# Differences between "domestic" hedgehogs and aph's?



## NaomiR (Jan 26, 2009)

Can someone tell me what the main differences between our normal garden hedgehogs and the (increasingly popular) African Pygmy Hedgehogs are, not for any other reason than I'm just interested.

Thank you


----------



## Stacey010884 (Mar 7, 2009)

Off the top of my head there's size and husbandry. Also, our lil wild friends are covered in parasites. :eek4:


----------



## NaomiR (Jan 26, 2009)

yes someone mentioned the wild ones are "riddled" with nasties but like what??

also I've seen some hedgehog rescues keep their rescue animals in groups and very often in outside enclosures, can african ones be kept in groups or outside enclosures.........


----------



## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

Native hogs are huge in comparison, they also carry external parasites. They are made to hibernate while APH arent as they come from a warm climate and dont have the body mass to survive it. APH are also quite vocal but its not often a native hog makes any noises although they can.
Native hogs come in varying shades of brown unlike the APH which comes in a variety of colours.


----------



## Loderuna (Mar 9, 2010)

I think the most important difference is that aph's can't survive our climate. I've heard of a few cases where poor little dudes have been abandoned after their owners lost interest. The stupid fools thought they would survive just like our native hogs.

I would have thought that wild aph's get parasites just like ours do -fleas, ticks, ringworm and worms all affect our native hogs.

Does aph poo smell as bad as native hog poo? :whistling2:


----------



## Kare (Mar 9, 2010)

Yes they can be affected by all of those, the ones sold at pet stores supplied by **** have infected owners/shop workers with ringworms.

They can have fleas and worms, but unlikely to as when would they go anywhere to catch fleas and definitely arent going to encounter ticks lol

Back to original question, I would say the biggest difference is tameness.


----------



## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

I dont know why but native hogs poo smells fishy :lol2:Still got to love them though:flrt:
Its amazing how tame natives can get but it tends to be hands off with them so not to encourage them to like humans
APH are sooooooooo cute and pretty, I love mine:flrt:


----------



## sam gamgee (Apr 8, 2009)

Love ours too.....just wish he wouldnt poo on me as soon as he comes out............



Every single time, :lol2:


----------



## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

sam gamgee said:


> Love ours too.....just wish he wouldnt poo on me as soon as he comes out............
> 
> 
> 
> Every single time, :lol2:


Babies are the worst, they are pooing machines:lol2:


----------



## Stacey010884 (Mar 7, 2009)

Sorry, I forgot to say "Congratulations!" in my pm!

I have to admit I've seen some gorgeous little hoggies on here!

I can't believe people abondon animals so carelessly, pees me off! :devil:


----------



## animal addict (Jun 1, 2008)

there is a huge difference between our native hoggies and APH - most obvious is the size, colour and ability to hibernate difference (aph cannot hibernate) - there are some similarities in the fact that wildies should be fed a high quality cat food (whiskas, tecos own brand etc makes them quite smelly) and need hidey holes whereby they feel secure but wildies are never as tame as aph and should not be kept as such neither - APH have never been 'wild' our native hedgies are endangered and not captive bred and nor should they be. The only time our native hedgies should be kept in enclosed quarters is if they are ill and then released once treated or are disabled and need supervised care.


----------



## Stacey010884 (Mar 7, 2009)

I always wanted to be one of those people who has a little hide for them in the garden for when rehabilitated hedgies are released, but until I'm in a more hedgie friendly area I can't. :sad:

I miss seeing the wild hedgies around here but not seen any for approx 7/8 years now.

Well, luckily for me there's lots of pics of APH on here so looking forward to more photos! :2thumb:


----------



## NaomiR (Jan 26, 2009)

we used to have a family of hedgehogs that visited every year, often with babies - but we haven't seen them for the last 2 years, I wonder where they've gone??


----------



## animal addict (Jun 1, 2008)

NaomiR said:


> we used to have a family of hedgehogs that visited every year, often with babies - but we haven't seen them for the last 2 years, I wonder where they've gone??


 They might not have survived because they are becoming endangered!! Our natives are suffering from severley dwindling numbers and has the possibility of becoming extinct if it continues. Our climate has changed so much plus the destruction of their natural habitat etc is making it harder for them to survive.


----------



## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

animal addict said:


> They might not have survived because they are becoming endangered!! Our natives are suffering from severley dwindling numbers and has the possibility of becoming extinct if it continues. Our climate has changed so much plus the destruction of their natural habitat etc is making it harder for them to survive.


 

I wish more people were aware of this. We had someone ring our sanctuary saying they had found a hedgehog and would we remove it as they didnt want vermin in the garden:bash:


----------



## Fraggle (Feb 24, 2008)

sam gamgee said:


> Love ours too.....just wish he wouldnt poo on me as soon as he comes out............
> 
> 
> 
> Every single time, :lol2:


haha! it really is stinky! i find it really odd, but mine has never once pooed on me or our carpet, the ones i went to visit before i got her covered me!!! (i was lucky enough to have one of the members from the aph forum let me go meet all her hogs and handle them at diff ages/temperaments, so i knew what they were like to handle. and how much they poo! lol!) 

i really love pintos, i'd love to get another hoggie, but there's the room for extra setups and i wouldn't risk having another cos ours has had mites and if they return i wouldn't want to risk spreading them. boooooo!!!!!


----------



## Stacey010884 (Mar 7, 2009)

Hedgehogs aren't vermin!! They eat slugs and snails therefore saving the flowers, it's just really unfortunate that in eating them they also ingest the poison laid down to kill the slugs and snails. :sad:


----------



## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

Stacey010884 said:


> Hedgehogs aren't vermin!! They eat slugs and snails therefore saving the flowers, it's just really unfortunate that in eating them they also ingest the poison laid down to kill the slugs and snails. :sad:


Slugs arent good for them as they cause many hedgehogs to die of lungworm. I cant understand why anyone would class them as vermin as they really are the gardeners friend and very cute too


----------



## Fraggle (Feb 24, 2008)

aww, inever thought about that! Glad I don't use any pesticides- I'm too scared of harming our dogs or the local cats (even if they do dig up my plants lol!)
I just try to stick to plants that slugs don't like, if they get eaten, I just don't buy them again lol!



Stacey010884 said:


> Hedgehogs aren't vermin!! They eat slugs and snails therefore saving the flowers, it's just really unfortunate that in eating them they also ingest the poison laid down to kill the slugs and snails. :sad:


----------



## Stacey010884 (Mar 7, 2009)

I didn't think of lungworm with hedgies which is weird as I was thinking of worming the rabbit again after seeing a slug in the garden and worrying about the very same parasite!


----------



## colinbradbury (Nov 16, 2008)

They main difference between european hedgehogs and aph is the europian hedgehogs are pretty much total insectivores and hedgehogs from african although do eat insect are far more omnivorous . They may well be reclassified this year away from the insectivore group. actually apart from apperance there is not a great deal of things similar .


----------



## animalmadfliss (May 23, 2010)

If I had hedgehogs in my garden I would be well chuffed, I would get a hedgehog house and feed them every night.

"vermin" what a joke. 

Just shows what kind of chance our mice, voles and shrews have!
Poor little things!

We used to have loads of badgers, but the neghbours got them "moved"
very upsetting!


----------

