prickly?

don't they prefer to be underground?

They're okay. Trouble is difficult to diagnose with a hedgehog -- they go off their feed pretty easily and will ball up and stay balled for a variety of reasons.

But, like snakes, they teach you to handle things without sudden movement (snakes bite, hedgehogs bakk up or flex their spines). Of course, a hedgehog can't really hurt you (nor can most snakes), and the spines feel like little mouse toes, scritchy-scratch.

I've taken care of two hedgehogs. One was caught in the wild and spent several hours balled up and trembling until I let it go again. The other was bred in captivity and more agreeable, but still a touchy little critter.

They mostly nose around. Feeding time is not too exciting, though they will eat crickets and mealworms if you're into watching live feeding.

So, in short, they're okay. If you really love hedgehogs, they might be perfect. If you don't, they might be a trifle dull.

I can't tell you anything, but I can show you this:
≡ Click to see image ≡

hedgehogs bakk up or flex

Hugh, you're an idiot.

african pygmy hedgehogs are nicer and smaller.

Hedgehogs snuffle, hiss & sigh like espresso machines. In college, I thought the guy down the hall was a latte fiend until I learned about his hidden hedgehog.

Hedgehog hearsay: If a 'hog eats something that he finds distasteful, he will vomit it up and spread it on his spines, on the assumption that it will make him similarly distasteful to predators.

I don't know about you, but a creature that spreads vomit on itself doesn't sound like a pet to me.

It is perhaps the saddest cute thing in the world to see a hedgehog with a cold. We took care of a school pet hedgehog over a vacation once, and it decided it was hibernation time because our house was ~66 degrees.

Finding a vet that knows about hedgehogs is probably easier these days than it used to be.

omie, see also.

Triode: "Hidden Hedgehog" is a great name for a band.

You are legally obligated to name him Sonic.

Good god, those are some killer cute pictures Speck.

Triode, you made me laugh hard enough to annoy the cat.

Aren't they, ooga?

I think I may get one. I was once bitten on the stomach by a hedgehog named Harriet, but I am undeterred.

From what I understand, they're pretty shy, and so I'd want to get a young one and handle it gently/often.

I like the idea of having a fish, a bird (soon coming), and a hedgehog. A hedgehog seems like an especially Specklet-y pet...

She made little espresso machine noises when annoyed.

She did not spread vomit on her spines, or anywhere else.

What kind of bird?

Plain ole' cockatiel. Had 'em before, love 'em.

(Can't justify spending they money on what I really want: a Senegal parrot.)

Unlike the ones shown here, the sexually dimorphic eclectus parrots at the San Antonio (TX) Zoo are solid red and green -- a rare and beautiful subspecies (I think there is a score or so of slightly different variations on the red/green theme) -- and they belonged to my grandfather until his death in 1998.

OMG! Hedgehogs!
...from a comment in Specklet's CuteOverload link
There's some info on care of the beasties on that site, too.

Beautiful, Hugh!

And krix, I guess we know the preferred pose for hedgehog portraits, eh?

>>I was once bitten on the stomach by a hedgehog named Harriet, but I am undeterred.

why did you put a hedgehog on your stomach???

She was sitting in my lap, rooting around. Of course.

My mom had a pygmy hedgehog named Thornton ("Thorny" for short, natch) that was like her life-mate. He adored her, went everywhere she went, absolutely content. She even smuggled him on airplanes in the pocket of her poncho, and he didn't mind.

He pooped on everyone else, though.

I don't know about you, but a creature that spreads vomit on itself doesn't sound like a pet to me.
Well, that lets most of us out as pets, I guess.

She was sitting in my lap, rooting around. Of course.
Is it getting hot in here?

I used to want to have a hedgehog named Racecar.