so if everything goes according to schedule, she should be giving birth to a litter of hoglets before the end of this week.

And it's been tedious and constant monitoring of her behaviour and intake of food, which explains my temporary dormant blog here.

Let's hope everything's fine and if Quills successfully gives birth between this or next week, expect to have some photo posts in this blog.

Hoglets off to new homes!

I had my first litter of hoglets back in October last year after my second attempt to breed my hedgehogs Cactus and Quills, and by Valentine's Day last week all three of them are off to their respective new homes!

To be honest, while I'm glad that I do not have to take care of so many hedgehogs at a time, it was a bit heartwrenching to see the hoglets leave. After all, they've been under my care for the past four months, and I've watched them grow from the size of my thumb to the saiz of my palm.

All three hoglets have grow into different individuals with different characters in the past couple of months, and I think it would be an understatement to say that they've brought much joy in my life. They've taught me many new things I never knew about hedgehogs before this, and even today I am still learning new things from my hedgehogs!

Farewell my little ones, may you continue to spread joy and love wherever you are, and bring happiness to your new owners!

Pet Stores

There aren't any pet stores that caters exclusively for hedgehogs (considering the fact that hedgehogs aren't really common pets in Malaysia), but it's safe to say that quite a lot of these stores carry items and accessories that suit hedgehogs.

I frequent several petstores in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya regularly to stock-up or purchase items for my hedgehogs. While I have my preferentials whether it's on the quality or price, I shall list down all my recommended choices of pet stores for anyone who wishes to purchase items and accessories for their pet hedgehogs.

There are also plenty other pet stores around town which I may not include, but as I mentioned these are my recommendations ONLY, if you have any good recommendations feel free to notify me!

Pet Stores (in no order of preference):-

Store Name : The Pet Safari
Website : http://www.thepetsafari.com.my/
Address : S1, IKANO Power Centre,No. 2, Jalan PJU 7-2,(Level 2), Mutiara Damansara,47800 Petaling Jaya.
Tel / Fax : 03-7724 1578 / 03-7724 1527

Store Name : Pets Wonderland
Website : http://www.petswonderland.com.my/
Address : Lot No. T-015A, 3rd Floor,Mid Valley Megamall, Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel / Fax : 03-2284 3388 / 03-2283 6399

Store Name : The Pet Family
Website : http://www.thepetfamily.com/
Address : Taman Megah,Petaling Jaya,Lot 10991, Jalan SS24/8,Tmn Megah,47301, Petaling Jaya.
Tel / Fax : 03-7805 2342 / 03-7804 1057

Store Name : Pet Shack
Website : http://www.petshack.com.my/
Address : 102, Block A, Mentari Business ParkJalan PJS 8/2Bandar Sunway, 46150 Petaling Jaya.
Tel / Fax : 03-5637 4536

This list will be updated from time to time, as there are surely more pet stores which carries range of products for hedgehogs which I will come across in the future.

Till then, have a fun time shopping!

: )

Breeding

Initially, I thought of breeding hedgehogs to make some simple income to cover my expenses in rearing hedgehogs.

After my first batch of hoglets I realized that mathematically, I'm actually not making any profit considering the additional expenses I had to fork out to take care of several more hedgehogs in the house.

It was not easy to breed hedgehogs, as a few quality breeders would point out, and most of them would tell you that they are hobbyist breeders. Yes, they breed hedgehogs as a hobby.

Funny? Well, I thought so too, back then.

After going through months of research (before I finally got my first hedgehog), I realized that breeding hedgehogs doesn't really make you a lot of money, but it brings a lot of satisfaction, and in a way, you can consider it an experiment as well!

Hedgehog colours are inherited to offsprings. Most of the time, if you breed between hedgehogs with different colours, offsprings will usually take either one of the parents' colour. But there are also chances that the hoglet will carry a colour which is in between the colours of the two parents! That's how cinnicot came into hedgehog's colour chart (offspring from cinnamon and apricot parents).

