Enra Joey  49 Posts
Hello !
I am a hedgehog owner and now new glider owner.
Even though they both have their own cage, I am giving a try to house them together.
Unlike gliders, hedgehog are NOT very social animals in general. Some may share the same cages, and there is known cases of hedgehog being depressed to the point of letting themselves dies over the death of a cage-mate. Those are exception though, and the basic rule is that hedgehog should usually be housed alone. Like a glider, hedgehog is a nocturnal animal.
Hedgehog can be quite territorial and aggressive. I once put a mouse about the size of my current glider in it's case, as a way to "store it somewhere" while I got my cat, to whom the mouse was a small treat. Next thing I know, there is nothing left of the mouse. No bones, no fur, no teeth, no tail, nothing but a small and smelly pound of blood.
Having that in mind, I prepared a 2-layers cage with plenty space, and sleeping pouch, out of the hedgehog's reach. The hedgehog, on the other hand, doesn't really need a safe place as the glider is pretty much harmless to a balled-up hedgy.
In total, there therefore was 3 sleeping places: the hedgehog's usual sleeping house, the glider's suspended pouch, and a third one that is neither's preferred place to sleep. (a wide, short plastic bottle filed with toilet paper).
The first contact went quite well between the two: the hedgehog didn't seem to care to much and didn't huff, the glider curiously circled around and sniffed a bit before loosing interested and exploring around.
After nearly two weeks, the result is the following:
- When woken up, they will sometime seek each other's company but mostly ignore each other. The hedgehog likes to put it's nose right under the glider, and try to wear is like a scarf of sort. The glider would sometime enjoy climbing on it for a ride. They also both lick/clean each other once in a while.
- No signs of fighting, even for play. The worst thing that happen is that sometime the glider like to suspend itself with it's feet hanging like a bat from the cage's rope, use it's hand to grasp the hedgehog skin, and lift the poor hedgy, letting him hang helplessly in the air a few seconds. While he certainly doesn't like it, the hedgehog doesn't seem to mind so much. (an annoyed hedgehog can be quite vocal, but in this case he stays silent and doesn't even become spiky)
- During the day though it's a different story. They sleep together, next to each other, in the "neutral" home. Usually the hedgehog is a half ball sleeping on it's side or his belly, and the glider use him as a mattress. Or the hedgehog use the glider as a blanket, depends how you want to see it. When one animal is removed though, the other doesn't stay in the "neutral" home and goes back to its original one.
So far, I have never seen the hedgehog become spiky or hiss at the glider, whom in turn never display aggressiveness either. Of course an accident is always possible, and I know that even with a two-story cage it is not absolutely and unquestioningly 100% safe for the glider. So far though, it seems to be going great and the glider seem happy to have a buddy he can ride.
Regarding bounding to me, this was incredibly easy. After only a few days he was already jumping on me when he could. I even have the surprise to once wake up to the glider running all around my bed. Apparently I didn't lock up the cage properly the night before, and he was smart enough to find the bedroom and get around me, which is quite a feat considering his cage isn't even in the same floor as my bedroom.
