Hedgehog can swim!!!

[Piras]

Have you ever tried watching your hedgehog swimming in a bathtub? After being told by someone that a hedgehog can swim, I did some experiment by putting my hegegie, Ood, in a batchtub with water level higher than his head when I bath him today. To my surprise, he is a good swimmer.

[giry76]

I remember reading that. I bet it is cute to watch.

[Love4Hedgies]

I bet it's cute but I would never feel safe doing that personally.

[Ginger]

I bet it's cute but I would never feel safe doing that personally.

I totally agree with you Love4Hedgies.

[pickyhedgies]

Putting your hedgehog in the bathtub to swim is way to much space. Hedgies can get tired easy and panic. When I give mine baths, I fill the sink up to within an inch from the top so that they can swim around a little, but the sink is very small and they don't have alot of space to move around in an tire out.
Some folks when using the bath tub only get it deep at one end leaving the other end dry so that the hedige can walk out of the water if necessary.
Yes, hedgies can swim, but it is not something they actually like to do.

Jeanne

[Ldy_Icedragon]

I wash Cleo in the bathtub like that, one end deep and one end shallow. I move her over to the deep end to get the soap out but she always runs back to the shallow end. She doesn't mind the shallow water but the deep water scares the crap out of her. I've heard that some hedgie's actually do like to swim, I wouldn't make it too deep though.

~Danielle

[pickyhedgies]

Danielle,

You are doing it right but remember, shallow water is almost more scary than deep water. If you stand your hedgehog on something flat, notice where the nose is pointing? On mine it points down, when a hedgehog is in water about an inch deep it has to struggle to hold it's head up to keep it's nose out of the water.
When they are put in water deep enough to swim, their bottoms automatically fall below their noses putting the nose in a natural upward position which is not as scary. When using the tub make sure that the upper end has no water. That way the hedgehog can get totally out of the water and not strain it's neck to keep it's nose clear.

Hugs
J

[LoBo]

It is a verry finny site to watch them swim, but you should never fill the tub that high and you should watch them at all times.

[pickyhedgies]

Absolutely 100% agree with that statement LoBo.

Jeanne

[Piras]

Based on a lot of comments here, I think that I should not let him swim again.
BTW, I only let him swim for one minute or so and then drained the water off, so Ood is doing just fine.