Hedgehog Farming Experience Sharing: A Complete Analysis of the Key Breeding Techniques

Although the hedgehog is a wild animal, it is easy to raise, and the cost of raising it is low while the returns are high. Hedgehogs not only grow and develop quickly and have strong reproductive capacity, but also eat little, have an omnivorous diet, rarely fall ill, and have strong adaptability, making them easy to tame and raise. The equipment needed for raising hedgehogs is simple, and the feeding and management are simple and easy to carry out, unrestricted by labor or region. Raising hedgehogs artificially is truly a new path to wealth with quick returns, good sales, high economic benefits, and great prospects for development.

The hedgehog has a plump, low body shape, about 25 cm long, with short, small limbs. Its claws are curved and sharp. Its eyes and ears are both very small. The hedgehog's body is covered with short, dense spines; when it encounters an enemy it curls up into a ball, using its spines to protect its body. Its head and mouth resemble those of a rat. It has a prominent long face and a nose that twitches constantly. The hedgehog has a keen sense of smell. In our country the hedgehog family comprises 6 genera and 7 species, and the most widely distributed is the hedgehog, which preys on various invertebrates and small vertebrates, and also eats roots, fruits, melons and other plants. The hedgehog's main foods are caterpillars, beetles, snails, earthworms and so on, and it also eats roots, fruits, melons and other plants.

The hedgehog hibernates every winter, and during the long 5-month hibernation period they are almost like a corpse, cold all over. By March, their body temperature begins to rise slowly, and their breathing and heartbeat gradually speed up. When the hedgehog prepares for winter, it has already stored two kinds of fat in its body; one is ordinary white fat. The hedgehog's hard spines are a variation of hair and are very sharp. When they curl up, they contract the muscles of the whole body, pulling head and tail together and weaving into a ball, so that an enemy has no way to bite them. This is the hedgehog's most effective method of defense.

When hedgehogs mate, the female hedgehog must adopt a cooperative attitude, otherwise mating is impossible. The male hedgehog's belly is very thin, and the female hedgehog need only slightly wield her spines and the male hedgehog will be pricked and run off. Therefore, the male hedgehog must circle around the female hedgehog for several hours, and only after obtaining the female hedgehog's consent can mating take place. Hedgehogs are timid and easily startled, prefer quiet and dislike noise, and prefer darkness and fear light. They move slowly, and generally hide by day and come out at night. They eat very little, are not picky about food, and are not prone to illness.

1. Construction of the breeding site. Hedgehogs have strong adaptability and are not demanding about the environment, but hedgehogs have the habit of preferring quiet, fearing light, and hiding by day and coming out at night. The site should be built in a relatively quiet place, avoiding human disturbance as much as possible. When building the site, a courtyard must be built, with a courtyard wall about 0.8-1 m high. The nest rooms in the courtyard are divided into two connected parts, the inner nest and the outer nest. The inner nest room is the nest, laid with dry grass, pine needles or straw; the outer nest room is the activity area, with earth mounds or rockeries built and flowers, grasses, shrubs and so on planted, so as to provide shade in summer and warmth in winter. Make it as close to the wild environment as possible, for foraging, seeking mates, and resting. Generally, a 10 sq m site and building can raise 30-50 animals.

2. Feeding and breeding. The hedgehog is a nocturnal animal, and it is enough to feed it feed and clean water once in the evening. The feed can be manually mixed evenly and cooked. The formula: cornmeal 30%, wheat bran 20%, fine rice bran 10%, fish meal 5%, vegetables 30%, bone meal 2%, iodized salt 1%, oxytetracycline powder 1%, amino acids 1%, and an appropriate amount of trace elements. If hedgehogs just caught in the wild are to be artificially tamed and raised, animal feed should account for 80% of the daily ration, and afterwards the proportion of plant feed should be gradually reduced and increased as appropriate. The feed fed must be fresh and clean. Melons, fruits and vegetables must be washed before feeding; if the melons and vegetables are bought from the market, they should first be soaked in a water tank for 1 hour, then washed and fed, to prevent pesticide poisoning. At the same time, the feed should be varied; a single kind of feed will cause hedgehogs to bite and fight each other and to refuse food.

The daily ration standard for hedgehogs is: for a body weight of 50-150 g, the daily ration is 50 g; for a body weight of 150-300 g, the daily ration is 75 g; for 300-600 g, the daily ration is about 150 g. Hedgehogs eat a lot in summer and grow quickly, and hibernate in winter, eating very little. Domesticated hedgehogs should be kept one male and one female in the same nest, and generally come into heat and mate naturally in April-May. They produce 1-2 litters per year, and hedgehogs aged 2-4 years all have reproductive capacity. The female hedgehog is restless during estrus, and has secretions from the genital area. The gestation period is about 60 days, with 4-6 young per litter, and at most 8. After 35 days of fertilization the hedgehog's body weight increases, and after 45 days it moves slowly, with mild edema of the perineum, and before giving birth it seeks grass to make a nest. The newborn young hedgehogs have soft spines and no hair, and after about 20 hours the soft spines stand up and they make a "cheeping" cry. The birth weight is 13-15 g. Three days after birth the young hedgehogs' soft spines harden and gradually increase in number; at 10 days of age they open their eyes, at 20 days of age they grow teeth and can walk, and at about 30 days of age they can eat food. The lactation period is 40-50 days. At 3 months old the average body weight of a small hedgehog can reach 320-350 g, with an average monthly weight gain of about 100 g; the period from lactation to 100 days after lactation is the stage of fastest growth for hedgehogs, and careful management is required to ensure and improve the quality and size of the pelt.