Can you let hedgies outside?

[shirleytx]

I have a run that my husband made for my guinea pigs to get outside play time. Can hedgies be allowed to play outside? would they like it? does anyone do this?

[kaiteedyd]

The answer is yes and no.

Yes because they probably would like it alot. A supervised play time outside if the weather is nice would be great.

No because I wouldn't be comfortable with my hedgehog eating a wild bug which could happen. I'd also worry about pesticides. I suppose , it depends whether or not you yard has been recently treated.

[Love4Hedgies]

I agree. I have brought mine out in nice weather (75 degrees or higher) and played with them. They were never in a pen. This way I had to keep a very close eye on them to make sure they didn't eat anything they wern't suppose to. They do enjoy it and I think it's okay but you need to really watch them. :)

[shirleytx]

My entire back yard is dedicated for animal use hence it has not been treated with anything since we have lived here nearly 4 years. I had not thought about the problem of the wild insects in the garden. I could put her out in her collapsible play pen that way I can sit in there with her to monitor more closely.

[Nefarious77]

My wifes first hedgehog as a teen (many years ago) played in the outside garden at her parents house. She says it loved to dig. Unfortunetly it also went missing after playing in the garden when the phone rang and she went in to grab it for a minute. They never found out what happened, but think a cat may have gotten it. Her parents tease her about it all the time about how she just let it go.

[Ododad]

I haven't had Marco or Frodo long enough for it to be warm enough outside yet, but when it warms up, they will get outside time along with freedom time. Odo spent a lot of time out last summer and simply loved it. All those new smells and sounds, she just went nuts everytime.
JMO I would keep a close eye out though, hedgies can and do get into everything! lol
Even though your yard may not have been treated, bugs coming in from outside your yard may have posions on them, I don't let my guys eat any outside bug but I will place some mealies in different places for them to find.

[glamgal]

I've been looking forward to warmer weather so we can take Pierce and Juni out, but besides "wild" bugs my other concern would be mites or even fleas...have any of you who have taken your hedgies for outside play time encountered these pests as a result?

[Laurifer]

The only pest my hedgie ever got was a tick. I check every time we have been outside and I found it before it burrowed. I know my yard very well. Zeek loves outside time and if you watch them, you know when they are about to do something they shouldn't.

-Laurifer

[SherAlana]

This may sound silly, but I am scared to take my hedgies outdoors due to the large number of cats we have loose around the neighboorhood. Plus, we have a good number of predatory birds like hawks. I know it seems far fetched that anything would happen in broad daylight, but it's just been some secret fear of mine.

[Nancy]

I take mine outside but rarely let them down on the grass. My concern is that even though we have never used chemicals on our lawn, our neighbours do and I have concerns that it blows onto ours. Plus our neighbours all use insecticides to control bugs which I also have concerns about.
Then there's the concern about them getting fleas, mites or ticks. We are semi-rural so we have all kinds of animals around which I have concerns that they have dropped something on the ground that I am unable to see.

When I do take someone out I sit on the trampoline or the deck and let him walk around. I just don't trust the grass. :)