Quite recently, we got a ‘real’ pet, and it seems I about shocked about half the world over in allowing this. Let’s just say, I’ve never been into the whole domestic-type pets thing. More than anyone, my sister-in-law was in sheer disbelief that we got a pet, and couldn’t wait to find out what we got. I loved taunting her. We sent her (and my brother, niece and nephew) “I am….” riddles and clues for 2 days, before my brother finally guessed what she (our pet), was.
Would you like to meet her?
Can you tell, looking at this photo, what she is??
She’s a hedgehog. And she’s a doll. If I do say so myself.
She’s quite active sometimes. She has awake and sleep time intermittently, both through the day and night. But we can put her to sleep anytime, in our hand, in a heartbeat. Especially ME. {A} keeps asking how on earth I can do that so quickly. I looked up at her and told her, “Because I’m a mama….through and through. I could put YOU to sleep right now, if I wanted to.” She looked down at me, and giggled.
{A} has wanted a hedgehog for a long time. She had researched hedgehogs thoroughly, and then some. An then again, and again. She studied them, looked at photos, saved sites and info, and asked me if she could get one at least once a day. I was blowing her off, ever chance I got. Which as I said…was at least once a day. She sent me e-mail reminders and links, and asked me to promise to read them. I finally did.
As I read, I was waiting to come across ANYTHING that was a deal breaker. Give me a reason to say ‘no’. Tell me they stink. Tell me they are noisy. Tell me they are dirty. Tell me they bite. But nope……no smell, they are quiet, clean, and very sociable. As a matter of fact, the more I read, the more I thought a hedgehog just may BE the perfect pet.
The photos I was seeing of the hedgehogs, were pretty cute too. Well, most of them. I also remembered how I just HAD to buy the hedgehog Stampin’ Up set from my sister, when she was selling them years ago, because I thought they were so cute. I’ve used them many times too.
So, I asked {A} some questions, and she had a good answer for every one. I told her we could look into where to get one, but she promptly informed me she already had all of the info. She found a breeder right in the Boston area, and she had her name and e-mail. (When our girl puts her mind to something, she prepares herself to win, like nobody’s business. ‘Research‘ is the girl’s middle name.) (O.k., that’s not actually true….her middle name is Grace. But you know what I mean.)
Honestly…I didn’t have a leg to stand on, as a reason for saying no. Well, except that I am the parent, and I can say no without even giving a reason, if I want to. But since she was being so grown-up, I figured I should too.
So I got in touch with the breeder, and asked some questions. We gave her our preference….a female, salt & pepper. It took several e-mails back and forth, an application process and a deposit, and a waiting period, while these baby hedgehogs were weaned and socialized. The excitement was building, even for me!! And then…. finally, we got notice we could go get her. (Well, we would pick her out when we went. But she was already real in our minds.)
The breeder was very nice, and interesting! She had lots of animals, and was great with giving the kids all kinds of info and letting them see all of her animals. I had wished I brought my camera!! (The breeder took the one below and was nice enough to send it to us.) I love these surprise-field-trip-home-schooling experiences! We met her ‘indoor chicken’, which is a ‘serama chicken’…..the smallest chickens in the world. (Who knew? Not us.)
Her name is SOLO. The kids loved her.
Once we got ‘Pixel’ home, we gave her a day or 2 to get used to her new place, and then we all started spending time with her. Even me!
She’s very easy to hold, and in fact, loves it.
She’s SO cute when she is curled up.
Especially when she really pulls her face in, and hides. She doesn’t do this very often, because she is always so content to just look around, enjoy her petting, and fall asleep.
She’s so easy to take care of. {A} is her main care-taker, and she ({A}) loves her (a hedgehog) even more than she knew she would. Did you know you can potty train hedgehogs? (That was a plus in my considerations too!) It’s true. Pixel is just a baby, but we’re working on it. Mostly, she eats hard cat food. We do have freeze dried meal worms and crickets too….as treats. She is an ‘insectivore’.
Hedgehogs are related to the moles – not rodents! Interestingly…..the porcupine, which a hedgehog is often compared to, IS a rodent. Hedgehogs and porcupines are not even cousins. Hedgehogs quills are somewhat soft, but yes, sharp on the ends. (No barbs, because they are not like porcupines….remember?) If she’s not happy, they do come up a little. But that is rare, because she is very happy and content with us. Mostly, she does not like being woken up, needlessly. (Neither do I. I tend to be prickly then too.). She has a very soft underside though. I love petting her quills. She’s so misunderstood on appearance. Kind of like me, again. We can relate.
I know sometimes, she looks a little, like a rodent. But don’t say that to me, because you’ll hurt my feelings. Because the truth is, she’s got a little piece of my heart. Many in my family, are still trying to wrap their brain around this because really, it’s not very expected of me. But, I too have become a bit smitten, with Pixel. This past weekend was our celebration for the kids First Holy Communion, and everyone discovered she was cuter than they expected.
Almost every night, I hold Pixel for a little while. She loves me to pet her to sleep. She loves to cuddle on me. I do believe, she loves ME. : ) (No surprise there. lol). She actually is happily held and cuddled by all 6 of us in the family. Even {JM, O & S} are great with her, and she with them. But I can put her to sleep the fastest. Oh….I guess I already mentioned that.
She LOVES to be in her TP tube. She’ll curl right up in a ball and have a snooze. Oh….that little bit of green you see is a bit of paint the breeder dabbed on her, to differentiate her from the others in the litter. She’ll lose these quills and get adult ones as she grows….which she is already doing. She won’t get too much bigger though.
Look at that little face in there. <sigh>
I think her ‘hair’ rocks.
She’s a handful, and yet, she’s not. KWIM?
If you’d like to learn more about hedgehogs, here is a great link. Hedgehog Central. You can read for yourself what a perfect pet they are! But first, go ahead and tell us how cute you think she is. ; )
