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Beach Bum Hedgehogs
Hedgehog Care
Bringing baby home
It is important to spend at least one hour a day with your hedgehog when you bring them home. This will allow your baby to get to know you and feel comfortable with you. Hedgehogs identify people by their scents. Until they have bonded with you and your scent, they will be a bit timid. You can also put a worn t-shirt into their cage for them to snuggle with. This will allow them to adjust to your scent a bit sooner.
Nutrition
At Beach Bum Hedgehogs, we feed a mix of several kitten and cat foods. We will give you an initial supply when you purchase your hedgie from us. You can then continue to purchase the foods we use or start your own mix. If you choose to feed a different cat food, you will need to mix this in slowly with our food so that your baby does not get an upset stomach. Some hedgehogs also enjoy mealworms and crickets. You can offer those to your hedgie about 3 times per week. Fresh fruit, hard boiled or scrambled eggs, baby food and boiled chicken are also nice treats for your hedgehog. Make sure to only introduce one item at a time so that if there is a reaction, you will know which food caused it.
Housing
I prefer to use large Sterilite containers. They are easy to clean and aren’t heavy. Some folks like to use wire cages. You need to make sure that the hedgie has a solid bottom surface to walk on. Wire bottom cages are unacceptable. Their little feet can fall through. Also, some hedgies like to climb. Unfortunately, once they climb up, they fall to get down. I do not recommend wire cages.
Bedding
There are a lot of choices available for bedding. Some folks prefer liners while others like aspen or pine. I prefer pine bedding. It is a bit messy at times, but hedgehogs naturally like to burrow through it. If liners are used, sometimes you cannot keep the hedgehogs from going underneath the liners. It is a personal choice. My only caution is to NOT use cedar. It has natural oils that can harm your hedgehog!
There are many wonderful sites out there that have tons of information. I have lightly touched on a few areas. I recommend you visit for a more complete education on proper care.
It is important to spend at least one hour a day with your hedgehog when you bring them home. This will allow your baby to get to know you and feel comfortable with you. Hedgehogs identify people by their scents. Until they have bonded with you and your scent, they will be a bit timid. You can also put a worn t-shirt into their cage for them to snuggle with. This will allow them to adjust to your scent a bit sooner.
Nutrition
At Beach Bum Hedgehogs, we feed a mix of several kitten and cat foods. We will give you an initial supply when you purchase your hedgie from us. You can then continue to purchase the foods we use or start your own mix. If you choose to feed a different cat food, you will need to mix this in slowly with our food so that your baby does not get an upset stomach. Some hedgehogs also enjoy mealworms and crickets. You can offer those to your hedgie about 3 times per week. Fresh fruit, hard boiled or scrambled eggs, baby food and boiled chicken are also nice treats for your hedgehog. Make sure to only introduce one item at a time so that if there is a reaction, you will know which food caused it.
Housing
I prefer to use large Sterilite containers. They are easy to clean and aren’t heavy. Some folks like to use wire cages. You need to make sure that the hedgie has a solid bottom surface to walk on. Wire bottom cages are unacceptable. Their little feet can fall through. Also, some hedgies like to climb. Unfortunately, once they climb up, they fall to get down. I do not recommend wire cages.
Bedding
There are a lot of choices available for bedding. Some folks prefer liners while others like aspen or pine. I prefer pine bedding. It is a bit messy at times, but hedgehogs naturally like to burrow through it. If liners are used, sometimes you cannot keep the hedgehogs from going underneath the liners. It is a personal choice. My only caution is to NOT use cedar. It has natural oils that can harm your hedgehog!
There are many wonderful sites out there that have tons of information. I have lightly touched on a few areas. I recommend you visit for a more complete education on proper care.
Hedgehog care hedgie baby hedgehogs