A Detailed Guide to Building Hedgehog Breeding Burrows

In life, we see very few people raising hedgehogs. Perhaps many people still do not know the value of hedgehogs, feeling only that a hedgehog is covered in spines, that it has no attractive appearance for viewing, and that as for food value, the number of people who eat hedgehogs today is probably still small, so hedgehog breeding may not be very widespread.

Methods for Building Hedgehog Breeding Burrows

Hedgehogs have strict requirements for the burrows they inhabit. In the south, the burrow must be warm in winter and cool in summer, with the average temperature inside kept at around 15°C. The depth is 80 cm to 100 cm; in the north, where winters are cold and temperatures are very low, hedgehogs overwinter in burrows 120 cm deep. During hibernation the temperature is between 0 and 8°C. Because its body has no downy fur, a temperature below 0°C will freeze it to death; in summer it fears extreme heat. Based on these characteristics, artificial burrows can be built for hedgehogs.

Some people have marked and observed hedgehogs and found that hedgehogs live and reproduce in family colonies, with one family congregating in a mutually connected burrow with multiple openings. As the number increases, the burrow becomes deeper and longer, and the openings increase. For artificial breeding, burrows should be built indoors. The burrow consists of two parts, namely an inner chamber and an outer chamber. In addition, a shared exercise yard is built. The inner chamber and outer chamber are each 60 cm × 60 cm × 60 cm. Between the inner chamber and the outer chamber, and between the outer chamber and the exercise yard, a doorway of 12 cm × 12 cm is left in each. The exercise yard depends on the size of the breeding room; generally the side wall of the burrow extends forward 1.5 to 2 m, and a low wall 60 to 70 cm high is built. The inner surface of the wall is smoothed with cement mortar to prevent the hedgehogs from escaping.

The top of the inner chamber is fitted with a removable cement-and-sand lid, 2 cm thick, with an outer dimension of 60 cm × 60 cm, and a square hole left in the middle. The size of the hole is 10 cm, used for observing the hedgehogs' activity in the inner chamber and for catching them conveniently. The outer chamber does not need a lid; the feed box can be placed in the outer chamber and supplied in fixed amounts, forming the habit of each eating its own food. The square hole in the lid is covered with bricks in winter for warmth and opened in summer for heat dissipation. Each burrow holds one male and one female hedgehog. To form a fixed pair, after introduction the artificially paired male and female can be confined in one unit with the outer chamber door blocked so they cannot come out, forcing them to pair. After some time they become familiar, and they also become accustomed to each other's body scent. At this point the outer chamber doorway can be opened, and after they go to the exercise yard to move about, they will naturally return to their own burrow.

When the breeding scale is large, burrows can also be built outside the house. The burrow scale is still just one row of burrows with a wall 1 to 1.2 m high built outside, forming a small courtyard-style breeding area. Besides the burrows, the open space in the courtyard provided for the hedgehogs as an exercise yard can have some rockeries built, some flowers and plants planted to beautify the environment, or some grapes planted. After the grapes grow, a grape trellis can be set up. In summer there is both a harvest and shade for the hedgehog burrows, creating a cool environment; in winter, after the grape leaves fall, it does not affect the lighting of the burrows. This is a very economical approach.

What Food Do Hedgehogs Eat  

Hedgehogs belong to the Mammalia, order Insectivora, and are omnivorous. Cat and dog food can both be used as the main food: some say cat food better matches the nutritional needs of hedgehogs, while others say dogs are omnivorous and cats are carnivorous, so dog food is better to feed, and moreover the seafood ingredients in cat food easily cause skin allergies in hedgehogs.  

On this point, the author of this article asked a veterinarian, and the answer received was that both kitten and puppy food are fine, and mixing the two is also a good choice; however, the nutritional composition of kitten and puppy food is on the high side for hedgehogs, so after the hedgehog grows up it is best to feed adult cat and dog food that is lower in fat.  

To maintain a hedgehog's good appetite, you can occasionally feed some insects, fruit, or cooked meat to satisfy its diverse feeding habits. Insects are especially its favorite; mealworms and wheat bran worms are the supreme magic weapons that owners use to entice hedgehogs, and it is said that crickets are also a beloved favorite of hedgehogs.  

