I've never had a hedgehog, they've never appealed to me, but a friend of mine did. She wanted one for ages but when she finally got one she was really disheartened with it. You couldn't pick it up as it would roll straight up into a ball, it wasn't cuddly, smelled, was hard to feed properly, need washing/bathing often, she was always afraid it would go into hibernation if the temperature wasn't quite right and it really didn't do much. She rehomed it as it was quite hard work with very little reward.
My chin on the other hand, is clean, odour free and fun. five minutes in the morning to sweep up and the cage is clean for the day. All the fleece is taken out once a week, washed and dried like any other laundry and replaced which takes about 15-20 minutes at the outside most. My chin is friendly, cuddly, loves to be around you, is enjoyable, entertaining and fun. She's easy to feed, keep clean and I love buying or making her new toys and chew things. I don't find chins high maintenance at all, they are the easiest to care for pets I've ever had by a country mile (though I've only ever had one at a time, perhaps their harder work if you have more), and a far better and more amusing pet than my friend's hedgehog was.
