Hedgehog Riddles: 30 Prickly Riddles with Answers for Kids on Riddlepedia
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Hedgehog Riddles: 30 Prickly Riddles with Answers for Kids

30 riddles · tap Hint or Answer to reveal

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Hedgehogs are small, round and covered in spines, but they’re gentler than they look. They come out at night to snuffle through gardens and hedges, hunting beetles, caterpillars and slugs, and when danger comes, they don’t fight: they roll up into a prickly ball and wait for it to go away.

These 30 hedgehog riddles mix real hedgehog facts with a couple of classic jokes. The easy round is about spines, snouts and babies, the medium round explains what hedgehogs are (and aren’t) related to, and the tricky round has the surprising facts, like how hoglets are born without hurting their mother. Every fact in the answers is true.

Easy Hedgehog Riddles

I’m small and round, with a pointy nose and a back covered in spines. At night, I snuffle through the garden looking for bugs. What am I?

Hint
Gardeners are happy to find me, because I eat their garden pests.
Answer
A hedgehog

Thousands of us cover a hedgehog’s back. We’re stiff and sharp, and we keep hungry animals away. What are we?

Hint
Some people call us quills.
Answer
Spines

When a hedgehog gets scared, it tucks in its head and legs and turns into this shape, with only its spines showing. What shape is it?

Hint
You could bounce one, but please don’t bounce a hedgehog!
Answer
A ball

I sleep most of the day, tucked away in a cozy nest. When do I wake up and go out to find food?

Hint
Owls and bats are up at the same time.
Answer
At night. Hedgehogs are nocturnal.

I’m a baby hedgehog. My name sounds like a tiny version of a pig. What am I called?

Hint
Baby pigs are piglets.
Answer
A hoglet

My eyesight isn’t very good, so I use this long, twitchy part of my face to sniff out food under leaves and soil. What is it?

Hint
You smell with yours too.
Answer
The snout (its nose)

Beetles, caterpillars, earwigs and other creepy-crawlies are my favorite food. What kind of animals do I mostly eat?

Hint
They have six legs, and many of them can fly.
Answer
Insects. Hedgehogs also eat worms, slugs and snails.

Before winter, I gather these from under hedges and trees and pile them into a cozy nest. They crunch when you jump in a pile of them in fall. What are they?

Hint
They change from green to orange and brown.
Answer
Leaves

I’m slimy and slow, I leave a shiny trail behind me, and I munch holes in garden lettuce. Hedgehogs love to eat me, so gardeners love hedgehogs. What am I?

Hint
I’m like a snail with no shell.
Answer
A slug

What did the hedgehog say to the cactus?

Hint
They’re both very prickly.
Answer
“Is that you, Mom?”

Medium Hedgehog Riddles

A hedgehog’s spines are really hollow hairs, made of the same tough stuff as your fingernails and hair. What is it called?

Hint
It starts with K, and rhinos’ horns are made of it too.
Answer
Keratin

I’m the one part of a hedgehog that has no spines at all. I’m covered in soft fur, and a hedgehog protects me by rolling up. What am I?

Hint
It’s underneath, where its legs are.
Answer
Its belly

People often mix us up because we’re both spiny, but we’re not close relatives. My quills come out easily and have tiny barbs, but a hedgehog’s spines stay put. What animal am I?

Hint
I’m a big rodent, and some of me climb trees.
Answer
A porcupine

Hedgehogs aren’t related to porcupines. Their closest relatives are two small animals that also eat insects: one has a long pointy nose, and the other digs tunnels and makes molehills. What are they?

Hint
One of them makes little hills in your lawn.
Answer
Shrews and moles

People used to leave out a saucer of this for hedgehogs, but it gives them a tummy ache. Fresh water is much better. What drink is it?

Hint
It comes from cows.
Answer
Milk. Hedgehogs can’t digest it well, so leave out water and meaty cat or hedgehog food instead.

When it gets cold and bugs are hard to find, wild hedgehogs in places like Europe go into a long, deep sleep in their leaf nests until spring. What is it called?

