African Crested Porcupines
African crested porcupines are one of my personal favorites. Out of all the critters we raise, they absolutely have some of the BEST personalities!!! As a young child, I was always fascinated by their quills, but it never occurred to me that they could be capable of bonding with humans and having such a loving/fun personality.
Over 12 years ago I purchased my first porcupine on whim. Not sure what possessed me at the time, but I am grateful for the experiences she brought into my life. Since that day, porcupines have become a huge part of my life and are a growing passion of mine that I thoroughly enjoy sharing with others. They are gorgeous creatures on the outside, but what is on the inside is even more amazing. Yes, they have the capacity to love and they do with all their hearts. Below are just a few pictures of my pairs and past babies. I mean it when I say, they are the most loving and affectionate creatures I have ever known. I started with a single little girl, but since then have added quite a few breeders to our program. All of my breeders are hand raised besides 2. I have not found that it makes a difference when it comes to breeding.
Temperatures: African Crested Porcupines are native to Africa so naturally, they are keen on warm temperatures. They do have small hairs in between their bigger quills, almost like birds have down in between their feathers, but there is not a substantial enough amount to keep them warm in colder conditions. Ours have an indoor and outdoor area they can access during the summer, but are kept solely in our heated barn during the cold months. Once the temps start dipping to ~50 degrees Fahrenheit, I keep them restricted to the heated barn. I do know of some breeders who allow their African Crested Porcupines to stay out during the winter months, but I don't see the reason to take chances. I personally prefer not to worry about their well being if I don't have to.
Bedding: In the winter, even with the heat provided, I bed with pine bark mulch/pine shavings as my base and then fluff up some hay/straw for their beds to keep warm. Porcupines love to burrow and lounge around so they enjoy the available hay to bed down with.
Teeth: In addition to their bedding, I have safe woods (non toxic) available to chew, antlers, big cow leg bones, and a small salt lick for rabbits. It is super important that you provide porcupines with something to chew on so that their teeth naturally file down. Porcupines are rodents, which means their teeth grow for the entirety of their lives. Due to this continuous growth, they need things to chew on to maintain their teeth at a healthy length. If they are not provided with things to chew on, their teeth can overgrow, requiring you to manually trim them. It is imperative you check teeth lengths often to ensure they stay at a safe length for eating and carrying out regular functions. I personally like to buy the big bone marrow bones for dogs off chewy.com and let my dogs have them for 2 weeks to get them cleaned off, and then I give them to the porcupines to have. The bones come with some greasy residue and meat crumbs that I don't want the porcupines to ingest which is why the dogs get those bones first. They aren't complaining, though!
Diet: Porcupines eat a variety of foods including sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, watermelon, carrots, zucchini, squash, pumpkins, unsweetened apple sauce, rodent block, high grain content dog food, bananas, apples, lettuce, animal crackers, pretzels, etc. They also need a type of wood and/or antler to chew on so that the teeth do not overgrow, as stated above.
Breeding: African Crested Porcupines generally breed 1-2 times per year and after 112 days, produce anywhere for 1-4 babies, known as porcupettes. The babies are fully functioning when born with both ears and eyes open. 1-2 babies most common for each litter.
Size/Life Expectancy: Full grown, porcupines weigh anywhere from 30-65 pounds. African Crested Porcupines happen to be the biggest porcupines species. They have a life expectancy of around 20 years.
Quills: As you can see, porcupines are completely covered in quills and each quill can range from 1-14 inches long. The top picture on the right demonstrates how fully covered they are even after a single day of birth. For the first few weeks, the quills feel like tooth brush bristles and gradually harden and lengthen with age. These quills are essentially just modified hairs that are covered in thick coats of keratin and are hollow on the inside.
I have a lot of people ask me, do they poke you? Can they shoot their quills? I sometimes get poked, but not because they are showing aggression (it's usually my fault). NO, they cannot throw their quills, that is a myth!!!!! Their quills are not actually barbed! The North American Porcupine is the one who is known for leaving barbed quills in dog faces, so it's uncommon for the quills to remain embedded in your skin if one happens to poke you. They can however, loosen their quills once they come into contact with a predator (only when contact is made). This is the reason for the misconception.
If you get your baby porcupine early and bond with he/she, poking is rarely a problem. My girls, being as docile as they are, just lay their quills back when they are near me and only raise them when they are prancing and bouncing around with excitement!
