Hedgehog Anointing Explored

Hedgehog anointing is perhaps one of the most perplexing and unresolved mysteries in the animal kingdom. If you've never seen hedgehogs anoint themselves, you'll probably freak out the first time you ever witness it. Because we certainly did! It can be rather frightening to see this small creature suddenly writhe, foam at the mouth, and twist their head back towards their body. Then an abnormally long tongue deposits foamy spittle over their quills.

In that moment, a new hedgie owner's mind will race through every tragic outcome imaginable. Is my hedgehog having a seizure? Are they vomiting? Did I somehow poison my hedgehog? Should I take my hedgie to the veterinarian? And how do we know this, you ask. Because we've been there. Rest assured that when a hedgie anoints their quills, it is a completely normal and non-fatal behavior.

It has nothing to do with anything you've done “wrong”. But it is possible that when you witness your hedgehog anointing, it may have been triggered by some fragrance you're wearing. Or not. Among the theories behind why hedgehogs self-anoint, these are the most common:

• A strong or very fragrant scent
• A scent or taste that is new to them
• A form of sexual behavior
• Protective instincts

Let's explore each of these theories and then you can draw your own conclusions.

Hedgehogs have poor vision. If you've ever heard the expression, “They're afraid of their own shadow”, that's a literal statement for this very unique animal. Hedgies have weak eyesight and can only see the outline of things. Additionally, they only see things in shades of cream and brown. As a result of having poor eyesight, their senses of hearing, taste, and smell are very acute.

This is something that we've personally experienced over the years. Whenever we held one after washing with scented hand soap, our hedgehogs anointed their quills. Sometimes a hedgehog will lick before anointing, but not always.

In our experience, a hedgehog may anoint their quills if they smell or taste something that is new to them as well. For example, plain pureed tomato doesn't have a particularly strongly scent. However, we had a hedgie that discovered a small amount splattered on a dish towel that we used to scoop her up and out of her cage. She was a fairly new member in the family, so she was also a little jumpy. Which is why we used the dish towel to pick her up before putting the towel in the laundry.

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Her nose bobbed up, down, to and fro as she sniffed the towel that swaddled her. And when she found the pureed tomato dried on the towel, she started licking at it feverishly. Before we knew it, she twisted her head around and deposited a healthy amount of foam onto her back. It was her first encounter with this food.

She was the apricot baby hedgehog we mentioned in the article, “Where To Buy A Baby Hedgehog”. Being newly weaned, we learned that every new smell or taste that she encountered, triggered our precious hedgie to anoint.

According to Animal Diversity Web, it’s possible that hedgehog anointing plays a role in sexual behavior. Research from 1976 indicates that the quills of a hedgehog can soak up to 11% of a hedgie’s body weight. The theory stated that the quills retain scents that aid in sexual attraction within the species.

At Heavenly Hedgies, we don’t put much confidence in this theory, because we simply haven't experienced it. We owned all of our hedgehogs singularly and didn’t expose them to other hedgehogs after they left the breeder. Even so, they displayed anointing.

Hedgehogs are an exotic animal that hasn’t always been a domesticated pet. Although they’ve been held captive for varying purposes over the centuries, hedgehogs didn’t gain popularity as a pet until the 1980’s. In the wild, they have predators, such as owls, that are not intimidated by their sharp quills. Also, hedgehogs are immune to many toxins that other animals give off.

This theory is based on their immunity to many toxins and hypothesizes that hedgehogs anoint their quills with poisons from other bugs or poisonous frogs and deposit the frothy concoction on their quills as an additional defensive measure. Any predator that dares attack the thorny ball of quills will not only be skewered, but also poisoned. If this theory is correct, it seems strange that domesticated African pygmy hedgehogs regularly display this behavior, which seems better suited for survival in the wilderness.

Even though hedgehog anointing is a perfectly natural auto-response to some type of stimulus, it doesn't necessarily mean that your hedgehog enjoys doing it. Quilly doesn't like it in the least. In fact, if you watch him in the background of the Ask Quilly video titled “What is hedgehog anointing?“, you'll see that he's not enjoying it at all. We highly recommend you watch your hedgehog without intervention using a cage camera so you can determine whether anointing is bothersome to your hedgie too. A cage camera helps you catch all types of early warning signs of illness or distress.

Regardless of why hedgehogs anoint, it's a known and frequently observed behavior. At Heavenly Hedgies, we feel that it is less important to understand why it happens and more important to accept that it does. It may mean that bathing must occur more frequently, but anointing is not going to hurt your hedgehog or your family. If witnessing this self-anointing gives you the willies, it may be a good idea to reconsider hedgehog ownership. In fact, if it does bother you and you haven't already read our article, “Hedgehog as a Pet: Pros and Cons“, we recommend that you give it a read.

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