# African Pygmy Hedgehogs



## annierose (May 1, 2009)

Hi guys,
Just wondering if anyones ever had any sucess in breeding african pygmy hedgehogs?
We've had a couple born the other day, but they were dead within 24 hours. 
Were not sure why, because the mother appeared to be feeding them, and the temperature's seemed right.
Just wondering if anyone has actually sucessfully bred them before? And under what conditions?
x


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## BlackRose (Jul 8, 2007)

There are a few who breed them or have unexpected litters and raise them or have had the mothers raise them successfully. Im sure they will post here soon.
How did that happen? Were you sold a pregnant female or do you have a pair?
If you are keeping a male and female together I suggest you seperate them, especially to avoid more litters and stress upon the mother.
Sorry to hear about the babies.


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## lobley (Jan 26, 2008)

ive just had 4 young ones with no problems at all 

she looked after them all fine , have read a lot of bad stories from breeding them , were the mother wont look after them or kill them


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## rainbowbrite (Apr 10, 2009)

wow stunning babies!!,


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## lobley (Jan 26, 2008)

annierose said:


> Hi guys,
> Just wondering if anyones ever had any sucess in breeding african pygmy hedgehogs?
> We've had a couple born the other day, but they were dead within 24 hours.
> Were not sure why, because the mother appeared to be feeding them, and the temperature's seemed right.
> ...


 
think we need a bit more information on these age ,how you keep them and at what temp
was the male seperate from the female when babies were born

mine are kept in a heated garage


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## animal addict (Jun 1, 2008)

no offence but it isnt summit you should go into lightly without researching and there are plenty of peole who have had litters successfully - there are many reasons why litters dont survive - the fact that you are asking suggests you havent looked into it enough and even if you have there are always inexblicable answers - too many people have jumped onto the bandwagon of breeding these without looking fully into the consequences and situations that may arise and therefore are putting their pets unde un-neccessary strain - sorry for coming across as harsh and again Lobley - you were lucky - in all honesty you should have counted X amount of days you put the male in with the female whether you witnessed breeding behaviour or not and counted her as possibly pregnant - you cant witness every second you put them together and can count on them being animals at the end of the day - unexpected litters or babies are the result of stupidity whichever way you look at it - uacceptable to the animal and their welfare!!! - this goes accross the board - APH or not


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## lobley (Jan 26, 2008)

unexpected litters or babies are the result of stupidity 

there will be a lot stupid people on here then because in a lot of cases with reptiles and rodents you dont witness mating and they show no signs of been pregnant

its people like you who stop people asking advise and help

we just need more information so everyone can help them ,to find out what could of happened and how to correct it to stop it happening in the future

forum with to many experts and not enough advisers

people do something wrong the correct way is to advise what been dont wrong , not to jump all over them


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## lobley (Jan 26, 2008)

you are correct in what your saying ,as there asking under what conditions to breed them , which should of been asked before breeding them , thats why more information was needed before judgement could be made , giving them the do and donts on there 2 post , seems to make new members stop coming on forum 

i always research all animals before breeding 

i just took it has you were calling me stupid , the intention was to breed them but she gained no weight and showed no signs , the litter was unexpected yes but the condition and the care prior to this was all correct 

this thread now could now turn into a big argument which i wont join in on .


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## Choggie (Apr 27, 2009)

I decided that the time had come for Hattie to be introduced to Henry but I did so in their excerise area so that they had plenty of room to avoid each other if necessary. Went to make a cup of tea and came back to find Henry's prickles interlocked with Hattie's prickles in her side. I made a mental not to explain the birds and bees to him and then seperated them - they had been together for less than half an hour. Lo and behold 34 days later a new little of three babies - unexpected the same as yours.

I knew the babies were babies in with her as we could hear the squeaks and she was the only one of my girls to have been with a boy. I lifted the lid on the nest box and pulled the fleece to one side with a pair of tweezers and there they were - three little conkers.

I was extremely lucky as we had been getting her out for her daily runs and cuddles and my OH and I decided to take a short break over Easter and during the three nights that we were away, my hedgehog routine was carried out by my nephew and during this period she had her babies and still let my nephew lift her out for her evening run and cuddles and showed no signs of stress or discomfort.

I am no expert and I am lucky that I can email two breeders who I have had my hedgehogs off and they answer all my queries and questions and to them I am eternally greatful.

