It can be extremely challenging for you to tame a skittish Hedgehog when they’re bolting away and hiding every time you enter the room.
Teaching your Hedgehog to trust you can take some time and patience, but bonding with your little pet is worth every moment.
The best tip for taming your Hedgehog is to make sure you move at your pet’s pace. You need to be patient and avoid rushing with your Hedgehog since that will make the process take even longer. Once you find a method that works for you and your pet, stick with it until your Hedgehogs are tamed.
With time and patience, you can easily tame your Hedgehogs. First, however, it is important to pay attention to your Hedgehog’s body language and use these steps to help them understand that they are safe and nothing will hurt them.
By making your Hedgehog feel safe in their surroundings and slowly teaching them self-confidence skills, you can easily tame your little pet.
1. Get Down To The Ground Level
Hedgehogs are tiny creatures, and for them, we humans are just a pair of feet if we place them on the ground.
Therefore, it is best to get on the ground or crouch low on the ground whenever you are playing with your Hedgehog.
This will help your Hedgehog feel more comfortable and at home. You will not be accepted as a tall and arrogant animal.
The goal is not to force your Hedgehog to come up to you and interact but to give them options.
By sitting quietly on the floor in a place your Hedgehog has access to, they will eventually get curious and come up to you all on their own.
Some Hedgehogs are very shy, they might not come up to you at all the first couple of times you hang out with them, and that’s okay. They’ll still be getting used to your presence little by little.
2. Let Your Hedgehog Come To You
It would be best if you never forced your Hedgehog to interact with you. If you force your Hedgehog to interact with you, you will only make them feel scared and distrustful.
Hedgehogs are pretty gentle and will enjoy spending time with you.
Whenever you are around your Hedgehog, allow them to approach you in their own time builds trust. With time, your Hedgehog will learn that you are not so scary.
They’ll be more likely to be brave and approach you again in the future. Having some small treats with you to reward your Hedgehog’s curiosity can also help reinforce the behavior.
3. Maintain A Daily Routine
To make your Hedgehog feel safe around you, I advise you to adopt a daily routine or a schedule.
If your Hedgehog starts to feel safe around their surrounding, they will be braver and more likely to spend time with you and other members of the household.
You must set a proper feeding routine, exercise routine, and daily interaction routine with your Hedgehog.
Keeping a consistent daily routine is the easiest way to help your Hedgehog settle into a routine.
Also, instead of randomly choosing times to interact with your Hedgehog, they will usually be happier with the interaction if they expect it.
Choose a few times a day to sit with your Hedgehog consistently, so they’ll learn to be ready for you. This way, you can bond with your Hedgehog much more easily.
4. Train Your Hedgehog
You can spend a wonderful time with your Hedgehogs while training them.
While training your Hedgehogs, not only do you teach them cool treats, you are also teaching them to trust you.
Your Hedgehog will be excited to spend time with you, knowing they’ll have fun exercising their brain and figuring out how to get treats.
Training your Hedgehog will teach them to slow down and earn their treats while keeping them from losing interest in you just because you don’t have any treats on hand.
Training a Hedgehog is an excellent way to tame them and build a bond with them.
5. Avoid Picking Up Your Hedgehog
If you want to bond with your Hedgehog quickly, you must avoid cornering them or picking them up for the first few weeks.
Most Hedgehogs do not like to be held. If you try to get hold of your Hedgehog all the time, then they will start to associate you with the feeling of being trapped and scared.
Most Hedgehog will avoid anyone who comes and tries to pick them up all the time. However, your Hedgehog will be more likely to confidently approach you and bond with you if they feel they have a choice in the interaction.
You should avoid picking your Hedgehogs up most of the time if you want to have a happy relationship with them. However, there might be some emergency cases where you would want to pick your Hedgehog, which is totally okay.
6. Entice Your Hedgehog With Treats
Treats are an amazing way to entice your Hedgehog to bond with your Hedgehog. You can definitely use your pet’s favorite treat to get to them.
Hedgehogs love to munch on worms and insects. However, do not serve them too much at a time. Excessive consumption of treats could easily upset their sensitive stomachs.
When you reward your Hedgehog, they will be more likely to come to you again and gain.
7. Pet Your Hedgehog
Some Hedgehogs enjoy being touched, while others don’t. Some Hedgehogs even enjoy getting a good massage more than they like to get treats!
Teaching your Hedgehogs not to be afraid of hands and petting them is an excellent way to bond with your little pet.
