Micro hedgehog

Here you can post pictures and videos to show others.
Post Reply
Message
Author
MicroBob
Posts: 3154
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:11 am
Location: Northern Germany

Micro hedgehog

#1 Post by MicroBob » Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:41 pm

Hi together,
my older son brought home a small hedgehog, too light for his winter sleep.
Now he shares my lab/office in a big box until he is big enough. He is quite wild for such a young animal - bites in fingers and doesn't let go when he is hungry :lol:

Bob
Attachments
Igel 1024.jpg
Igel 1024.jpg (201.84 KiB) Viewed 7307 times
Igel 1024 2.jpg
Igel 1024 2.jpg (166.56 KiB) Viewed 7307 times
Last edited by MicroBob on Tue Nov 05, 2019 11:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
mrsonchus
Posts: 4175
Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2015 9:42 pm
Location: Cumbria, UK

Re: Micro hedgehog

#2 Post by mrsonchus » Mon Nov 04, 2019 9:05 pm

A fine-looking fellow he/she is too! :D
John B

thomas.schwarz
Posts: 121
Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2019 5:04 pm

Re: Micro hedgehog

#3 Post by thomas.schwarz » Mon Nov 04, 2019 9:58 pm

So cute!!!!!!! Amazing animal... about the biting versus tenderheartedness in us humans... try not to kiss him/her or he may bite you on the nose like a tiny pig did to me once.... ok back to the micro jungle in my jars!!!! They don't bite... me!!!

Chris Dee
Posts: 216
Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2019 1:02 pm

Re: Micro hedgehog

#4 Post by Chris Dee » Mon Nov 04, 2019 10:30 pm

Cue little fella. :)

MicroBob
Posts: 3154
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:11 am
Location: Northern Germany

Re: Micro hedgehog

#5 Post by MicroBob » Tue Nov 05, 2019 11:50 am

Hi together,
hedgehog spines are actually used in diatom arranging. So the hedgehog is a microscopy accessory!
It is gaining weight as it should and has no serious health problems so far. It even is the first hedgehog I have had without fleas.

Bob

User avatar
mrsonchus
Posts: 4175
Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2015 9:42 pm
Location: Cumbria, UK

Re: Micro hedgehog

#6 Post by mrsonchus » Tue Nov 05, 2019 12:01 pm

Uh-Oh.... No Bob...nooooo. :o :shock: ;)
We'll need to see release-images now to be sure you haven't released a bald hedgehog back into the wild!! :D

Keep up the good work old chap! :)
John B

charlie g
Posts: 1831
Joined: Mon Oct 20, 2014 7:54 pm

Re: Micro hedgehog

#7 Post by charlie g » Thu Nov 07, 2019 12:14 am

Hi Bob, our son had two pet shop bought hedgehogs ( same species as yours I sense), great pets for years. They love meal worms/ adult beetles of these meal worms. They constantly lick their spines to insure an irritant of their saliva coats the points of their spines. They enjoy being handled and do not lunge to spike you if you are gentle with them.

Please consult a vet in your area if the little piggie your son brought home was collected from the wild....little piggie might harbor bacteria or viruses dangerous to you...I never looked into wild hedge hogs potential as vectors. In con-US, petshop sold piggies come from clean breeders...not wild piggies collected by chance.

We have three wild kittens and their feral mother cat in our woodshed...so far we only caught one for the starter shots, etc., if your piggie is from the wild...look into what they might be vectors for..lovely pets...we never kissed them, pulled away if a bite seemed immenent...very easy to keep. Charlie guevara

MicroBob
Posts: 3154
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:11 am
Location: Northern Germany

Re: Micro hedgehog

#8 Post by MicroBob » Thu Nov 07, 2019 9:02 am

Hi Charlie,
here in Germany hedgehogs are protected wildlife animals and nobody keeps them as pets as far as I know.
We have just saved the little hedgehog from death in winter time and will let him have his winter sleep when he is big and fat enough. In spring he will be fed and then released at a nice place. He (we think now) has already grown a bit and gained weight. I would too if was fed with 20% of my body weight of his food every day! :lol:
Outside hedgehogs all have parasites, our one has only a few lung worms and seems to be fine apart from that. Since they always have a certain amount of parasites in nature and can cope with it, it is today seen as best to leave them as they are as long as it is not something serious. Medical treatment of these small hedgehogs is difficult, our last one died from the treatment of superficial maladies. We just keep him as a wild animal and refrain from kissing . :D
Yesterday we let him run around a bit and he tried to bite my wife, opening his jaws as wide as he could! :lol: Apart from the biting he is quite relaxed and doesn't seem to be too stressed by his imprisonment.
Compared to our rabbits and tomcat it makes quite a bit of work to keep him and we probably will be quite happy when he can start his winter sleep.
Only about 25% of all born hedgehogs manage to live for their first year, so it is a nice success when this little one can be released in good condition next year.

