Приветствую Вас, Гость.
Текущая дата: Суббота, 2009-11-21, 2:22 Am
Welcome to Hedgehog Home!
Your questions/feedback/link exchange: please use this Guest Forum thread for inquiries in languages other than Russian.
About the site:
Hedgehog Home is a Russian site dedicated to long-eared hedgehogs, pet hedgehogs, hedgehog treatment and general hedgehog care. We provide information to Russian-speaking hedgehog owners, and to the people who rescued a hedgehog from the wild. This infomation resource exists thanks to a handful of enthusiastic people - members of the Moscow Hedgehog Club. (This is not a rescue center.)
About long-eared hedgehogs:
The Long-eared hedgehog (Hemiechinus auritus) has a habitat range that extends from the coast of Libya and Egypt to Asia Minor, northern Arabia, southern Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Chinese Turkistan and Mongolia.
Domesticated long-eared hedgehogs:
The site owner Olga has been breeding domesticated long-eared hedgehogs for some 3 years. They are smaller (300-350 gram) than wild long-eared hedgehogs and a bit lighter in colour. The body proportions are also a little bit different. At the moment, the selective breeding project has been put on hold.
Russian long-eared hedgehogs on video
If you are a hedgie lover, be sure to see this cute hedgehog movie:
(direct link - youtube.com/watch?v=0WB6qOt9BGM).
Perpetuum Mobile is a video of Knedlik (a Czech word for Dumpling) by Vadim (Zav). She was rescued from previous 'owners' with her mom and brother when she was just a few days old. You can post your feedback here.
What's the difference between the long-eared hedgehog and ... the long-eared hedgehog?
We are sometimes asked if the long-eared hedgehogs here in Russia belong to the same species as Egyptian long-eared hedgehogs. The answer is: [i]not quite[/i]. As hedgehog taxonomy is very muddled, and (just to add to the mess) different hedgehog species can interbreed in areas of habitat overlap, the correct answer to this question would be possible only after thourough genetic analysis.
Mountain form of a long-eared hedgehog, Caucasus. Source: ecosystema.ru.
From what I managed to understand after a bit of research, Long-eared hedgehogs(Hemiechinus auritus) in Nothern Africa may interbreed with ‘Ethiopian’ hedgehogs (Paraechinus aethiopicus). (Here is what they say about differences: differences).
In the Caucasus Mountains long-eared hedgehogs often interbreed with European hedgehogs. The hybrid looks like a supersize long-eared hedgehog with massive paws.[b]--Agitado[/b]
Hedgehogs as pets
We advocate for conscious pet keeping. Only get a pet if you are able to take care of it. Hedgehogs are special animals. You should understand what it takes to have a hedgehog in the house _before_ you buy one. Once you decided to get a hedgehog, obtain a healthy animal from a trusted breeder, and never take hedgehogs from the wild.
(A good summary of the current situation with african pygmy hedgehogs and an explanation why you shouldn’t keep hedgehogs taken from the wild is given on the Pro-Igel.de site.)
Here are a few things you should know if you are considering hedgehog as a pet.
Hedgehog housing
A terrarium 100X50 cm (40X20 inch) is a suitable home for a long-eared hedgehog or a pygmy hedgehog. As hedgehogs are solitary animals, they should be housed separately. As hedgehogs are very active, a running wheel is a must (28 cm/11 inch in diameter).Even with a spacey terrarium and a wheel, to stay healthy, the hedgehog must spend at least 2 hours a day in free roam. (Never leave your hedgie unsupervised, make sure that the floor is warm, there are no stray electric cords, etc.).
Because hedgehogs are prone to colds, you should protect you petfrom draughts (cages are not recommended for this reason). The temperature in the room should be around 22 C (72F).
Bathing is not recommended for the same reason (you can ‘bathe’ your hedgehog using the sand for chinchillas and a clothes brush).
Hedgehog diet
Hedgehog eats a madagaskar hissing cocroach
Hedgehogs are insectivores. This means that they should eat bugs on regular basis.
(This chart illustrates the diet of European - based on a study by Britisn and German biologists). Hedgehog natural diet consists of 70 % insects.
They need chitin for normal functioning.
We feed our pet hedgehogs a varied diet, consisting of low-fat insects (different species of cockroaches, crickets), and, occasionally, mealworms and ‘zoophobas morio’, low-fat meat such as chicken breasts or beef, and quail eggs (with shell). If insects are not supplied by your local pet shop, you’ll have to breed insects.
Now, how do you like this?
Never feed your hedgehog: milk or any dairy products, fish and sea food, sour fruit (e.g. pineapples), cabbage, beans, fat meat (pork), food containing starches (potatoes, bananas). Dog or cat food is not suitable because often it contains fats, starch and soya.
As you see, hedgehogs are ‘difficult’ and expensive pets.
If you can't provide the correct housing and diet, we strongly advise you against keeping a hedgehog as a pet.