Hint
Bears, bats and groundhogs do it too.
Answer
Hibernation

Hedgehogs got their name because they live in hedges and make little grunting, snuffling sounds while they look for food. Which animal do those sounds remind people of?

Hint
It says “oink.”
Answer
A pig (a hog)

I’m a small hole, about 5 inches (13 cm) wide, cut at the bottom of a garden fence so hedgehogs can travel from yard to yard. What am I called?

Hint
Cars use the big version of me.
Answer
A hedgehog highway

Long ago in England, hedgehogs had another name. A spiny sea creature is still named after them today. What was the old name?

Hint
The sea creature is a sea ____.
Answer
Urchin. Sea urchins were named after hedgehogs.

When a hedgehog finds a new smell, it licks and chews the thing, makes a frothy spit, and then wipes the foam all over its spines. Scientists still aren’t sure why. What is this called?

Hint
It’s “self-” plus a word that means rubbing something on.
Answer
Self-anointing

Tricky Hedgehog Riddles

How many spines does a grown-up hedgehog have? Is it about 50, about 500 or about 5,000 to 7,000?

Hint
Think big.
Answer
About 5,000 to 7,000

Hoglets are born with spines, but their mother doesn’t get hurt. Why not?

Hint
The spines are hidden at first, a little like a gift that’s still wrapped.
Answer
The spines are under the skin. They’re covered by a soft, fluid-filled layer of skin at birth and pop out within a few hours.

I live in Madagascar, I have spines, I eat insects, and some of me roll into a ball. I look just like a hedgehog, but I’m not related to them at all. What am I?

Hint
My name starts with “ten.”
Answer
A tenrec

Hedgehogs live wild in Europe, Asia and Africa, and people brought them to New Zealand. But on which two continents will you never find a wild hedgehog?

Hint
One of them is where the United States is. (Antarctica doesn’t count!)
Answer
North and South America. Hedgehogs there are only pets.

Most pet hedgehogs are this small kind from Africa. They don’t need to hibernate, and getting too cold is actually dangerous for them. What kind of hedgehog are they?

Hint
Their name means “very small,” like a very small goat.
Answer
The African pygmy hedgehog

Hedgehogs can climb walls and fences. They can also do something else you might not expect from a spiny ball: cross a pond. How?

Hint
Think about what you do in a pool.
Answer
They swim. Hedgehogs are good swimmers.

A hedgehog has a great sense of smell and good hearing. Which sense is its weakest?

Hint
It’s the one you use to read this.
Answer
Its eyesight

In one night of hunting, a wild hedgehog can wander about how far: a few steps, about a mile, or a hundred miles?

Hint
Hedgehog highways help them travel this far through gardens.
Answer
About a mile. Hedgehogs often roam 1 to 2 kilometers in a night.

When a hedgehog rolls up, a ring of strong muscle around its body pulls tight, closing its spiny coat around it like what kind of bag?

Hint
You pull a cord to close it, like a gym bag.
Answer
A drawstring bag

What do you get if you cross a hedgehog with a snake?

Hint
Think long and prickly, like a fence on a farm.
Answer
Barbed wire

Hedgehog Riddle Games for Kids

  • Prickle points: draw a big hedgehog with no spines. Every time a kid solves a riddle, they draw ten spines on it. Can the class reach the hedgehog’s thousands of spines by the end of the week?
  • Roll up! When the reader says “danger!”, everyone curls up into a hedgehog ball and stays still until the next riddle is read.
  • Garden helper: after the medium round, talk about how to help wild hedgehogs: a hole in the fence, a shallow dish of water (never milk) and a leaf pile left in a corner of the yard.
  • Night hunt: turn the lights down and give out flashlights. Hide paper “beetles” and “slugs” around the room with riddles on them. Kids snuffle them out like hungry hedgehogs and solve each one.

Want more animal riddles? Try our bat riddles, these leaf riddles or our spider riddles.