It would be best to keep in mind that young Hedgehogs are an exception to this, but not because they don’t enjoy being pets. Instead, it’s because they have too much energy to sit still. Hedgehogs will inevitably start to mellow out and enjoy being pet more, though, as they get older.
8. Stay Quiet Around Your Hedgehog
Hedgehogs can easily get scared by loud noises. If you are making a lot of noise, then there are rare chances that your Hedgehog will approach you.
It is important to maintain silence whenever you are around your Hedgehog. Try to keep the sound to a bare minimum.
Whenever you are around them, speak in a soft and gentle voice. Try reading a book or other quiet activity while sitting on the floor with your Hedgehog.
9. Increase Their Floor Time
It is crucial to let your Hedgehog out of its cage for at least an hour every day.
Besides entertainment, exercise is equally important for our Hedgehogs. Proper exercise will help them keep happy and engaged.
Just let them out in an open and spacious room with closed drafts and ventilation so that your little friend does not escape.
Lack of exercise can lead to various health complications in your Hedgehog. Also, inadequate exercise can make your pet obese.
10. Understand Your Hedgehog’s Body Language
Some owners might have to face a hard time understanding their pet’s body language.
It will help if you start by spending some quality time with your Hedgehog. Then, observe your Hedgehog intently to understand their behavior.
Look how your Hedgehog reacts to new places and new objects.
Each Hedgehog has its unique personality, and observing them intently will help you learn about their behavior.
It would be best if you made sure that there are no other pets or people in the room so that you can easily enjoy some quality time with your Hedgehog.
11. Provide Them Enough Toys And Mental Stimulation
Toys and mental stimulation play an important role in keeping your Hedgehogs happy and engaged.
Even if you are interacting with your Hedgehogs directly, I would advise you to provide them with fun toys to play with.
You can even try placing your Hedgehog’s favorite treat in one of the toys. You will see that your Hedgehog having a great time trying to reach the treat.
Besides keeping them engaged, toys also help Hedgehogs to work out. Try choosing different toys so that your furry friend never gets bored.
12. Provide Your Hedgehog With Lots Of Hiding Space
While you are trying to bond with your Hedgehog in an open space, you must always make sure that they have a lot of places to run and hide.
Having enough hiding spaces will make your Hedgehog feel much more confident.
Hideout houses, basic cardboard boxes, space under the furniture, bookshelves are some of the places your Hedgehog will try to run to if they are not comfortable around you.
13. Respect Your Hedgehog’s Boundaries
During bonding with your Hedgehog, it is essential to make sure that you respect your Hedgehog’s boundaries.
If your Hedgehog seems fussy during the interaction, then leave them alone for the moment. Please do not force them to interact.
Also, you must leave your Hedgehog alone while they are eating, pooping, or grooming themself. In such cases, wait till they are finished with their activity. If they still prefer to be left alone, respect that and give your Hedgehog their space.
On the other hand, if your Hedgehog is unwell, then you will need to handle your Hedgehog even if they don’t want you to.
In no case should you force your Hedgehog into an interaction for your own entertainment.
Related Queries:
How Long Does It Take To Bond With A Hedgehog?
Your Hedgehog will need some time to bond with you.
The entire bonding process can take as little as one day or as long as up to several months. Of course, the behavior totally depends on your Hedgehog.
In general, it’s a few weeks before you and your Hedgehog will be living happily together, but it is well worth the wait.
Do Hedgehogs Like To Be Petted?
Most Hedgehogs do not like being touched or petted.
However, pet hedgehogs who have been socialized with people from a young age will typically grow to love being petted.
Once your Hedgehog has learned that human hands are not something to be afraid of, they’ll be more willing to stick around and not run away when you touch them.
But of course, not all Hedgehogs grow up with human companionship, and many learn to fear people instead of trusting us. So, it’s not uncommon to find Hedgehogs who shy away from human hands.
How Do You Show Your Hedgehog You Love Them?
Only by giving your Hedgehog them a sense of pleasure, belongingness, safety, and trust, you can show your pet you love him.
You can achieve all these by grooming them, petting them, playing with them, and feeding them their favorite treats.
Before following all the above, be careful not to make your pet uncomfortable to fulfill any one of them.
Can Hedgehogs Bond With Humans?
Many studies and experiments have mildly indicated that Hedgehogs bond with human beings primarily based on their scents.
They can differentiate their owners from others with the help of body scent.
It will take some time to build a relationship of trust and affection, but once this bond is formed, you will be cherished by your pet. All you need is a little bit of patience and warmth, which will come over time.