Bob

Sauerkraut
Posts: 211
Joined: Tue Apr 16, 2019 2:07 am
Location: Oregon, USA

Re: Micro hedgehog

#9 Post by Sauerkraut » Thu Nov 07, 2019 5:54 pm

MicroBob wrote:
Thu Nov 07, 2019 9:02 am
Yesterday we let him run around a bit and he tried to bite my wife, opening his jaws as wide as he could! :lol: Apart from the biting he is quite relaxed and doesn't seem to be too stressed by his imprisonment.
This thread gave me a good laugh. Overall, the hedgehog still seems like a better guest than when my sister coms to visit. And she can't be turned loose into the wild to end the pain. +1 for hedgehog.

MicroBob
Posts: 3154
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:11 am
Location: Northern Germany

Re: Micro hedgehog

#10 Post by MicroBob » Thu Nov 07, 2019 7:20 pm

Hi Heather,
to put a hedgehog to sleep he is put outside at temperatures around the freezing point and the food is withdrawn. Don't you think this helps against sisters too? :lol:

Bob

Sauerkraut
Posts: 211
Joined: Tue Apr 16, 2019 2:07 am
Location: Oregon, USA

Re: Micro hedgehog

#11 Post by Sauerkraut » Thu Nov 07, 2019 8:44 pm

Thanks, Bob. Definitely worth a try.

MicroBob
Posts: 3154
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:11 am
Location: Northern Germany

Re: Micro hedgehog

#12 Post by MicroBob » Fri May 01, 2020 3:24 pm

Hi together,
since our micro-hedgehog has not jet prooved willing to wake up we have dug him out of his kitchen tissue and newspaper nest and not he is awaking inside. Though he is not a year old he behaves like a human teenager - stay in bed whatever happens!
He is looking well and has slowly started to enter 2020.
When he starts to explore I can post some pictures.

Bob

User avatar
daruosha
Posts: 273
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2019 7:10 am
Location: Tehran, Iran

Re: Micro hedgehog

#13 Post by daruosha » Fri May 01, 2020 3:33 pm

MicroBob wrote:
Tue Nov 05, 2019 11:50 am
Hi together,
hedgehog spines are actually used in diatom arranging. So the hedgehog is a microscopy accessory!
I'm sure you'll take a good care of that little cute hedgehog.

You can put the spines understand the microscope and see how does it look. Sounds an interesting project to me. I guess you need to make the spines transparent for better observation.
Daruosh.

MicroBob
Posts: 3154
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:11 am
Location: Northern Germany

Re: Micro hedgehog

#14 Post by MicroBob » Fri May 01, 2020 7:36 pm

I have a couple of hedgehog spines somewhere from an overrun hedgehog scraped from the street. They also have quite different hairs, the ones at the seam between belly fur and spines are a mixture between hairs and spines, spikey stiff hairs.

Right now he plays civil servant mikado with us: The one who moves first has lost! :lol:
He alread had a look around from the opening of his cardboard box and he was sniffing and smacking for his first food after 4,5 months. For me it is quite incredible that this species is able to go into hibernation for such a long time and survive it.

MicroBob
Posts: 3154
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:11 am
Location: Northern Germany

Re: Micro hedgehog

#15 Post by MicroBob » Thu May 14, 2020 5:42 pm

Our micro hedgehog has had a good winter sleep of 4,5 month. When we let hin sleep he had 800g, he is up now for two weeks and already weighs 950g. We had his droppings tested and he gets some medication, so will stay for 2-3 weeks more. But he already is a big one now.

Our son has found a small lady hedgehog that has made it into winter sleep on her own. Since she was less fit than our maxi micro hedgehog he snapped it and it is now also treated an fed. My wife gave it the vets prescribed sunbath today :D These are really lovely creatures. When they sniff they bend their nose in the direction the are most interested. :lol: While he used to bite she is very friendly and relaxed in contact.

Bob

MicroBob
Posts: 3154
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:11 am
Location: Northern Germany

Re: Micro hedgehog

#16 Post by MicroBob » Fri Dec 04, 2020 1:24 pm

Hi together,
I have just found a video I took when Fritzi the little Hedgehog was about 6 weeks old: https://vimeo.com/487214021
This was about his daily food, about 40% of his body weight!
They are supposed to gain 10g each day until they are big and fat enough to be put into hibernation. We woke Fritzi after 4,5 months of winter sleep. he had grown in this time and was still well fed. We saw him or our second hedgehog a couple of times in our garden afterwards, like a fata morgana - you come close, it disappears! :lol:

Bob

Post Reply