# African Pygmy hedgehog enrichment



## ChelsNLuke (Jun 23, 2012)

Hello, I'm currently looking into african pygmy hedgehogs at the moment and Luke doesn't know yet although he will after he has read this tonight:lol2: Anyway I was wondering what do you do to enrich them? I know about the hedgehog wheels and the substrate but is there any other additional things people do for their hedgehog ?It can be anything at all, I'm just interested in the same and different methods people use
-Chels


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## gingersnap (Sep 12, 2010)

We just have the one little male hedgepig. He has a wheel, a couple of pouches and soft tunnels, noisy plastic balls for cats (without holes he can catch his nails in), toilet roll tubes, cork bark, wooden house and pine cones. He also sometimes has the towel we use when he is out to play in his cage too as it seems to be the only thing he anoints.


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## HowseR21 (Nov 5, 2011)

ChelsNLuke said:


> Hello, I'm currently looking into african pygmy hedgehogs at the moment and Luke doesn't know yet although he will after he has read this tonight:lol2: Anyway I was wondering what do you do to enrich them? I know about the hedgehog wheels and the substrate but is there any other additional things people do for their hedgehog ?It can be anything at all, I'm just interested in the same and different methods people use
> -Chels


Little toys, playpens, tunnels .... They love em! :flrt:


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## ChelsNLuke (Jun 23, 2012)

HowseR21 said:


> Little toys, playpens, tunnels .... They love em! :flrt:





gingersnap said:


> We just have the one little male hedgepig. He has a wheel, a couple of pouches and soft tunnels, noisy plastic balls for cats (without holes he can catch his nails in), toilet roll tubes, cork bark, wooden house and pine cones. He also sometimes has the towel we use when he is out to play in his cage too as it seems to be the only thing he anoints.


Thanks for the ideas, also on another forum some had cuddly toys inside, I see no benefit myself for the hedgehog and just think it's for the owner, but please do correct me if I'm wrong!
-Chels


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## HowseR21 (Nov 5, 2011)

I've never put cuddly toys in with ours, I think she'd crap all over it if did :lol2:


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## ChelsNLuke (Jun 23, 2012)

HowseR21 said:


> I've never put cuddly toys in with ours, I think she'd crap all over it if did :lol2:


That was my thoughts haha I don't really see the point but each to their own I guess :lol2:

-Chels


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## EVIEMAY (Mar 6, 2008)

HowseR21 said:


> I've never put cuddly toys in with ours, I think she'd crap all over it if did :lol2:


Mine does naughties with his little cuddlies!!


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## ChelsNLuke (Jun 23, 2012)

EVIEMAY said:


> Mine does naughties with his little cuddlies!!


So they do try to interact with them then? :lol2:
-Chels


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## EVIEMAY (Mar 6, 2008)

ChelsNLuke said:


> So they do try to interact with them then? :lol2:
> -Chels


Definately - they get moved all round his cage !!


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## HowseR21 (Nov 5, 2011)

EVIEMAY said:


> Mine does naughties with his little cuddlies!!


That's a polite way of saying :blush:

Ours is ya typical huffy hedgehog but totally placid as soon as you get her off the ground. Then she gives us a sniff and realises who we are then she can start to wonder about totally relaxed :flrt:


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## Jamiioo (May 8, 2010)

Must disagree about the soft toys tbh  

As well as having much of what is mentioned above, both mine have soft cat toys with tail attachments which you can see the hogs play with because the tail bits are pretty much almost ruined!

I also come across some small easter soft toys at asda recently, cost a pound each so i thought i would get them for the hogs and see how they went down. 

I find that each night the toys have always moved, or this is the case with one hog, my other hog, no matter how many times you remove it from his bed, in the morning, his soft toy will ALWAYS be back in his igloo with him, i find it fairly cute

That being said these are fairly small, keyring size even, so not sure if these are the kind of soft toys you mean..

But i don't really see how adding cheap easter toys to my hogs vivs benefit me in anyway, i actually think they are fairly ugly, but tbh....they cost a pound, i can't complain lol


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## SouthSidePets (Mar 22, 2013)

One thing we use is dog treat balls filled with their normal food.....works a treat: victory:


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## clark60 (Mar 18, 2013)

i will never give mine soft toys i have large bits of cork bark with live food hidden throught out it if they find them they have had to work for the treat.plus treats are hidden in the room they have to hunt for i move the viv around often new things berries on the branch leaves twigs worms soil shells dead mice they also have wheels but never soft toys or quilts the nearest they get to that is they have nice water dishes lol


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## MrJsk (Jul 29, 2012)

Kongs! You know like what you would give a dog!?

I recently went to visit a local breeder and she use's small kong which you wacks dried mealworms in and she said the hedehog's spend a lot of time playing with it to get the mealworms out!


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## animal addict (Jun 1, 2008)

again it depends on the hog and sometimes its a bit of trial and error. a few of mine love their cuddly toys - I have a male who does naughties with his little devil (how appropriate!) and moves him about the cage every time - I find him in his litter tray and food bowl and all sorts regularly - I have another who always takes his cuddly toy to bed with him - I had a female who gave birth who put her mini winnie the pooh in the doorway of her house to finish blocking her nest!! I have 2 females who both love soft spongy style cat balls - one likes to chew it and annoint and does this all the tiime and the other likes to drag it all over the place and annoys the hell out of me by putting it in her water bowl ALL the time - grr!! lol!! I have others who couldnt give a toss about toys irregardless of what they are but they love tunnels and also a tray of chinchilla sand. Mini kongs are good as well for stuffing with treats like worms for them to get out and also a box of i.e finacard with dried mealies hidden in it to allow them to forage helps - I used to use live until I found beatles all over the house because contrary to popular beliefs APH do not have the same foraging instincts as wild animals do - I also rehabilitate wild hogs and by far the highly domesticated APH no where near exhibits the same type of foraging abilities as a wild hogs do - I do give live food under observation for them to chase such as crickets and locusts (observed because again I find them all over the house otherwise) but they are ridiculously useless at hunting them even if you daze the bugs but it is quite funny to watch and the hog enjoys although make it too difficult and they often get fed up with trying and cant be bothered. One of my favs though is the chinchilla sand! its really messy though so be warned lol


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## clark60 (Mar 18, 2013)

*crickets*

try poping the larger legs the ones used to jump makes them so much slower and far easier to catch


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## bcfcforever (Jul 25, 2013)

*I have just got a hedgehog*

this thread is great thanks to you all wondering in the first reply there was pine cones mentioned how would i get these from the wild and make them safe for my hedgehog all the instructions please or steps to do it 
thanks matt


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## MrJsk (Jul 29, 2012)

bcfcforever said:


> this thread is great thanks to you all wondering in the first reply there was pine cones mentioned how would i get these from the wild and make them safe for my hedgehog all the instructions please or steps to do it
> thanks matt


Not sure if you would go about it how you would with logs for reptiles and things. Let it soak in a water/disinfectant solution and then rinse and bake!


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