Why hedgies?

[pricklesnquills]

I don't really remember why I originally got a hedgehog. I guess I thought they were neat little things. Oh, and my family really wanted me to get one. I was trying to decide between and bird and a hedgie. After doing some research, I quickly decided that hedgies were much more my type

I got my first one in 2004 when I was 11....now I'm almost 16. My first little boy was a major grump, but I still loved him Now I have a total of 5 hedgies and have been breeding for 2 years.

I love the little guys! I hope to continue having hedgies for years to come!

 

[PeaceB2U]

I saw my first hedgehog in a pet store when I was shopping for aquarium supplies. At that time, I didn't realize people kept them for pets. He was so cute that it prompted me to go online and find out everything I could about hedgehogs.

Then after keeping some hedgehogs myself I just fell in love with them. I'm looking forward to the time when I can welcome another hedgehog into my family.

 

[Jeanette]

I was at a ploughing match (a farm-celebration type event) when I saw some baby hedgehogs at a vendor. Being 10 and knowing that my parents wouldn't let me have a "spikey rat", I vowed to own a hedgehog when I 'grew up'.

Spiny was a birthday gift from my loving partner, Bernie. We decided way before my birthday that we were going to a breeder and getting a hedgehog. I was just getting over being away from my family and getting over having a rough time in Ottawa and was starting my life over again. He is my sweet little guy! I couldn't imagine my life without him or my partner!

 

[amazonangie]

I went up to Dallas to see my friend and stopped by a huge petstore there. They had everything. I wanted to see the cute chinchillas and there in an open glass cage, were these cute hedgehogs. I was instantly in love. Sadly, I did not do any research and did an impluse buy. I bought the "starter cage and kit" What a load of crap and a waste of money.

But soon afterwards I found CnQ and fixed all my newbie mistakes.

I am hooked but the hubby says no more right now. Boo.

 

[Catherine&Kuma]

I went to a reptile show with my cousin in the summer, and for some reason they had one vendor with hedgehogs. I had always loved hedgies when I was a kid, but sort of forgot about them. I guess seeing them again sparked my interest again because I started doing heaps of research, found CnQ and started to look for breeders in my area. I got my little guy in October and am totally in love!!

 

[AstralStorm]

A friend has one and she was so adorable, even after she'd peed and pooped all over my expensive jeans. I couldn't help but to start researching and a few months later, we brought Lila home. I'm so glad we did, she really is incredible.

 

[hedgepig]

I got a hedgehog because I'm allergic to most pet--dogs, cats, hamsters....
But Hedgehogs have quills and only a fuzz on their belly. It's also highly uncommon to be allergic to them. The only reaction I ever got is in the first week my hands got itchy from his pokes. And they're a lot less stinky than hamsters, easy (if you know about them) to care for, and super adorable! But they can be timid sometimes, so know that before you buy one!

 

[amazonangie]

I got a hedgehog because I'm allergic to most pet--dogs, cats, hamsters....
But Hedgehogs have quills and only a fuzz on their belly. It's also highly uncommon to be allergic to them. The only reaction I ever got is in the first week my hands got itchy from his pokes.

My hands still do this even a year later. Does this mean I'm allergic to my hedgie?!?

 

[Midwest Exotics]

My moms former co-worker used to have one in his class room along with a few other animals. (looking back it probly wasnt a good idea, but i didnt know any better at the time & obviously neither did he.) I went into work with her one day & happened to get to go in there & see the hedgie, i thought it was a pretty darn neat pet.

Many years passed by & then i joined chins n quills. After a few years of lurking the hedgie forums i started to post, ask questions, & started to look for a hedgie to call our own.

My friend at the time had a pet store that i would go into & play with the hedgies often. He offered to have one shipped in from chicago for me from a breeder with a pedgiree. He charged nothing extra so i said why not as i couldnt find any available around my area.

My first little girl was Thistle. She was such a great first hedgie & SOOOO laid back! Such a doll. Sadly she passed away at the age of 4.5 unexpectedly in her nest back in Oct of 2007. RIP Thistle we miss you!

Anyways, to boil it down, i got her because i thought they were pretty interesting creatures that i wanted to experience. They are fairly easy to care for, dont smell a ton, & have great personality!

 

[Cimredopyh]

I saw my first hedgehog in 2006, as with most people it was in a pet store.

