Hedgehogs: What Kind of Pet Is That?!?

Greetings all you hedgehog lovers, & those who are wondering:
Why?
Why in the world would someone want one of those spiky little things for a pet? My house is run by four hedgies:
Order is my older male, and Salt & Sugar are newer. Salt is an albino female, & Sugar is an albino male. Sandy is out of a litter that my hedgie Chaos had (Order is the proud papa), but whose new owner tired of him.

I've fallen in love with the little critters, & thought I'd try to let people know just how wonderful they can be. So, here's a list of reasons why I recommend hedgies as pets.

They don't grow too large, so they are great apartment pets.
They are very clean & litter box trainable
They have very diverse personalities. (I'll discuss that in more detail further down on the page.)
Their antics can provide hours of entertainment

You really have to experience them to understand just how great hedgies can be!

Meet My Hedgies

As I said before, hedgehogs have distinct personalities. Mine are like night & day, so I thought I'd tell a little about them and their individual quirks.

Chaos

RIP July, 2000
Chaos is my huffy little female. And I do mean huffy. She isn't a person hedgie. She will open up when I hold her and will play with me, but makes it clear that it isn't what she would have chosen to do on her own. Her attitude was beginning to improve until last year, when she had to have some minor surgery, which I'll tell more about later. But since I've had to medicate her twice a day for three weeks, she's gotten a bit angry with me.

Order

Order is my pudgy male. Although I don't know his exact age, I'm guessing him at between one & two years old. He's very friendly, and loves to crawl around on me & try to hide in my clothes. He unrolls almost as soon as I get him out of his cage. He loves to play with his toys: a hackey sack & a ball with a little bell in it. Unfortunately, he likes to play at about 3am, and the jingling of that little bell can be trying, so they don't live near my bedroom anymore.

Sandy

Pepper is a little male who I've had since he was born in Chaos' first litter in September 1998. Therefore, he's pretty friendly & very cute. He takes after his Mom in size (quite small) but is friendly like his dad. He was sold to a friend of mine, who later decided that pets weren't for her...so I took him back into my herd.

Salt

Salt is my albino female. I got her in June 1999 & am trying to breed her with Sugar. She has learned that if she bites me, I put her down (those little teeth are SHARP!) & I'm trying to break her of that habit by trying to ignore it when she latches on. It's easier said than done, though.

Sugar

Sugar is the newest addition to my herd of hedgies. He is a sweet little albino male who was born in January of 2000. As soon as he figures out what to do with her, I'm hoping he'll be proud daddy to Salt's first litter of hoglets. However, I don't think he's figured it out yet. *G* He is very sweet & has the most beautiful pink eyes. He loves to hide in my sleeves & go to sleep.

As you can see, Hedgehog personalities tend to differ as much as people's do. They are a lot fo fun to work with & really grow on you. (After all, who could ignore those cute little faces?)

Basic Hedgehog Care

Cage or No Cage?

Hedgehogs are very clean animals & are very easy to litter box train, especially when they are young. Really! A corner litterbox is great for them since it has the lower opening in the front.

They can also be kept in a cage, but please keep in mind that they do need excercise & are nocturnal..... get them out in the evenings to run around and play! This can be great bonding time for you & your hedgie. Feed him some mealies! Play tug-of-war. (mine love it!)

Feeding

What do hedgies eat? Lots of things!

Commercial hedgehog food (available at many pet stores. If yours doesn't carry it, ask them to start)

Cat food- Kitten size bites might be easier for them to eat.(Not Iams or other high priced foods. The protiens are not easily digested by hedgies & can cause life-threatening blockages!)

Mealworms, crickets & other insects (If you catch your own, please make sure you catch them in an area that hasn't been doused in pesticide.)

Boiled eggs (Chopped up)

Cooked meat (Chopped up)

Who Would Have Thought?

In May of 1998, Chaos had to undergo a bit of minor surgery due to a very strange injury. The culprit was something that had never entered my mind as a danger to my pets, & I was shocked and dismayed to discover that it had caused so much pain to my poor little hedgie. What was this lurking danger?

My Hair!

Who would have thought? A piece of my hair got wrapped around her foot and she pulled at it trying to get it off. In the process, she broke the skin of her foot, & by the time I caught the problem, the hair had made its way down to the bone. (Anyone who has tried to get a good look at a hedgehog's back foot can understand how this went unnoticed for the few days neccesary for this to occur.) I got her to a local vet as soon as I noticed the problem, and she had to be put under the knife to remove the hair. The vet was a little nervous about using anasthesia on a nine ounce pet. He was terribly afraid of overdosing her. But, she made it through with flying colors, and the weeks following were a whirlwind of oral antibiotics & antibiotic ointment for her foot. Needless to say, the whole experience has not endeared me to her. But her recovery is complete, & the vet was pleased with her progress! (He was afraid she was going to lose her foot.)

It's the things you never think of that can cause the most trouble, I suppose.

RIP Chaos
In July, 2000, I had to have Chaos put to sleep. She had developed WHS (Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome), a disease whose cause is unknown & which has no cure. Chaos had reached the point where she could no longer walk to her food & water. I was giving her water through a straw.
Research is being done about this strange disease, but little information is available. If anyone has reliable info on WHS, I would appreciate getting it. Losing a pet is bad, but not knowing why is truly disheartening.

My Other Pages & Interesting Links

Briar's Thorn Bush: My main page- links to all my other pages
Hedgehog Hollow: A great site for more hedgie info & links!
The Flying Hedgehog: A great hedgie site with an extensive list of links
Hedgehog-O-Rama: A site with some really cute hedgie pics

Sign My Guestbook View My Guestbook

Briar Rose

bri_rose@hotmail.com
Last Updated 8-25-00

United States

Briar Rose is a proud member of The Hedge Wheel

Want to join the Wheel? Here's how.