To pick up a hedgehog, gently approach from the side, scoop it up from underneath with both hands (feeling for its soft belly), and lift it slowly, allowing it to uncurl and relax in your cupped hands or on a fleece blanket, using gloves or a scoop if it's too defensive. Avoid startling it from above, as this triggers its defense mechanism to ball up.
Hedgehogs have prickly quills along their back to protect them from predators. They are shy animals and will roll up into a tight ball and hide their face if they are frightened. Always approach a hedgehog slowly and handle them with a small towel so you don't prick yourself on one of their quills.
If you are in an emergency situation and don't have gloves with you, use something like a jumper or a coat to pick the hedgehog up in.
"While it's natural to want to help, picking up hedgehogs can cause them considerable stress, which can impact their overall health," explains Caroline Gould Vale Wildlife Hospital founder. "Hedgehogs may be seen out during the day at certain times of the year, and some may hibernate in unusual patterns.
Although hedgehogs do bite, their tiny teeth are unlikely to cause you very much pain. The force of a hedgehog bite is typically linked to what your pet is feeling. An angry hedgehog could cause a bite that hurts a bit.
Certainly picking up a hedgehog doesn't hurt nearly as bad as getting a shot, but the spines are sharp and they are going to prick you to some degree. How you handle your hedgehog will determine how much they prick you. Compare picking up a hedgehog to a nurse giving you a shot.
Our observations show that nesting Mums often leave their young ones to rest elsewhere. That rest is often through the first and last part of the night but can also be in the day time. Routinely we expect to see hedgehogs come out in the evening around 9.30pm and go back to bed by 5am.
Cute and low maintenance, African pygmy hedgehogs (Atelerix albiventris) are kept in 40 000 American homes, but people handling them are at risk of contracting a number of zoonotic diseases, from ringworm and salmonellosis (the commonest) to arboviral encephalitis and herpesvirus infections.
How to handle a hedgehog
A hedgehog that feels threatened might use its visor or forehead spines to ram or lunge into something and poke it. This behavior may hurt but is not typically harmful to humans and is more unusual than normal.
Risk to human health
One of the lungworm species that infects hedgehogs (and also infects wild carnivores) in Great Britain, Capillaria aerophila, is known to be capable of occasionally infecting people.
Hedgehog quills are sharp and rise when threatened, but they do not typically break human skin.
When you first pick up your hedgehog it may have its spines erect and it may make some defensive noises. It is quite natural for the hedgehog to be scared or nervous and the huffing and puffing noises are an attempt to scare you away.
Just like any other pet, hedgehogs love treats. Waxworms are a favorite with these guys. You can also offer Hedgie some cooked chicken, turkey, or egg. Low fat/high protein wet cat or dog food is also fine, as is the occasional pinky mouse.
Hedgehogs tend to bond with their owners. They will remember your voice, your smell, and even your appearance.
Hedgehogs mainly eat creepy crawlies
The majority of their diet is made up of invertebrates (or creepy crawlies). We know what they eat from scientific studies that have analysed hedgehog poo or looked in the stomachs of hedgehogs killed on roads.
You can use either your bare hands or a towel. I suggest using a towel because hedgie's quills will be directly on your hand. Gently pick him up from his back like Step 2. Then flip him over so his face is up towards you.
Fur mites, or "walking dandruff," affect mainly rabbits, but also guinea pigs, hedgehogs, rodents, cats, and dogs. Although an uncommon host for the mite, these mites can also be transmitted to humans. The mites are nonburrowing skin parasites.
During extreme muscle exertion, the 'purse-string' muscle can fold up over the pelvis and get stuck: the pop-off syndrome (Bexton, 2019). The muscle goes into a spasm, which leaves the hedgehog unable to roll up and causes the pelvis and hind legs to remain visible. This is very dangerous for the animal.
Salmonellosis is a recognised zoonotic disease (i.e. it can be transmitted from animals to people). Many species of Salmonella bacteria exist, some of which can be carried by, or cause ill health in, hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus).
Hedgehogs will not usually eat and sleep in the same place so it's best not to offer food inside the home (except perhaps to tempt them in initially). Once there is a resident, move food away from the box so as not to attract predators or rival hedgehogs to the site.
What do hedgehogs drink? Don't forget to put out a shallow dish of water which can be a lifeline for hedgehogs, especially during a hot, dry summer. Contrary to popular belief, hogs are lactose intolerant and milk can make them ill, so please only offer them water.
The breeding season for hedgehogs typically starts in May, with most young born in June and July. We now see a later one in September and October but in our experience if there is food and water and a safe place to sleep hedgehogs can breed all year. Their gestation period is around 35 days.