Me and the BF were looking at an enclosure that appeared to be empty, and suddenly a face resembling a fox pops out from the igloo tunnel, after a couple cautious sniffs it is followed by a cute round prickly body with french fry legs LOL! It ambled over to its food bowl and began to crunch his kibble so loudly we could hear it through the glass. We were both enthralled. We began to research pretty much the minute we got home

About a year and a half later we felt ready and we brought our first hedgie home in November 2007

 

[hedgie_kid]

I saw my first hedgehog online. It happened like this- I was bored, I typed in "hedgehog pics" on google, and pretty much was a hedgaholic ever since.

Though as most of you will know, the only cure for hedgehog addiction is to get one so I started researching them. I had been saving up money so I knew I could get one. The only problem was, convincing my parents. I spent about 8 months of research and looking at about a hundred some breeders. I had to admit, it was addicting. Finally, I asked them. My mom's first coment was "Is that some kind of rat???". So my next month was convincing my parents that a hedehog was a perfect pet. My parents must of gotten sick of me asking so one day, my dad asks me if I want to go to the mall. Except, he actually brings me to the pet store where they had a cage full of hedgehogs. I know getting hedgehogs from a pet store is not the best of ideas due to incidental breeding and lack of heritage but he had been looking for a while and I really didn't want to let him down. The lady who took care of them had owned three hedgehogs before and asured us that they had just "come in" that day. THe pet store gave me Pretty Pets hedgehog food, care fresh, a really useless red heating bulb, and a 13" x 24" cage. With in 2 months, she was on blue buffalo and Royal Canin (both lite), on liners made by Nancy, a 150 watt CHE, and in a 25" x 36" Ferret Nation cage. I had the money for this but, again, my parents needed convincing.
As far as her name, it's Hot Dog. It happened like this. I asked my 1 year old sister what she would think of a hedgehog. She thought I was saying Hot Dog and ran over to the refrigerator screaming Hot Dog. Since she can't say our dog's name(El Dorado) we thought it was only fair to name my hedgie somehting she can say. Anywways, that my story. I just hope someone will read it because it's in the back of everone else...

 

[amazonangie]

As far as her name, it's Hot Dog. It happened like this. I asked my 1 year old sister what she would think of a hedgehog. She thought I was saying Hot Dog and ran over to the refrigerator screaming Hot Dog. Since she can't say our dog's name(El Dorado) we thought it was only fair to name my hedgie somehting she can say. Anywways, that my story. I just hope someone will read it because it's in the back of everone else...

Awwww. That is so cute. When I get my next hedgie, hopefully my baby will be talking so I'll ask her what I should name. Should be interesting......

 

[Mallasfamily]

Baby Malla

So this is my first post on c-n-h. One night at least 3 months ago my husband and I were driving home late one night. Of coarse a little critter ran across the road in front of us. That started a debate of what it is (kind of sick I know). I kept insisting in was a HH (knowing full well that should not be possible). Eventually My husband says we should get a HH and I agreed. From their started the research. Got a book to read (which my hub had to read before we could get one) and I started researching on line. We found a breeder in Edmonton (not happy with them) and picked our little girl up on January 25/09. Found out it was a girl and named her Malla after Chewbackas wife in Star Wars. :hug2:

 

[Nemo369]

I have had many different animals in the past, and had recently lost a hamster. I was looking through a list of animals that were able to be kept as pets in my area. I stumbled across a breeder not far from me, and fell in love. The breeder was very friendly and knew all about them, and finally introduced me to a darling little cinnocot. Now I have had Fidget for about a year, and Love her so much! I'm hoping on getting another soon.

P.S. I Love nearly every animals, so it's not really a "Why Hedgehogs" thing... but more of a "When could I" sort of thing :heart3:

 

[Jenn1]

it is easier to say why not a hedgehog lol.
I was a member of cnq because I had a chinchilla. I kept creeping to the "other side" of the board and the more I read about HHs the more I wanted one and the more the pics I saw the more I wanted one so I found a breeder close to me and ended up with huffy and when I had to give up huff it broke my heart so as soon as I was able to I found a hh rescue and got Bonzo.

