Hedgehogs

Recently I have been trying to convince my parents to buy me a pet hedgehog. However, they are very expensive. I went online and researched everything you need to know about taking care of a pet hedgehog and breeders in our area.

Why to get a hedgehog:

• They are SUPER cute and make really good pets.
• They are fun to play with.
• They don't shed dander like cats and dogs do.
• They are very quiet and easy to care for.
• They don't need too large of a space to live in.

Hedgehogs that are kept as pets are African Pygmy Hedgehogs from central Africa. There are a couple breeders here in Silver Spring who work hard to make sure they are healthy. We emailed one of the breeders to see if we could visit her sometime and learn more about what having a hedgehog entails.

Hedgehogs are very playful too. They can be let roam free around the house, or kept in multilevel hamster cages. You can give them little toilet paper tubes to play in or make a larger maze out of PVC pipe. You can also buy them a bucket wheel to run on. As long as they have space to run around and play, they aren't a hassle and are very fun.

As far as food goes, hedgehogs eat stuff that is high in protein and low-fat. They can eat low-fat cat food or special hedgehog food. They are lactose intolerant so milk and cheese should be kept away from them. If you want to give them a treat, meal worms, crickets, and some other fruits are good.

I think I might almost have my mom convinced to get me a hedgehog. I mean who can resist a cute little hedgehog baby?