Stress!

[SherAlana]

Are hedgehogs known to be high stress animals like rabbits? Someone told me that they can get so stressed that it could cause health problems. For instance, if they are subjected to a lot of handling by different people all at once, If they are in a really bright flourescent lit room during the day, with other barking animals or loud people talking, etc. Can anybody lend credibility to this??? I do not want to put my little guy at any risk. What would be some stress signs I could look for that would indicate he is highly stressed?

[Hedge_girl]

Umm. I don't know for sure if it is a health risk of the kind you are thinking, but all of the things you listed would certainly stress the majority of hedgies, even really "good" ones. I think that high stress of that sort would increase difficulty in socializing and handling the hedgie and might adversly affect it's health ... but not to the point of extreme illness.
Something more like...when we don't eat and sleep as much as we need to because we are trying to meet a tight deadline, our immune system lowers and we're more likely to get a cold.

Stress signs would include balling up (and not coming out) as well as green poo. Green poo is pretty common, actually. Almost any change in a hedgie's environment will produce a bit of green poo (temperature jump/drop and change in diet for example.)

This is the impression that I have had. Maybe others can correct any mistakes I may have made or have more examples of how a stressed hedgie acts?

[Nancy]

It would depend on the individual hedgehog as some stress far more easily than others.
By handling do you mean daily handling by many different people or an occasional handling by different people. Most social hedgies could handle meeting new people on occasion and some might enjoy it. Daily handling by strangers would probably bother most hedgehogs.

Barking dogs and loud people talking would stress most hedgehogs also.

Hedgehogs do need light 12 hours a day so bright lights wouldn't be an issue as long as hedgie has his bag or hidey home to hide in. I have a flourescant light in the hedgie room and find the days I have it on I have a bunch of grumpy hedgehogs that evening. I don't know if it is just my gang but I have concluded that the slight hum put off by a flourescant light bothers mine.

Signs of stress are green poop, loose poop, not eating much, being quilly and huffy, weight loss, or just hedgie being not himself. :)