cheryl13 wrote:
naturestee wrote:
Hedgehogs are so cute! They're still pretty rare, but they are kept as pets. They don't occur naturally on our continent.
That is just facinating,i never thought that someone could have a hedgehog as a pet.
Elizabeth..does it just run around your backyard?what do you feed it?how long have you had him?sorry for all the questions but my curiosity is just running high
Hi Cheryl,
Nigel is an indoor pet only. My husband always wanted a hedgehog so two years ago I got him one for Christmas. He was a baby when we got him and we handled him quite a bit in the hopes of keeping him tame and non-poky but now as an adult, he's pretty grumpy.
But oh so cute! I think some hedgehogs are just grumpier than others and we managed to get one that likes to poke and hiss at us a lot! *L* They're extremely nocturnal, so much that Nigel won't move at all until the lights go out and the living room is dark, then he'll wake up and become active. Hedgehogs love to run, so we have a nice big wheel for him and he runs on it 4 to 5 hours a night. Most people don't realize how much exercise they need so they end up with some pretty pudgy hedgies. We call Nigel our lean, mean poking machine.
Sometimes I'll wake Nigel up at about 9 at night and hold him on my lap but because the lights are on he'lljust curl up and go back to sleep in my lap. We feed him a combination of good quality dog and cat food. I do give him occasional veggies and cooked chicken and mealworms as well but he's a pretty picky eater. Mostly he just sticks to eating his dry food.
Here's a couple pictures of our Sir Nigel.
