page_title: Rodents as pets
section_title: Hedgehog
hierarchical_section_title: Rodents as pets / Description / Hedgehog
caption_attribution_description: A pet hedgehog
context_page_description: A pocket pet is a small, pocket-sized pet mammal commonly kept as a household pet. The most common pocket pets are rodents such as hamsters, gerbils, common degus, fancy mice, fancy rats, common chinchillas, and guinea pigs. The term also includes exotic pets and marsupials like flying squirrels, Chacoan pygmy opossums, sugar gliders, and hedgehogs.
  Other small non-mammalian animals such as reptiles, birds, fish, and amphibians—e.g. lizards, snakes, turtles, goldfish, canaries, and frogs—may not be considered pocket pets.
  Many of these small pets are prohibited in certain areas for being invasive; California, Hawaii, and New Zealand have strict regulations to protect their native environments and agricultural operations. Gerbils, degus, ferrets, domesticated rats, sugar gliders, and hedgehogs have various prohibitions on their ownership.
context_section_description: Seventeen species of hedgehog exist worldwide. Hedgehogs are native in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and central Asia. They were introduced to New Zealand by England and quickly became an invasive species. Hedgehogs are omnivorous and threaten insect, snail, lizard, and bird populations due to a lack of natural predators in New Zealand.  Hedgehogs may tighten the orbicularis muscle on their back to hide their head, legs, and belly in a coat of prickly erect spines. Hedgehogs are primarily nocturnal, though some may be crepuscular. Hedgehogs typically take refuge in the empty burrow of another small animal, or a burrow they dug themselves. However, hedgehogs can occasionally take refuge under rocks or in thick vegetation, or anywhere dark and secluded. Hedgehogs tend to be solitary, though not to the extent of hamsters. Some captive bred females crave the companionship of another hedgehog and occasionally show bonding tendencies when housed with another female; male hedgehogs should not be housed together as they will fight once they reach sexual maturity.
  Hedgehogs were considered insectivores prior to that classification's abandonment. Presently, hedgehogs are classified as omnivorous. Hedgehogs have been known to eat bugs, slugs, frogs, fish, worms, small mice, small snakes, and even fruits and vegetables. A hedgehog's diet should be very high in protein. Hedgehogs can eat fruits and vegetables but only in moderation. Despite their small size Hedgehogs require a large cage with bedding and plenty of furniture to hide in and explore. Hedgehogs have a gestation period of about 35 days, and give birth to on average 4 deaf and blind young (hoglets). At three to five weeks old the young leave the nest for the first time to go hunting on their own.
caption: A pet hedgehog from Japan
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