Time to introduce my spiny children.
The following images are those taken by either me or my SO.
Leelu when she first came to us
Leelu's owner was moving and didn't know what to do with her hedgehog as she was the last one of her collection to be given a home. I always wanted a hedgehog and so I asked if I could adopt her.
Hedgehogs can be super grumpy and it took some time for her to warm up to us.
Cuddle time
Once Leelu got used to us, she would crawl into our jackets and shirts to sleep directly on our skin. As hedgehogs are covered in spines to protect themselves, the only way to know if they like you or not is when they place their defenseless belly on you (in my experience).
SURPRISE!
About two weeks after we got Leelu we heard some strange sounds coming from her cage. I thought she was choking as she tended to wolf down her food. I opened the cage and immediately shut it again. She was in labour and one baby was already visible.
Not knowing what to do, I jumped online and saw that the female needs to be left alone for at least two weeks or she may eat her babies. This is because she would much rather use the energy spent on the youngsters than allow a predator to get hold of them.
And so we left her alone for two weeks. I would spot clean the cage and give food and water, but other than that we left her undisturbed.
Baby Princess
At the end of two weeks, Leelu waddled to the water bowl with this little one in tow. This was the time we started interacting with mom and baby. Originally, I wanted to call the little one Urchin (fun fact, during medieval times they were called urchins as they looked like sea urchins when curled up) but my partner said it wasn't cute enough. Nor was it a female name. Telling gender is super easy on hedgehogs if you know what you are doing!
Scared Princess
Above is when she started learning about how to defend herself. At this stage, her name was Prickly Pear and she was super cute! We would have times when we had her and Leelu out on the couch. Leelu would get some much-needed alone time and Prickly Pear was getting to know us. When the little one had enough out time she would squeak for her mom and Leelu would come to get her and return her to the cage. Sadly, I have no pictures of this.
Fur coming in nicely
Prickle Pear was a sweet little fluffbutt. At this stage, she was toothless and would happily gum fingers and suckle on the smallest. We had let the original owner know that her pet had been pregnant. She was upset as she had thought Leelu not to be pregnant after a male (named Porridge) got into the female enclosure. But that is a completely different story! She offered to find a home for the little one. However, as it was a she, we thought it would be okay to keep her with us.
Princess emerges
As Prickly Pear started to grow we noticed that she was developing quite an attitude to life. She would make huffing sounds (we call it huffling) at anything and everything that moved! Even her mother! Due to this attitude change, we tagged on the title of Princess and this is what we mostly call her to this day. Then, being the person that I am (odd) I decided she needed a tag on to her ever-growing name and so she was finally named Princess Prickly Pear Huffleton the Third. Or Huffington (if you listen to my SO).
Teeth!
As Princess grew, so did her teeth. Above you can see how she gripped a pillow and refused to let go. Don't worry, I didn't dangle her long to get this image. She even bit my little sister through her jeans and hung on.
Princess was nowhere close to as friendly as her mother. In fact, she was pretty much aggressive half the time and ignored us the rest of the time. It didn't matter that they had gotten a larger cage to spend time in, or if we gave pieces of chicken and scrambled eggs as occasional snacks. She just didn't bond with us.
This was when I learned that hedgehogs develop set personalities and there is nothing you can do about it. Don't quote me on this, I read it some time ago and I doubt it was a scientific article.
Personalities
And so we let her do her own thing.
Then Leelu got cancer. Sadly, hedgehogs can get cancer quite easily (among other diseases and issues) and you will rarely know until it is too late. Within a week we lost Leelu, despite everything we did. She went downhill quickly. She is buried under my paprika plant which is still producing wonderfully aromatic paprika to this day.
Now we were worried about Princess as she was all alone. However, we discovered she blossomed as a single hedgehog! Being in a cage shared with her mother was actually stressing her out! Today, Princess is still a bit of a grouch but for the most part, once she is relaxed she will nuzzle up to you. We do have to warn our guests, when we take her out of her enclosure, that she may bite.
Princess this morning
Princess was always on the large size, despite eating the same food as her mother, who was a relatively slim hedgehog. It wasn't until SO and I went to a vet shop that we saw specially formatted hedgehog food. When I got Leelu I was given strict instructions on what cat kibble I had to feed her to keep her healthy, and this was what I used for Princess.
We decided to take a chance on the new food and set some in a small container in her cage next to her usually kibble. She ended up turning her nose up at the cat kibble (and even throwing it over) and devoured the hedgehog food.
While on the new diet, she dropped the excess weight, the attitude issues got better, and became a much friendlier hedgehog.
Princess is four years old as of today and I have learned so much about her. All I can say is that I will never purchase a hedgehog (though I will foster and adopt) as they can be a tricky pet to deal with. They are, however, great for people that work all day and need a companion to come home to as they are nocturnal. That said though, be prepared for the different kinds of attitudes you can get. I wouldn't trade her and the time we had with her mother for anything.
So, everyone please welcome Princess to the trove of animals on this site.
