hi everyone I am back today with Miss
teasel and in this video I'm just going
to be showing you how to pick up your
hedgehog picking up your brand new
Hedgehog in many cases is way easier
said than done and can be a very
intimidating experience for the
firsttime Hedgehog owner as opposed to
other small animals hedgehogs count with
a very powerful defense mechanism their
spines all over their back which they
will use to discourage anything from
coming near them to protect themselves
hedgehogs will curl into a ball raise
their spines and start hissing and
popping to essentially try and prick you
with their spines the following Clips
are an example of a hedgehog hissing and
raising its
spines
for a new Hedgehog owner this Behavior
may be a bit scary and discouraging
because you see this hissing ball of
rage that doesn't want to have anything
to do with you however they don't do
this because they don't like you they
only do it because they're scared if you
think about it they were taken from
their home in many cases from their
litter and are now exposed to a
multitude of new noises and smells that
they're just not used to it will take
some time for your new Hedgehog to get
used to their new environment and you'll
have to make sure to handle them every
single day to get them used to you now
in this video I am just going to show
the first step in handling your hedgehog
which is to pick them up the trick to
picking up and holding a hedgehog is to
pick them up from underneath hedgehogs
have spines over the top but they're
Underside is first so you want to keep
your hands underneath them at all times
when you're holding them to avoid the
spines now I'll go ahead and put tasel
back in her cage so I can show you how I
pick her up from the
bedding to pick up a hedgehog you have
to make a scooping motion you place one
hand on each side of the Hedgehog and
then move your hands together as you
move them underneath your hedgehog to
scoop them up and get them off of the
bedding the hardest part is to get them
off of the bedding because they will
wedge themselves in there pretty well so
that you can't get access to their
Underside after you get them off of the
bedding they will usually start to calm
down a little bit and get a little bit
curious maybe they'll even start
exploring a little bit which is good um
teasel in this clip started licking me
I'm not sure why probably because she
could taste the veggies that I gave to
the piggies anyway not all hedgehogs may
be as well behaved once they're on your
hands I know that teasel wasn't this way
in the beginning but you just have to
keep on picking them up every day and
holding them it's a matter of getting
them used to you if this method of
picking up a hedgehog is a bit
intimidating because you have a very
aggressive hedgy then you can try
picking them up with some bedding which
will serve as a barrier between your
hand hands and the Hedgehog you do the
same scooping motion but you make sure
to pick up some bedding with the
Hedgehog once they calm down a little
bit and you feel more comfortable
holding them you can try to slowly get
rid of the bedding in Your Hands by
moving the Hedgehog from hand to
hand now if you're a bit scared of
picking them up with your bare hands you
can also use a towel a shirt or a rag to
pick them up as well right here I'm just
using a piece of fleece that way your
hands won't come in direct contact with
your hedgehog you can continue to use a
towel or rag or a piece of fleece to
pick them up until you feel a little bit
more comfortable handling them and can
move on to pick them up with your bare
hands now there are some people that
like to use gloves to handle their
Hedgehog
I really wouldn't suggest using gloves
all the time since your hedgehog won't
be able to smell your hands and get used
to your scent hedgehogs have very poor
eyesight and are extremely sound and
scent oriented so it's fun to use gloves
in the beginning but as you get more
comfortable holding them try to use your
hand so they can get used to the scent
of your
hands all right guys so I guess that is
it for now I hope that this video was
helpful to anyone that is thinking about
getting a hedgehog in the future as I
mentioned earlier make sure to hold them
every day it may take time to get them
tame it could take days weeks months
maybe even years with teasel it took me
a full year to get her tame and
comfortable while I was holding her
while with my previous Hedgehog it was
only a matter of days before she was
comfortable around me so it really
depends on the Hedgehog's personality
some people give up with their Hedgehog
when they see that they don't come
around very quickly but if you leave
your hedgehog in their cage all the time
they're never going to get used to being
handled and you also wouldn't get to
enjoy the benefits of having a pet and
that is it for now thank you so much for
watching and I will see you guys in my
next video
bye