He is also easy to keep clean. I don't even need to stimulate him to make it crap, just holding it on top on the toilet is enough to make him understand what I expect of him. The small treat afterward probably also gives him motivation to do his business fast. There is still some pee accident though, but less and less as I understand what makes him want to go. (being on a flat, smooth surface)
Separate those two right now and find a second glider for your current one. You can find loads on Craigslist or buy one for as little as $100 from a reputable breeder. He needs someone who can curl up in the pouch with him, groom him, ect. What you are doing is extremely dangerous. Not only could your hedgy eat your glider, but if the hedgehog decides to be grumpy one day and the glider jumps on him, it could end up in some pretty expensive vet bills or a dead glider. Please make sure you are using the right food (not pellets). You saying you don't have to stimulate him sounds like pocket pets advice, which is a mill broker and gives out tons of false information. Gliders cannot be potty trained. AubreyBarto Super Glider    USA 351 Posts Enra-  Welcome to the Glider Community and Congrats on you new glider! I agree that the glider and hedgehog really should be separated. They may be interacting fine now but it takes one spook and your glider will be poked! That is just very dangerous. I understand the need for you to have them interact, and if you insist on it, it should be under very close super vision. Gliders get spooked easily and can move fast which can scare the hedgehog...there is just too much risk. I would suggest getting another glider to be a cagemate. If you purchased your glider from Pocket Pets or got advice from their website, please take time out to forget what you learned and study from this site (Gliderpedia) and/or another Glider Forum GliderCentral.net. You cannot potty train a glider or stimulate them to go to the bathroom, the best you can go is predict when your glider will go.  And when you say hold him over the toilet do you mean an actual human toilet? If so, be careful because toilets are dangerous for gliders because they cannot climb out of them. Hopefully this helped, although it may not be what you want to hear. Feel free to post all your questions (and pictures!) for us! Actually, it's not just TEENAGERS who have concerns about this, and can see potential, and deadly, results from this pairing. Personally, I would not risk it. It's an experiment in which you are willing to risk the life of your glider to satisfy your curiosity. There are indeed all sorts of stories of predator and prey living together....and even more where the ending is not so happy. Many deaths are not due to aggression....just accidents that cause a fatal injury. It doesn't take much - a small puncture wound that goes unnoticed and becomes infected. Those who are curious as well may be interested to see the results - as long as it's YOUR animal in jeopardy. Real nice. Chris R Glider 119 Posts I would definately seperate them, talk about cross contamination...jeeze! then you have to worry about injuries etc... NOT A GOOD IDEA and btw, not a teenager here either, my YOUNGEST is old enough to drink!! cindybee Starting Member 2 Posts Hi Enra!! I saw your post and had to contact a friend of mine who is a breeder of both Hedgehogs and sugar gliders. If anyone would know the nature of both pets, she definitely would. Here is her response! Hope it helps! "NO good-NO-very bad for both animals. It's like putting rabbits in with guinea pigs. The glider will be hurt by the hedgie because it will constantly ball up and stab the suggie. The suggie will become stressed out and be exposed to unnatural germs and bacterial infections and ginera." She agrees with the majority of folks here. For their safety it is best to keep them separated. as Regnant suggested, it's good for the sugar glider to be with it's own kind..hopefully you can get a cage mate for it soon.  Minnesota Zoo Fuzzy Wuzzy USA 1999 Posts Yes...summernicole I agree with you! My very first thought was "Is this for real?"...Really no one could be that completely clueless and put so many contraditory statments together in one post. If the health and well being of the citters in our care mean anything at all, this is just plain common sense to not put them in jeopardy! Then I thought here we go again...and reading thru this post, it should have had red hot flames coming from it, someone is trying to get everyone all fired up...lol! Not to mention that these comments were not responded to in anyway. I really hope this is just a sick joke on behalf of a troll. :/ Edit: And I suppose I could practice what I preach. Welcome to the community, though I don't agree with your animals living conditions I do hope things work out safely in the end. quote:
Originally posted by Eric C
Enra, some of the teenagers here might be a bit vocal in their concern, as can already be seen. But that's just teenage girls doing what they do. I don't pay any attention to them.
Things like this are unnecessary and not very adult-like. I'm sure you could get your message across in a polite manner. Enra Joey 49 Posts Hello there ! Reporting back after a month or so: things actually went pretty fine. They keep sleeping together and actively seek each other company when they are cold or stressed (like new cage, out in a new room, this kind of things). None of the two ever got injured. The worst thing that happen is that they would fight for "who is under who", as when it's a little bit cold, the hedgehog want to get its nose under the glider, while the glider want to sleep under the hedgy's warm belly. Most of the time though while in the cage and not sleeping, the hedgehog doesn't react to/aknoledge the glider's presence. Even when the glider playfully chew the spiky one's leg. Not so related but while I don't really mind the general tone of some answers, I do think attacking on the language is low. I live in China, I am not a native english speaker, and