 

[Kiah-Muz]

Animals has always been a huge part of my life. Cats have always been in the house, and I took care of horses for years as a kid. So when I left home and my cats for college, I got very lonely.
I don't know how hedgehogs came in mind, I just remember my finace' and I discussing have a small animal since we have our own apartments. Mice, hamsters, and guinea pigs didn't seem too appeal after hearing some horror stories and a lack of longevity. and at the time, chins would of taken a bit more care than I could give (though now I'm starting research on them )... so I started looking up hedgehogs. They were cute, their nocturnal cycle worked around my classes, interning, and work (I would be gone 8am-11pm most nights).
After doing some research, I found Vicki (about 2 & 1/2 hours away).... and based a lot of my research on her... So we got on the list, she called when Kiah was born (on May Day 2008 )and we drive up there to get him toward the end of June. Though I have my own opinions of the breeder, we're so thankful we have Kiah who is digging in his snuggle sack at the moment.

 

[Amy]

I can't put my finger on what it was that first drew me to research hedgehogs as potential pets. I can't remember it anymore, I'm sure it was because of the quills or close relation to the bat. I can say that I was immediately taken with the little things and have been an owner for 1.5 years now.

 

[Kumiko]

I went to a petstore and saw a spikey ball on a grid surface in a cage. I had no idea what the heck it was. My dad said it was a Hedgehog. I recently required Firebelly toads, but I wanted a leopard gecko. After seeing that hedgie, I wanted it so bad rather t han a gecko. It was cute, but sadely it was quite obvious its needs weren't being met. I researched for three days of Laura Leget's website... went back to the pet store to get the hedgie, but it was already sold.

It would be longer than a month until I found Rikki Tikki at another pet store about 2 hours away on cedar shavings in a 5gallon. That was three years ago... and I still have my old man.

 

[Ryan]

I got my first two hedgehogs in 1995 when I was ten. I had wanted one for some time by then, and my mom happened upon them at the local animal shelter. They were both girls, I named them Mrs Tiggy-Winkle (or Tiggy for short), and Gremlin. Gremlin eventually went to another home, where she died from a winter-time chilling, the poor little girl. Tiggy had lived to be almost eight years old when she died of natural causes. By then I had obtained a pair from a breeder in Edmond, Oklahoma and started my own herd. And now I've been keeping hedgehogs for fourteen years and have been a hedgehog breeder for just over eight of those years, and the little creatures still manage to fascinate me.

 

[hedgie_kid]

I could of sworn I had posted here but apparently not! So here it goes.

I spent over six months learning all about hedgehogs before asking my parents to get one. After that, it took a month or so just to convince them that hedgehogs were not rodents and that they could be pretty frindly. My parents seemed frusterated that I couldn't get a gerbile or something that cost $100 less. But after refusing that, my dad brought me to a local pet store which to my surprise, carried hedgehogs. I know what your thinking- "Pet stores are just about the worst place to get a hedgehog from due to lack of backround, incidental breeding etc." I had actually picked out a local breeder and emailed them but they were a color breeder and therefor were about $100 more than the pet store ones. The thing is, my dad had not told me of his plan so I had to pick out everything from the pet store. This included a 13" x 24" cage, care fresh bedding, and probably worst of all, Pretty Pet's hedgehog food. The store is pretty lame and had no high quality cat food so I was forced to use this as a temprary substitute. So it is now two months after I got Hot Dog and(after much more convincing of my parents) have switched her from-

-the world's worst red heating lamp which annoyed the heck out of Hot Dog
-a 13" x 24" cage
-carefresh bedding
-a 7.5 inch comfort wheel
-Pretty Pet's hedgehog food

all the way to a spoiled little ball of spikes. Her new life style consists of-

-an excellent zoo med 150 watt CHE
-a 25" x 36" Ferret Nation cage
-cage liners made by Nancy
-a 12 inch comfort wheel(soon to be a bucket wheel)
-Royal Canin lite and Blue Buffalo lite(I'm intending to add Solid Gold or CSFTCLS soon)

The next thing that you are wandering about is probably her name and why it's Hot Dog. We asked my 1 year old sister (now 2) what she would think of a hedgehog. She started screaming "HOT DOG!!! HOT DOG!!!" and ran over to the refrigerator. Since she can't say my dog's name(El Dorado) We thought it was fair that the new family pet would have a name my sister could say. Hope I didn't bore you all to death!