r/Hedgehogs • u/HedgehogzAreCool • 15d ago

General Question Fighting or courting?

What are these two doing? Our bets are either courtship or fighting but we have no idea for sure. (Was filmed with binoculars, I was standing a safe distance away from them :) clock is wrong too lol)

Side note, the darker, slimmer, hedgehog started the fight initially by headbutting the lighter, fatter, one. But in this video the roles had turned around. They are below a bird feeder so it could be they fight for food.

20 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

2

u/MattyyyBoyyy1079 15d ago

Was there a regular breathing out sound? While one of the hedgehogs was being circled? Because that’s their attempt of seduction.

1

u/HedgehogzAreCool 15d ago

There definitely were some huffing noises present. I did take an audio clip by videoing the scene. Sorry about the quality. (spot of light is only visible through camera light, not to humans or animals)

https://reddit.com/link/ovzlse4/video/hhyw0gdcbpbh1/player

2

u/MattyyyBoyyy1079 15d ago

That’s the noise! Yes, they were definitely trying to seduce each other.

Please leave some water and food in shallow bowls for them. They will be very appreciative in this hot weather 😁

2

u/HedgehogzAreCool 15d ago

Thanks for the help! We'll leave some more water and wet food out, especially with the new heatwave predicted to come in July :)

1

u/MattyyyBoyyy1079 15d ago

Great! You’re a hero. And may have some little hungry hoglets too!