It must have been late in the day, toward dusk, when God made his most unique creatures. His creative juices were flowing. Elephants, armadillos, platypus, manatees. The unique nocturnal creatures must have been the very last.
Perhaps a rat or a mouse ran by, followed by a porcupine.
“Ah-ha,” God must have said to Himself. “The last creature I make on earth before the human shall be like a combination of a unicorn and a mouse … except I didn’t quite get to the unicorn. A multi-corn mouse shall do.” And poof it was.
The hard-to-place creature was named after other familiar living things when it was presented to Adam for official naming. The multi-corn mouse poked out only its snout from a hedge when Adam saw it.
It was Eve who later fully discovered the hedgehog after Adam had gone to bed. It curled up in her lap while she was star gazing near a strawberry patch. “Well, hello there, little hedgehog … oh, my what bristly fur you have,” she noted. Eve enjoyed petting the textured, curled up creature as the moon rose.
The hedgehog suddenly scuttled back into the strawberry patch when it heard a twig crack. In Eve’s hand was left a quill, a small spine banded in brown and white.
She dipped it in a bit of strawberry juice and became the first human to write.
C-U-T-E, she etched on a leaf.
Sara Marie Moore is a journalist and happy hedgehog owner. She had her first hedgehog in fourth grade long before the current hedgehog craze.
2. You are a night owl. Hedgehogs are nocturnal. While you can teach hedgehogs to wake up during the day to romp and play, it is best to mostly stick to their natural nocturnal schedule and play with them in the evening.
3. You like tactile experiences. Hedgehogs have fur on their belly but the place you will most often pet your hedgehog is on their back where their quills are. When hedgehogs are relaxed and their quills are laid flat, they feel textured —like a beard only thicker and rougher. You will sometimes be poked.
4. You are more of an introvert than an extrovert. Sometimes I think hedgehogs chose to be nocturnal because they are such introverts. Your hedgehog needs plenty of time alone. They get that overnight. They also need plenty of time just hanging out with their primary owner. However, you and your hedgehog must be prepared to be social if you go out and about together. Hedgehogs attract a lot of attention from strangers. Read Huff, Huff Away: Socializing your Hedgehog.
5. You like a challenge. Hedgehogs are not naturally affectionate. You need to teach your hedgehog you can be trusted and this journey comes with dealing with your hedgehog’s sometimes apparent rejection of you. Hedgehogs need to be loved through their scared huffs and puffs.
6. You like to snuggle. Hedgehogs mostly like to burrow in “snuggle sacks” while they are out of their cage. Hedgehogs also like to explore around the house and outside but you will notice they tend to wander to any dark corner they can find. They are digging, burrowing creatures. They like to nap and burrow in blankets and their owner’s clothes. You can put them in your pocket.
7. You enjoy learning. Taking care of an exotic pet is a learning curve. You’ll need to do lots of reading on what hedgehogs need for their care and find a veterinarian who is able to care for hedgehogs if your hedgehog has any medical issues.
8. You can handle a mess. Hedgehogs can be litter box trained. However, it is rarely 100 percent. Hedgehogs can poop on their owners while they are out and about or around their cage. They often poop while they are on their exercise wheel. They also poop a lot. This mess needs to be cleaned. Often.
9. You don’t have a big pet budget. While hedgehog babies can cost a couple hundred dollars, the cost to care for a hedgehog is relatively low compared to larger pets. Pet hedgehogs generally eat cat food, mealworms and fruit. They don’t eat a lot. (I’m not sure where all that poop comes from!) Their litter boxes are small and one large bag of litter can last a long time.
10. You can let go. Pet hedgehogs have a lifespan of about four years. You should be prepared to have lots of fun and pour love on your hedgehog during that time knowing that your memories can expand beyond the time you had with your hedgehog.
If your heart skips at most of these 10 reasons to get a hedgehog, you might just be a hedgehog owner. If you felt stressed or overwhelmed reading them, it might be better to live vicariously through a hedgehog on Instagram or a stone hedgehog in your garden. That’s totally cool, too.
Sara Marie Moore is a journalist and happy hedgehog owner. She had her first hedgehog in fourth grade long before the current hedgehog craze.
To bond with your hedgehog, first put away all fear that your hedgehog will not open up to you.
Hedgehogs seem to be naturally nervous creatures. It’s why they sometimes begin to furrow, make huffing noises and puff out their spines.
Hedgehogs are near-sighted so they cannot clearly see what is in front of them until it is very close. They mostly discern their world through smell, sound and touch.
Hedgehogs can sense fear and anxiety in a person’s voice or manner of touch. When a hedgehog senses fear in a person as they touch them (perhaps because they are afraid of being poked), it is more likely to react with nervousness — huffing and puffing.
It is best to approach a hedgehog with no anxiety about hedgehogs yourself. This boils down to two basic anxieties to be addressed.
First, make sure you have resolved in yourself that being a caretaker of a hedgehog is about the hedgehog and not about you. While having a pet can certainly be fulfilling, it is also full of downsides and sacrifices. Having a pet hedgehog can be especially trying for those who buy a pet just because they want the affection of an animal.
Hedgehogs need a lot of unconditional love to open up to you. If you are overly anxious for your pet to respond to you in a friendly, fulfilling way, your hedgehog may sense your anxiety when you are around it. Relax and decide to tame your hedgehog for its own benefit — because having a human friend is fun.
Second, you should take charge of your hedgehog’s anxiety. This means that when your hedgehog reacts to you with huffing and puffing you should not become anxious yourself. This can lead to a cycle of anxious hedgehog, anxious owner, anxious hedgehog….
Instead, speak to your hedgehog in a calming manner. Don’t react to its huffing and puffing with reprimands or by being overly sympathetic. Just let your hedgehog know there is nothing to fear. Don’t let your hedgehog’s feelings of nervousness control your feelings. You are a happy hedgehog owner.
It is best to try to pet your hedgehog in a way that calms its natural tendency to anxiety. Try this:
Place your hedgehog on your hand stomach side down and let it uncurl. Don’t pet your hedgehog unexpectedly on its back. Instead, let it smell your fingers and then begin to rub its nose, up to its forehead quills and then to its back. Don’t be timid when you pet your hedgehog, but do be gentle.
It is also important to spend a lot of time cuddling your hedgehog in a snuggle sack or carrying it around in your pocket so it gets to know your smell and voice.
To give your hedgehog a quill kiss, start nose to nose with your hedgehog.
Someday, you may even be able to give your hedgehog a nosey quill kiss. Put your nose next to theirs and rub it up their face the same way you would if you were petting them with a finger, but end with a kiss on their forehead quills.
Animals can sense your demeanor and your confidence. Be confident about holding and petting your hedgehog and you will help to put them at ease and open up.
Sara Marie Moore is a journalist and happy hedgehog owner. She had her first hedgehog in fourth grade long before the current hedgehog craze.
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