Besides that, it's also a tedious selection procedure to find the suitable hedgehogs for breeding. Temper, in some books, are also inherited. Although I do not believe this without scientific proves, I do notice that some hedgehogs have better tempers compared to others, and usually identical to their parent. Perhaps it's just the bonding procedure by the parent hedgehogs which differs, but it's still something that bugs me until today!

There are other aspects to look into when breeding hedgehogs, such as the facial shape of the hedgehog and body shape. Many hobbyist breeders are looking to produce the 'perfect' hedgehog offspring, which I believe is a good resolution for all responsible breeders.

But the best thing is, from my personal point of view, looking at the hoglets growing up day by day, from the size of your thumb until adult. How the baby quills develope and slowly replaced by adult quills. How the hoglets lick and nibble your fingers when you put them on your palm. How they crawl and climb and stumble.

It's the most beautiful thing to witness them growing up.

And that's the greatest thing in breeding hedgehogs.

:)

Hedgehog Biscuits!

It was baking day prior to Chinese New Year, and with a bit of creativity, this year we have something called the 'Hedgehog Biscuits'!

And a Salt & Pepper one too!

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

Illnesses & Ailments

Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome
This illness is one of the most common you’ll find in hedgehogs. The hedgehog will lack mobility, and usually the legs will look ‘wobbly’ when moving, if it moves at all. This is due to the degradation of muscle control and up until now, there is no known cure to this illness. During later stages of the illness, the hedgehog will be unable to move, and will require regular observations and hand-feeding. According to reports, high diet of Vitamin E can hide the effects of this syndrome, but in actual it will do no better to heal. There have been mentions that the illness may be genetically inherited, but there is no evidence to prove this statement.

Cancer or Tumors
One of the fastest-spreading disease in hedgehogs, and very commonly found. The only solution is to bring your hedgehog to the vet regularly for check-ups and seek medical advices to cure this illness.

Obesity
Although not really an ‘illness’, it may lead to liver diseases if the hedgehog is having too much fat in the body. Poor diet and lack of exercise often points to obese hedgehogs, and it’s best to monitor your hedgehog’s food intake and prepare a proper diet. Wheels are also a good gadget to make sure your hedgehog have decent exercise to burn all the extra calories and fat in the body.

Green Poops
Some hedgehog owners may find their pet producing green and watery-texture stools instead of normal poops. Have your hedgehog traveled a lot recently? Did it fall from a high place? Had it been transferred to another home with drastic changes in environment? The usual cause of green poops is stress. When the hedgehog is having more than it can take, they’ll temporarily suffer from digestive disorders, although they will recover in days. Cheap cat-food and dairy products may also result in soft stools. Despite in countries like New Zealand where people are encouraged to place a tray of milk to attract wild hedgehogs to come to their garden and consume pests (insects), dairy is actually doing harm to a hedgehog’s body.

Mites
Constant scratching, flaky dry skin and loss of quills in concentrated areas are few symptoms that your hedgehog is having mites underneath its quills. Regular bathing (at least once or twice a month) will lower the chances of infection. Also, clean and disinfect the cage and supplies regularly will help. Change beddings. Locally, you’ll be able to find Frontline spray which can be used if your hedgehog is already infected with mites.


Although I haven’t come across anything from the list above (fortunately), I thought it would be useful to write something about hedgehogs’ common illnesses just in case anyone notices these symptoms in their pet hedgehogs. These will be useful information for all hedgehog owners, or those who intend to have one as pet.

20-days old Hoglet

A twenty days old little female hoglet.

Wheels

Wheel (RM80.00-RM120.00) is an option to be included in the cage settings. While not necessary, most owners and breeders will agree that by providing a wheel for your hedgehog it will keep your hedgehog healthy and prevent obesity.

12 inch wheels are commonly available in stores, but there are also breeders and owners creative enough to invent home-made wheels. Smaller wheels will only be suitable for young hoglets, adult hedgehogs may find it hard to run in.

Whatever the type of wheel provided, it must be ensured that the wheel has solid running platform, and no wires. As mentioned before, hedgehogs are pretty clumsy, and not as agile as hamsters or mice, and can easily get its legs stuck.