I have a care sheet I can send with new porcupine parents as well. The sheet goes over bottle feeding, baby diet, care, bonding, etc.
Over 12 years ago I purchased my first porcupine on whim. Not sure what possessed me at the time, but I am grateful for the experiences she brought into my life. Since that day, porcupines have become a huge part of my life and are a growing passion of mine that I thoroughly enjoy sharing with others. They are gorgeous creatures on the outside, but what is on the inside is even more amazing. Yes, they have the capacity to love and they do with all their hearts. Below are just a few pictures of my pairs and past babies. I mean it when I say, they are the most loving and affectionate creatures I have ever known. I started with a single little girl, but since then have added quite a few breeders to our program. All of my breeders are hand raised besides 2. I have not found that it makes a difference when it comes to breeding.
Temperatures: African Crested Porcupines are native to Africa so naturally, they are keen on warm temperatures. They do have small hairs in between their bigger quills, almost like birds have down in between their feathers, but there is not a substantial enough amount to keep them warm in colder conditions. Ours have an indoor and outdoor area they can access during the summer, but are kept solely in our heated barn during the cold months. Once the temps start dipping to ~50 degrees Fahrenheit, I keep them restricted to the heated barn. I do know of some breeders who allow their African Crested Porcupines to stay out during the winter months, but I don't see the reason to take chances. I personally prefer not to worry about their well being if I don't have to.
Bedding: In the winter, even with the heat provided, I bed with pine bark mulch/pine shavings as my base and then fluff up some hay/straw for their beds to keep warm. Porcupines love to burrow and lounge around so they enjoy the available hay to bed down with.
Teeth: In addition to their bedding, I have safe woods (non toxic) available to chew, antlers, big cow leg bones, and a small salt lick for rabbits. It is super important that you provide porcupines with something to chew on so that their teeth naturally file down. Porcupines are rodents, which means their teeth grow for the entirety of their lives. Due to this continuous growth, they need things to chew on to maintain their teeth at a healthy length. If they are not provided with things to chew on, their teeth can overgrow, requiring you to manually trim them. It is imperative you check teeth lengths often to ensure they stay at a safe length for eating and carrying out regular functions. I personally like to buy the big bone marrow bones for dogs off chewy.com and let my dogs have them for 2 weeks to get them cleaned off, and then I give them to the porcupines to have. The bones come with some greasy residue and meat crumbs that I don't want the porcupines to ingest which is why the dogs get those bones first. They aren't complaining, though!
Diet: Porcupines eat a variety of foods including sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, watermelon, carrots, zucchini, squash, pumpkins, unsweetened apple sauce, rodent block, high grain content dog food, bananas, apples, lettuce, animal crackers, pretzels, etc. They also need a type of wood and/or antler to chew on so that the teeth do not overgrow, as stated above.
Breeding: African Crested Porcupines generally breed 1-2 times per year and after 112 days, produce anywhere for 1-4 babies, known as porcupettes. The babies are fully functioning when born with both ears and eyes open. 1-2 babies most common for each litter.
Size/Life Expectancy: Full grown, porcupines weigh anywhere from 30-65 pounds. African Crested Porcupines happen to be the biggest porcupines species. They have a life expectancy of around 20 years.
Quills: As you can see, porcupines are completely covered in quills and each quill can range from 1-14 inches long. The top picture on the right demonstrates how fully covered they are even after a single day of birth. For the first few weeks, the quills feel like tooth brush bristles and gradually harden and lengthen with age. These quills are essentially just modified hairs that are covered in thick coats of keratin and are hollow on the inside.
I have a lot of people ask me, do they poke you? Can they shoot their quills? I sometimes get poked, but not because they are showing aggression (it's usually my fault). NO, they cannot throw their quills, that is a myth!!!!! Their quills are not actually barbed! The North American Porcupine is the one who is known for leaving barbed quills in dog faces, so it's uncommon for the quills to remain embedded in your skin if one happens to poke you. They can however, loosen their quills once they come into contact with a predator (only when contact is made). This is the reason for the misconception.
If you get your baby porcupine early and bond with he/she, poking is rarely a problem. My girls, being as docile as they are, just lay their quills back when they are near me and only raise them when they are prancing and bouncing around with excitement!
I have a care sheet I can send with new porcupine parents as well. The sheet goes over bottle feeding, baby diet, care, bonding, etc.