I am very sorry I couldn't spell "bonding" properly but I don't exactly use that word every day. Anyhow, you guys can feel relieved since I am moving each specie pack to its own cage. The reason is I was given a new and he simply won't get along with the hedgehog. I don't want to create an unnecessary stressful environment for it considering its condition. The new glider is a 5 year old male. He had been living alone the whole time, in a smallish cage. (~15*20cm, and 15cm tall, compared to the 1*1.4*1.4m cage I have). The owner also had 2 other gliders, female, whom couldn't get along with the male and were housed separately. He is very yellowish/orange-ish everywhere. Really scary compared to my grey-and-white current one. He also has some fur cracks, not very noticable though. I hope both will resolve as he gets the same diet as the original one. The behaviour is a bit worrisome to me. It's only my 2nd glider so I don't know if it's in the range of normal behaviour or if it's due to the stress of new home or whatever but he is at the same time more nervous and apathetic. Will #1 is quite active and energetic, he isn't really nervous, doesn't get sparkled all the time, and doesn't really bite for real. #2 is the other way around. #2 also seem to pee randomly tiny amount at a time. I don't know yet if it's just marking territory or a bladder issue. Because #2 was a little bit gooey and had urine smell, I got it take a small shower. When #1 get a shower, he is fighting the whole time, and as soon as he is free he would just "lick himself dry". #2 was more like "giving up", after the initial attempt to get free by biting, he kind of gave up. And is not trying to dry/lick/clean itself afterwards. Despite me towel-drying them the same way, #1 got himself totally dry now while #2 is currently still kind of wet. As far as the relationship between go, #2 pretty much ignore #1. #1 was first wary, half-curious, and kept going back and forth toward it. It didn't take long though for it to start licking/grooming #2, maybe one of two hours. #2 just pushed it out of the way when #1 got into his sleeping place that the original owners brought with them, then didn't mind #1 also sleep on top of him inside the same place. #1 is now behaving very friendly toward #2, Unlike #1 who was a little bit scared of me when just getting him, #2 directly jumped on me and climbed over like I was an inanimated piece of furniture within minutes of seeing me for the first time. He really hates to be picked up though and would bite whoever tries. He seemed to be responding to petting though. GliderBoy123 Joey 15 Posts Wow! This is a really great piece of documentation! I apologize to you for anyone who wasn't respectful of your language. This evidence you displayed could be very useful to some scientists and/or glider enthusiasts! Thank you so much for sharing! som3randomp3rson Face Hugger 971 Posts Glad to hear that you separated the glider and hedgehog and were able to get a second glider. I think that is really for the best. A word of advice, it is not a good idea to bathe or shower sugar gliders. They are generally very clean animals. As you said, they'll lick the water off. They'll actually lick themselves clean. Two of the "fingers" on their back feet are joined. This allows them to use those nails to "comb" their fur. I promise, they're very good about keeping themselves clean. However, showering or bathing your glider can easily make it very cold. Gliders aren't meant to get wet either. Sometimes if one of my girls has a little berry juice or something on her face, I'll lick my finger and give her a small spit bath, but that's much different than actually using water to clean her. If one of your gliders is "gooey" (I assume you mean around their butt), then there may be something wrong. I suggest taking both of your gliders to a vet for a checkup. Ask for a fecal float and smear also (this will let you know if they have any intestinal parasites or problems in their digestive tracks). It's always a good idea to take any new animals to the vet for a checkup. But also, there is no other way of knowing if this new guy has anything. And since he's already living with your first glider, I'd suggest getting them both looked at (generally there is a quarantine process to prevent new gliders from spreading diseases to gliders one already has, but I think you didn't know this/didn't do this). No big deal. But I would schedule them a checkup. I have no idea what the vet situation is in China. However, if you cannot find a vet knowledgeable in sugar glider care, I know the vets on this page will speak to other vets and offer consultations. www.sugargliderhelp.com/links/pages/Sugar_Glider_Vet_Database/Vets_who_offer_Phone_Consults_to_vets/index.html
I believe they are all American vets, so there may be a language barrier. I know they offer phone consultations, but calling all the way across the world can be tricky. Just a suggestion--not sure if it will help. GliderBoy123 Joey 15 Posts Enra! You should post pictures of the two together if you have any!
Some photos from our members Enra Joey 49 Posts Here is the last picture I got of the glider before being sent to pet clinic (for unrelated reason - heat stroke): 
GliderBoy123 Joey 15 Posts Liviebrew1 Starting Member 1 Posts quote:
Originally posted by Eric C
Enra, some of the teenagers here might be a bit vocal in their concern, as can already be seen. But that's just teenage girls doing what they do. I don't pay any attention to them.
However, this topic is an interesting one.
If you've had success, I, for one, would love to hear more about it. Frankly, I'm surprised the hedgehog is still alive. Sugar gliders can be very vicious. They're practically vampires--not the sparkly kind.
Florida25 Starting Member 5 Posts I agree with gliders not being able to be potty trained, however there is a video from the association of sugar glider veterinarians (asgv.org) on YouTube about how to do it.
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