When I first started with APH I wasn't sure where to place my hedgehog homes as you read so much that says it should be quiet, no drafts etc. After some advice that was took on board, I decided to set mine up in our conservatory which is where we spend most of our time - they are on a stacking system and I have great fun watching them in the evening. They are well acclimatised to every day sounds, birds landing on the roof, cats landing of the roof, tv, dogs barking, kids shouting, me shouting at the kids and the dogs and I do believe that this helps them long term as they are such wonderful cuddly choggies that will if allowed shove the dogs of the sofa if they are where they want to go. All the homes have heat mats apart from one as she prefers to wrap up in her fleece and in summer, the mats are turned off in the day as it is warm enough, even with a window open, and turned on when we go up to bed just to keep them warm overnight.

My second pair came from a home where they were kept in together and the poor girl was under a lot of stress - again, good possibility that she was pregnant - with regular handling and a new home she thrived and gave birth to two healthy choglets which quickly stole my heart. She now has earned the nick name Beep Beep as she never sits still and explores most of the conservatory and likes to scale anybody sitting on the sofa to sit on their shoulders.

I do know that there is a good possibility that any new mum can kill/mutilate their babies if they feel stressed or indeed frightened by the whole birth experience and one thread on a forum stated that they had retired one female as she killed two/three litters and she was just no suited to motherhood and it was unfair to keep putting her through it - she now has a lovely home as a pet and will not be bred from ever again.
Another thread said that although a new mum killed her first litter she went on to have littlers thereafter with no problems at all - mark this one down to experience and hopefully you will be ready when you decide to try again.

We run our own marine shop and specialise in Captive Bred Seahorses and everybody wants to breed from them straight away - my own personal advice is to get your new pet whatever it may be, enjoy them and get to know them and their habits, make sure you are confident looking after them. Then research into breeding and decide if it is something you want to do.

The hardest part of my job is trying to explain to people that whilst seahorses may have upto two hundred babies you will be lucky to get any to survive - more people are having success with some of the new varieties that are now available but an overall success rate of 10% is considered excellent and it cost a lot of money to set up a nursery tank and prepare the live food etc etc.


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## animal addict (Jun 1, 2008)

lobley said:


> there asking under what conditions to breed them , which should of been asked before breeding them .


that was my point - unless they got them from some idiot who had them together before or a shop in which case they should go back and give them a mouthful for being so careless!!

Agree muchly with choggie - esp the bottom half about research but anyway for the hogs sake:

do they have lineage? Do you know that they arent related if you dont have lineage? How old are they? What weight are they? How did you do the mating if you did do it? how did you prepare for the babies? what exactly happened from giving birth? Did you disturb the nest? was it mums first litter? You do realise that you must give mum a break for a few months now before you even think about re attempting breeding? etc etc


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## annierose (May 1, 2009)

Basically guys, the jist of it is that i do know about them, i have done my research and i do not appreciate been called stupid, if that was the case then i wouldn't have a MSc in Zoology now would i?
Maybe my wording was a little incorrect, but i mainly just wanted to get a few stories from people about their experiences with APH, and to see if anyone else had problems like we did. 
We were unaware that the female was pregnant as we've only had her two weeks, so we automatically thought she was just a little bit podgy!
So once again, if anyone else has experienced problems with breeding them i would grately appreciate chatting with you to see if i can iron out the problems which might have occured!


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## dexnos (Mar 10, 2008)

*pygmyhogsuk*

If you go to Pygmy Hogs UK you will find all the answers to your question and much, much more


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## annierose (May 1, 2009)

Thanks dexnos, Muchly appreciated!
x


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## animal addict (Jun 1, 2008)

well I do hope that you are going to go back to whoever you got them from and speak to them about the issue as its irresponsible to sell a hedgie so late into pregnancy and whoever it is needs to take reponsibility as continued ignorance is just going to result in more animals suffering - seeing as its the stress of the move and being in a different environment and different handler probably caused the problem - but then having a MSc in Zoology and if you've done your research as you have suggested you would of course know that!!!!!!!!!


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## annierose (May 1, 2009)

Again, please stop with the sarcasm, it's uncalled for. 
The people i bought them from, or rather rescued didn't have a clue what they were doing, hence the reason for me paying way over the odds for them! 

I know why the young, and inevitably the females suffered, i am not that ignorant to not realise that! As i said, more than anything i just wanted to hear about peoples experiences with them as breeders. If you don't have experiences to share, then please don't carry on trying to argue over forums, i do find it a little petty to be honest.


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## animal addict (Jun 1, 2008)

it wasnt sarcasm as it goes it was a statement to not appear condescending to your remark about your 'qualifications' seeing as you brought the subject up - actually you said in the first post you didnt know why

Also in addition to the UK pygmy forum theres the american forum too both sites have big sections on breeding:

the american one which you can view without signing in:
http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=349


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## annierose (May 1, 2009)

Thank you, it is much appreciated...i will have more of a look round on them.


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