Beddings

There are generally three types of beddings:-

• Wood shavings – The softest shavings available is mostly recommended. Needs to be changed once every week or fortnightly, as shavings tend to harvest mites.
• Newspaper – A more economical option but will not help in reducing odor. Newspapers are also dirtier (ink stains) when wet compared to other options, and thus will need regular changing.
• Liner fabric – Considered the cleanest bedding, although if the hedgehog isn’t litter-trained it will mean daily washing.

Housing

It is best to keep hedgehogs in non-wired cages with at least 2 feet in height, to prevent them from escaping. In Malaysia, Zoozones (~RM150.00) are a good option but for budget owners, usually 4sqft storage containers (~RM40.00) are adequate. Just make sure that the containers have enough space for the hedgehog to move around and exercise, and preferably, able to fit a wheel.

Rabbit and dog cages are not recommended. The wired-flooring can do much damage to the hedgehogs if they get their legs stuck.

Although water bottles are usually recommended, it is important to note that the tip of the bottle’s opening should be lowered to a level where the hedgehog does not require climbing on wall to drink. Hedgehogs are not like hamsters or white mice, where they can stand on two hind legs, and hedgehogs being lowsy climbers, there’s every opportunity that the hedgehog may chip their tooth drinking from the metal tip of the bottle. Waterbowl (heavy bottom) is another good choice, with the only problem is spilling caused by the hedgehog pushing the bowl around.

It is advised to provide your hedgehog with a hiding box; it often turns out to be the place where your hedgehog tends to spend most of its time in. This is the ‘safe’ place for your hedgehog when it wants to sleep, or hide when it feels stress or threatened. There are hedgebags readily available in stores, although these will usually need more attention on cleaning. Normal hideboxes will be ice-cream boxes, with an opening cut open and some little holes for air ventilation. For females with hoglets, a bigger hidebox is recommended to allow more space for the mother and youngs, for example a shoebox. However, these should not be used as permanent hideboxes as it is impossible to be kept clean.

Anointing

When you come across a hedgehog biting and licking something, then produce some white froth on its tongue before contorting its body to spit the froth onto its quills, then you’ve just witnessed a hedgehog self-anointing.

It is still unknown why hedgehogs anoint, but reasonable explanations would be that it is attempting to camouflage itself using the scent from the source from predators, or trying to create a toxic layer to protect itself from enemies (hedgehogs are, after all, immune to snake venoms).

What’s an African Pygmy Hedgehog?

African Pygmy Hedgehogs belong to the subfamily Erinaceinae, and is one of the very few domesticated species of hedgehogs in the world. Some call these the White-Bellied Hedgehogs (with reference to the white fur underneath), and has began to grow popular as pets in countries like US, Canada and many other European countries in the early 2000s.

African Pygmy Hedgehog is the most commonly found hedgehog species in Malaysia, although they still remain an uncommon pet in households in this country.

The thorny outlook of hedgehogs often prevents people from understanding the gentle behavior of this little mammal. Despite being solitary animals, hedgehogs are generally very calm and good-tempered in nature, and will rarely threaten to attack unless being provoked forcefully. Hedgehogs will erect its quills to act as a defense mechanism from intimidations, and once it realizes that the subject meant no harm, it will then lower its quills.

Hedgehogs generally are nocturnal animals, and you’ll likely find them tucked nicely in their hideboxes or under shades sleeping during daytime. Some hedgehogs are friendlier than others and will bond well with pet-owners, and are able to recognize their owners’ smells. But there are also hedgehogs which are grumpy and dislike handlings or noises.

It should come as amusing to read that hedgehog temperaments are inherited, but in truth that’s what the fact is. Parents with good tempers usually have good-tempered hoglets, and vice versa. However, it does not mean that the hedgehog will forever have bad temperament. Some just require more time and handling to bond with its owner, and as bad as its temper could be, slowly the hedgehog will have a certain level of attachment to its owner.