Hedgehogs as Pets

The cutest pet in the world.

10 Reasons to Own A Hedgehog

1.They are ridiculously cute!

In my completely biased opinion, they are the cutest pet in the entire world, this is based purely on aesthetic values, They look cute, and the best thing about it that they know exactly how cute they are and use it to their advantage.

2. They take very little looking after, are easy to care for.

They are really simple to look after, most of the time they will take care of themselves, they are nocturnal so come out in the early evening and go to sleep when the sun rises. The most work you will do with them is bathing them and changing their cage once every 2 weeks, however the way they look and act in the bath adds to their cute quota, so is by no means a chore.

3. They are cheap to buy

You an pick one these cute little things up for around $100 if you add a nice cage, a wheel and a few toys, youre looking at a total cost of $175-200. They make up for this little bit of cost in the future so dont worry choosing hedgehogs as petswill not break the bank.

4. Their upkeep is even cheaper

Owning hedgehogs as pets is so cheap it a little hard to believe, they eat dry cat food and need a pack of wood shavings every 2 weeks. Thats it, if you really want to spoil them, a bit of cooked chicken or boiled/ scrambled eggs go down a treat with very little expense.

5. They are very intelligent

So clever for a little animal like this, most people liken them to hamsters and small mammals and rodents, this couldnt be further from the truth. My hoggie is really clever, if he comes across a problem he will do any number of things to try to solve it, recently he broke his wheel and snapped it off of its brace, in the time it took me to get to the pet store and back to buy him a replacement, he had wedged his food bowl up against his wheel brace and positioned his wheel on top of it to hold it in place. Of course it didnt work but you have to respect the effort.

6. They are lots of entertainment

If you buy a hedgehog, just watching them can entertain you for hours, they are so smart and come up with the most ridiculous things to entertain themselves. This often ends with them getting into a ridiculous situation that they need assistance getting out of. Things like trying to move his house to a new part of his cage as part of his daily redecoration of his cage, can end with him smashing it into 2 pieces that he cant quite click back into place (although he does try pretty hard) requires me to fix it for him.

7. People love them when they come over to visit

When people come to visit, they will LOVE your hedgehogs, most people cant believe you have one and will be scared that they will get prickled if they hold it, but once hey get over it, your visitors will be completely distracted until you take it off them. Great for distracting the kids for a while too.

8. They LOVE their owner

They will completely love the owner, other people are just for entertainment, but as much as a cat or a dog does, when they want to snuggle up to sleep they will come to mummy or daddy for a nap. My little boy can find me in a room full of people, based a lot on smells, it can e really funny to watch him sniff every person in the room to determine which is me, he has 100% record so far J

9. They are robust

People worry about having such a small pet if they have children, but they are very robust little creatures, their spines provide a lot of protection from outside threats such as cats (which find them very interesting). They also ball up if they fall (often from tables) so just sort of bounce and then uncurl and carry on their little journey.

10. They are cute, did I already mention that?

I think their cuteness is worth 2 mentions in this little list haha.