{"topic_id":"exotic_enrichment_hedgehog","category":"exotic-enrichment","context":"---\ntopic_id: exotic_enrichment_hedgehog\ncategory: exotic-enrichment\ntitle: \"African Pygmy Hedgehog — enrichment & exercise (wheel, space, natural behaviors)\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"First-hand owner-practical care pages saved to source_file; C1 byte-substring verified. Pulled 2026-08-02 via Tavily discovery + Tokyo relay / direct fetch.\"\nsource_file: pdf-raw/owner-care/hedgehog_enrichment_combined.txt\ndate_parsed: 2026-08-02\ntokens_estimated: 560\nverification:\n  method: substring_match\n  claims: 12\n  passed: 12\n  date: 2026-08-02\nrecovered: false\npath: exotic-enrichment/exotic_enrichment_hedgehog/01_exotic_enrichment_hedgehog.md\nsource_document: \"Long Island Avian and Exotic Veterinary Clinic / RSPCA pet care advice\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"Long Island Avian and Exotic Veterinary Clinic / RSPCA pet care advice\"\n  title: \"African Pygmy Hedgehog — enrichment & exercise (wheel, space, natural behaviors)\"\n  url: \"https://www.birdexoticsvet.com/hedgehog-care-guide ; https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/other/africanpygmyhedgehogs\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-08-02\"\n  ref: \"African Pygmy Hedgehog — enrichment & exercise (wheel, space, natural behaviors) (first-hand)\"\n  doc_type: \"veterinary-clinic / animal-welfare-org\"\n  needs_review: false\n---\n\n# African Pygmy Hedgehog — enrichment & exercise (wheel, space, natural behaviors)\n\nSource: first-hand owner-practical care pages, saved to `source_file`; every claim below is a C1 byte-substring of it.\n\n## Claims (verified C1 substrings of source_file)\n\n- `They climb, dig, swim, and often go for night runs for miles on end.`\n- `Make sure your cage has enough space for an exercise wheel and a hiding spot for your hedgehog to sneak away and sleep in.`\n- `Otherwise it will keep you up all night running on its wheel or playing with its toys.`\n- `Without enough time to run around in and outside of their enclosure, your hedgehog is at risk of becoming overweight.`\n- `If you are checking/testing to see if your hedgehog will drink from a bottle, be sure to include a water bowl in the enclosure during this trial period until you are certain they are drinking from the bottle.`\n- `After hedgehog-proofing your place, give your buddy time to run around outside of the enclosure.`\n- `Because of this, your hedgehog’s enclosure must be big enough to enable their natural behavior.`\n- `The exercise wheel is a very important piece of maintaining your hedgehog’s health.`\n- `The lifestyle of a nocturnal pet may mean that you’ll want to keep your hedgehog’s enclosure away from your bedroom, especially if you are sensitive to noise.`\n- `Sadly, many hedgehogs who are kept as pets are fed a diet too high in fat and don't get enough exercise, which can cause obesity and other health problems.`\n- `Make sure the wheel is solid, and not made of wire; their feet can get stuck in the wires and this may cause fractured limbs.`\n- `Liver disease and obesity often occur because of unhealthy eating habits, an unbalanced diet, and minimal exercise.`\n\n**Source:** `pdf-raw/owner-care/hedgehog_enrichment_combined.txt` · Long Island Avian and Exotic Veterinary Clinic / RSPCA pet care advice\n","sources":["exotic-enrichment — African Pygmy Hedgehog — enrichment & exercise (wheel, space, natural behaviors) (retrieved 2026-08-02)"],"source":{"authority":"exotic-enrichment","title":"African Pygmy Hedgehog — enrichment & exercise (wheel, space, natural behaviors)","url":"https://www.birdexoticsvet.com/hedgehog-care-guide","retrieved":"2026-08-02","ref":"","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"Long Island Avian and Exotic Veterinary Clinic / RSPCA pet care advice","verification_file":"pdf-raw/owner-care/hedgehog_enrichment_combined.txt"},"source_document":"Long Island Avian and Exotic Veterinary Clinic / RSPCA pet care advice","source_file":"pdf-raw/owner-care/hedgehog_enrichment_combined.txt","tokens_estimated":574,"generated_at":null,"tip":"Use /api/v1/topics to discover more topics. /api/v1/nutrient for precise single-point queries. /api/v1/cross_compare for 2-3 standard comparisons."}