However, it is forbidden to feed onions or citrus foods. There have also been cases of owners feeding hedgehogs mealworms that had eaten celery, after which the hedgehogs died. In short, it is best not to give them overly stimulating foods.

The Uses of Hedgehogs  

1. For stomach pain. This product has the effect of promoting qi circulation and relieving pain, so it can be used for stomach pain caused by disharmony between the liver and stomach. It can be used alone as one ingredient, roasted dry and ground into powder, swallowed one qian each time, twice a day; it can also be used together with Atractylodes macrocephala, white peony root, Cyperus rotundus, and citron peel, etc.  

2. For hemorrhoids with bloody stool, rectal prolapse, and other conditions. Hedgehog skin can dissipate blood stasis and stop bleeding, and has a specialty in treating hemorrhoidal diseases. When used for hemorrhoids with bloody stool, it is often used together with Sophora japonica flower and Sanguisorba officinalis, etc.; if used for rectal prolapse, it can be used together with qi-tonifying drugs such as Astragalus membranaceus.  

3. For spermatorrhea, enuresis, and other conditions. This product also has the effect of securing essence and reducing urination. For spermatorrhea and enuresis, it is often combined with drugs that secure the kidney and astringe essence, such as Alpinia oxyphylla fruit, oyster shell, and Euryale ferox, etc.  

4. Stomach pain, vomiting. This product can dissipate blood stasis and relieve pain. For treating long-standing stomach pain with qi and blood stagnation accompanied by vomiting. It can be used alone, roasted dry and ground into powder, taken with yellow rice wine; or used together with drugs such as Corydalis yanhusuo and Cyperus rotundus.  

5. Dissipating blood stasis and relieving pain, astringing and stopping bleeding. Hedgehog skin has the effects of dissipating blood stasis, relieving pain, astringing, and stopping bleeding.

Hedgehog Breeding Prospects  

1. Providing meat  

Hedgehog meat is high in protein and low in cholesterol, has strong nourishing functions, and has many medicinal uses. Because hedgehogs reproduce quickly, have wide medicinal use, and produce little meat, developing hedgehog breeding is of great significance for enriching farmers' economy. With the improvement of living standards of residents in coastal open areas and large and medium-sized cities in the interior. Demand is growing larger and larger. Hedgehogs in the Yangtze River basin have suffered heavy hunting and killing, and their numbers are extremely scarce; in northern regions, indiscriminate catching has worsened year by year, and wild resources are becoming increasingly depleted.  

2. Providing medicinal raw materials  

The whole hedgehog is a treasure. Hedgehog spines, skin, fat, and meat are all valuable traditional Chinese medicines, with effects such as lowering qi and relieving pain, and can treat stomach disease, kidney disease, breast disease, hemorrhoids, burns, scalds, and stop bleeding and remove leakage, etc. The hedgehog's brain, heart, liver, gallbladder, kidneys, and fat can all be used as medicine. Developing the economy and earning foreign exchange through exports. Raising hedgehogs will surely become an important part of the special breeding industry. It can not only satisfy the market and drive the local economy, but also be sold externally and exported to earn foreign exchange.  

3. It can become a new type of pet. In the UK, keeping this strange creature, only the size of a palm and covered in spines, as a pet has become a fashion among office workers. For those British office workers who are busy running around all day and also love keeping pets, they are now increasingly inclined to buy a hedgehog as a pet. Because this animal is active by night and rests by day, when the owner comes home from work, they happen to wake from sleep and regain their vitality. Moreover, they can be fed cat food, and their appetite is only one-third that of a domestic cat, costing less. This fits the tastes of workplace professionals very well. From this it can be seen that hedgehog pets may ignite a new round of pet fever.

From the above analysis, it is not hard to see that hedgehogs have rather high requirements for their burrows. Therefore, before breeding hedgehogs, one must first understand the living habits of hedgehogs and build an environment suitable for hedgehog growth. This is the first step in hedgehog breeding.