Hedgehogs and Hamsters?

[Bumblebean]

I read in another thread, someone was telling a story and mentioned a hamster that was a cagemate of her hedgehog in the past. Can those two species really live together? If so, I'm gonna scoot to the petstore to get me a dwarf hamster :D

[SherAlana]

That was my story, and I meant that the hamster's cage was right next to the hedgehogs on the same desk, so they would often interact with each other through the bars of their seperate enclosures. I never had them in the same cage together, in the same breath, when I let them out in the same room for playtime they would completely ignore one another.

[Kerrie]

I am not so sure about that..Hedgies are solitary animals, and I would think a hyper hamster would totally stress them out.
Plus they eat totally different foods.
I am sure there are many more reasons why they shouldn't live together, but I am brain fried right now from tons of paperwork, so I am sure someone else here will give lots of better reasons.:)

[shirleytx]

I cannot imagine that ever being a good idea.

[Rollendchang]

Plus they eat totally different foods.



This isn't true, My HH will eat anything you put in front of it. I have fed mine cat food, wet dog foor (to soften it up), hampster and gerbil mix and she is fine and loves it especialy the cat food. My favorite thing to feed it, but only as a snack is saltine crackers.

[HedgePigLove]

I am not so sure about that..Hedgies are solitary animals.

Actually, it seems that some hedgehogs prefer to be alone whereas others enjoy (and some seem to prefer) having company. I have three hedgehogs who currently cohabitate (one neutered male and two females). I'd not planned on having them share living space, but when they all kept escaping to visit each other (in the morning I'd invariably find them all cuddled together in one of the habitats [which doesn't speak well for my ability to build escape-proof habitats!] ) I decided to give them a large "joint" habitat, with separate living spaces for each (each has a sleeping area, their own food bowls, and individual wheels).

Now they all sleep together (in a pile of blankies most of the time), take turns on the wheels (literally standing in line, sometimes, ignoring the free wheels :rolleyes: ), and, when it's feeding time, they all cluster around one bowl and then move onto the next, as a group. Go figure.

I also have an elderly rescue female hedgehog, who, when she was introduced to the rest (in a large, non-territory space), elected to go and cuddle under the same pile of blankets where the others were sleeping and ignored the other sleeping areas. Now she spends her nights alone in her own habitat (she's on a specialized diet and I'm afraid that she'd exhaust herself playing with the others in the big habitat) and in the morning I offer her the option of joining the others for the day of sleeping; she's always chosen to join the others in their "pile of quills", burrowing into the middle of the pile and sleeping splatted out, with one hedgehog sleeping on their side with their belly against her side and a little arm over her back, another hedgie on her other side, and the fourth draped over the other three.

[HedgieSpirit]

This isn't true, My HH will eat anything you put in front of it. I have fed mine cat food, wet dog foor (to soften it up), hampster and gerbil mix and she is fine and loves it especialy the cat food. My favorite thing to feed it, but only as a snack is saltine crackers.

I think what Kerrie meant was their dietary needs are different. Yes, hedgies eat a variety of things but the staple of their diet is very different than that of a hamster. :)

[HedgieSpirit]

HedgePigLove, your babies are so cute together! What a happy bunch :)

[Nancy]

This isn't true, My HH will eat anything you put in front of it. I have fed mine cat food, wet dog foor (to soften it up), hampster and gerbil mix and she is fine and loves it especialy the cat food. My favorite thing to feed it, but only as a snack is saltine crackers.

Just because a hedgehog will eat hampster, gerbil mix and saltine crackers, does not mean it is healthy or safe for them.

[cherubchins]

HedgePigLove- our female guinea pigs used to do the same thing:lmao:

I don't think hedgies and hamsters would make good roommates.