Breeding hedgehogs

katescritters · 03-31-2005, 04:02 PM

In a few weeks I will be getting some hedgehog breeding stock from a breeder. I have raised many many species of little critter, so I have a good idea about what to expect, but would like to know as much as possible. I've done some reading and see that babies wean at 5 weeks or so, and need to be removed from mum at around 6 weeks. Gestation is about 35 days. One method of breeding I read about is leaving the male and female in the same cage (preferably the male's cage, otherwise something neutral) for 7 days, then seperating them. Are there other methods? More prefered ones? I remember years ago when hedgehogs first came onto the scene that one of the breeding methods was putting them together only for breeding, like syrian hamsters.

What should I wean babies with, will they be able to eat whatever the mother is fed (quality kibble, insects, odds and ends, etc)?

fertmom · 04-01-2005, 01:19 PM

One train of thought with mating is to put the male and female together for a few days, separate them and a week later put them back together for a few more days. The idea is that the female needs to be forced into heat first then she will be able to become impregnated.
The female should be left unbothered in the last week of pregnancy and for 2 weeks after the babies are born as they tend to eat their young with any type of stress even just peeking at the babies. Some females are okay with you handling the babies, but that is not very common.
I believe the weaned babies do better with softened kibble at first until 8-10 weeks of age then gradually switch to hard kibble. Many babies do not like meal worms until they are a bit older, but they could be offered.
Males and females should not be housed together except for the time when breeding is desired and then only for a few days at a time. I don't know anything about Syrian hamsters so I don't know if that is the same or not.
Hope this helps!