Average Size: 4-9 inches

Lifespan: 4-6 years

Hygiene and Health: Fresh clean water needs to be available at all times. It may be supplied in bottles as often hedgehogs will over turn their water bowl in their never ending search for more food. If you do decide to use a water dish instead of a water bottle, be sure to have one that is heavy, otherwise the bowl can be tossed over like a toy.

Behavior: Hedgehogs don't need to live with another hedgehog, they do quite well on their own. They are solitary animals who only come together to breed, therefore they do not need a room mate to live with or keep them company. They are quite happy with your companionship and toys to play with. Some like running in wheels or having a light toy to push around in their cage. For toys, hedgehogs like to play with plastic balls and cat toys, toilet rolls (cut across so that the hedgehog can't get his/her head stuck in it, and basically any PVC piping is popular with hedgehogs, as they like to be able to use them like tunnels. For exercise, a solid wheel is great. They need to be able to roam around as to be sedentary will only cause them to become obese, which will shorten their lives. With a proper diet and environment, your pet should live four to six years and possibly more.

Diet: Obviously hedgehog food is the best that you can feed them, but there are other alternatives.A hedgehogs diet could consist of mostly high animal protein and low fat. This is best achieved with a commercial high end cat food. Many breeders choose to feed live insects but this is not necessary as long as you are feeding a good high quality meat based diet. Small quantities of fruits and vegetables help vary their diet. Be careful not to over feed your hedgehogs as they have a tendency to become obese very quickly as they never seem to quit looking for food.

Habitat: A hedgehog requires a cage that is large enough to be able to roam in, and it must be very well ventilated. There are several types of cages available at the store as the requirements are pretty common for a larger rodent.

A water bottle, food and toys must be available for your pet. For bedding material you can use kiln dried pine/soft wood shavings or aspen. There are types of bedding available that are not suitable for hedgehogs out there such as hamster fluffy materials, hemp, cedar, corn cob, and cat litter. Its not recommended using any other materials other than softwood shavings and aspen because hedgehogs tend to try to eat anything they can so any experimental bedding you may try will surely be bitten on and this is dangerous for their digestive system.

Additional Info: Hedgehogs are unique creatures. They have 5,000 to 7000 hollow quills and also have two large muscles on either side of their back that enables them to curl up into a ball. These muscles also allow the hedgehog to lower or raise their quills. There are over 90 colours of hedgehogs.