Check out my food guide for tips on a healthy diet for pygmy hedgehogs. The fat that can build up behind their eyes can be very dangerous as it can push against their eye in its socket, causing the eye to pop out as a prolapsed eye.
This leads to the eye being damaged forever and it needs to be removed by a qualified veterinarian. This is sad to see, as this is totally avoidable if the owner takes care of what they feed their hedgehog. Pygmy hedgehogs can gorge on food and eat a lot more than they should be eating, this gorging leads to weight gain and results in them becoming obese. Obesity is not a good state for any pet to be in and as stated earlier, can result in hedgehogs suffering a number of health problems from diabetes to cancers.
Even some varieties of the dry cat biscuits contain four to five times more fat than the normal indoor dry cat biscuits and feeding these regularly will lead to weight gain and obesity.
Certain foods induce crazy gorging behaviour especially insects like mealworms. Whilst mealworms provide a source of chitin, they should only be given in moderation. They are akin to what candy is to humans, with moderate amounts being acceptable and anything more being terrible for their well-being. Other foods they can eat quite happily in moderation as we found out with dry cat biscuits. Trying to give them foods with more calories may sound like a sensible idea to give them an opportunity to gain weight, but this needs to be balanced with any delay in medical treatment stopping or prevent certain diseases from progressing.
If a pygmy hedgehog cannot curl into a complete ball covering their face completely or where the width of the ball is much less than the height of the ball then these could be signs of the pygmy hedgehog being underweight. Before going into hibernation a pygmy hedgehog could start to lose weight and this seems a little weird as you would assume a hedgehog would fatten themselves up before going into hibernation.
Pygmy hedgehogs love to be between 72F 22C and 80F We also have a minimum temperature set on our central heating, so if the overall temperature of the house falls to this temperature, the heating comes on automatically.
Pygmy hedgehogs are nocturnal and come out at night in the darkness to feed and when the darkness is not there they may be reluctant to come out to feed and as result will start to lose weight. A female pygmy hedgehog is generally bigger than the male pygmy hedgehog and when they become pregnant they start to get even bigger as they are carrying several hedgehog babies.
With some litter sizes reported to be between four to six babies to some instances of ten babies, means the size of the pregnant female hedgehog can be quite large.
One of the first symptoms of an impending pregnancy will be the female hedgehog showing signs of weight gain and looking a little plumper. A change of habits such as a reduction in the amount of time the female spends on her exercise wheel could also point to her being pregnant, as she will be trying to conserve her energy for her growing babies inside her.
A pregnant female hedgehog may also start to eat a lot more than normal, so the dry cat biscuits may need to be replenished with a larger serving each night. If we had a female pygmy hedgehog who was pregnant we would just fill out the feeding bowl with dry cat biscuits to make sure she had a plentiful supply of food and we would probably introduce one or two more mealworms per week, as these could give her a little energy boost. In the wild breeding is usually done in the summer months between May and August, as not only is the temperature warm, there is also an abundance of food in insects.
Hedgehogs are considered fully grown by 6 months of age. They can reach their full size slightly before or after this age depending on various factors such as genetics. The size of a fully grown hedgehog can also vary due to the same factors.
Having said this, there are some factors that can cause a hedgehog to be fully grown either earlier or later than 6 months. The main factor is something that is totally down to nature and that is the genetics of the hedgehog. Just like us humans, hedgehogs will stop growing when mother nature says so and not when a calendar dictates. The length of a fully grown hedgehog can differ greatly depending on the breed. We have collected data from the 4 most common hedgehog types and displayed them in the table below.
Looking at the table, you can see that the European hedgehog is on average the largest at 24cm. The African Pygmy hedgehog, which is the most common domesticated hedgehog is on average the smallest at 16cm along with the Indian long-eared hedgehog. There are many factors that can cause a hedgehog to not grow to its expected length or size. The first thing that needs to be pointed out is that the numbers given in the chart above are averages and not an exact size that every hedgehog will meet.
Males will on average, tend to be larger than females and this needs to be taken into account also. Genetics can also play a huge part in the final length of a fully grown hedgehog and this can either cause them to be slightly smaller or larger when fully grown. There are also other factors such as diet that are in our control as owners that can affect the size and of course the health of your hedgehog.
Hedgehogs grow and gain weight at a tremendous rate in the first 6 months of their life. At birth, hedgehogs weigh anything from g according to live science.
The weight of a fully grown hedgehog can vary tremendously depending on what breed it is. The table we have provided shows just how much the difference can be. This means that the African Pygmy hedgehog weighs more than double the amount of the Indian hedgehog and they are the same length on average.
Young hedgehogs will leave the nest when they are around three to four weeks old to go on foraging trips with their mother. After around ten days of foraging with their mother the young will wander off on their own. Females are capable of having a second litter in late September or October, but these young are less likely to survive the winter.
Experts think it is unlikely that female hedgehogs in Britain can successfully rear two litters in a season. Hoglets from the second litter need to put on weight very quickly to prepare for hibernation, and are often unable to put on enough weight to survive the period. Accessibility Homepage Skip navigation Sitemap. Hedgehog breeding and babies Courtship is a grandiose term for what is actually a rather ill-tempered and seemingly tedious affair.
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