The best advice I can give you is to talk to the member here named Lydia. She is awesome when it comes to hedgehog info.
I'm blushing!
We have 4 hedgies and although I love them to bits, I always want to caution potential owners, in advance, that it's not all sunshine and roses. Hedgies are very uncommon "pets" and as such have many unique requirements. They're deadly cute, but keep in mind that what comes with the cute are the following:
- They aren't cheap; they require specialty blends of high-quality cat foods (I mean really actually high-quality) to eat to have proper nutrition, require regular veterinary visits with an exotics expert (who could be far from where you are; and a GP-expert is not the same thing as a hedgheog expert), and require very specific heating and lighting conditions to keep from attempting hibernation and therefore dying.
- Hedgies are VERY prone to getting mites. These mites cause them to have ongoing bouts of dry, flaky skin which often does cause allergic reactions in their caregivers and therefore leads to them getting re-homed. One of our boys has a reduced immune system due to getting severe pneumonia when he was young and now needs to be almost continually on Revolution drops... not cheap. There are maybe 2-3 drops in one bottle and 3 bottles is nearly $90 CDN. Hedgies also shed their quills as well as their dry skin... keep it in mind because when they get in your carpet and you accidentally step on one: OUCH!
- Hedgies need to run on a large (min. 11" diametre) flat-surfaced wheel to get exercise (that is in addition to a minimum of a 2x3 C&C cage) and while running they do their "business", which results in wheels covered in poo & pee. This means regularly scrubbing out poopy wheels and giving footbathes on a very regular basis to avoid skin irritation.
- In addition, hedgies require more regular bathing than guinea pigs do (often due to the poo and the mites) and need to be rinsed with vitamin E oil in order to soothe their dry, flaky skin... also an additional cost.
- When hedgies bite - it REALLY HURTS! They clamp on and don't let go. They are insectivores by nature and as such have some great chompers. Unless they are handled very regularly, they become less and less relaxed with people. Some hedgies never relax with people; regardless of whether they're babies when brought into the home. One of our boys, Gus, is a permanantly timid guy. He can never relax with us around. We've learned to love and appreciate just watching him and seeing him enjoy his habitat, but we'll never be able to cuddle. And Luke has a biting "issue". We're not sure why; he just does. We've learned coping techniques for never getting our fingers in the way.
I could go on, but I'm insanely sick right now (hence why I'm at home and able to type this)... if you do a search in this sub-forum (the "Other" one), under my name, you'll find numerous other posts I've written on what to do and not to do with hedgies. If you decide to get one, then make sure that you go into the process with your eyes FULLY OPEN and all of the information about the potential issues and the practical costs of having one. I'm happy to be here as a support; we've been through a lot with our guys - from near-death illnesses to funn adventures of "how to find the lost and silent nocturnal hedgehog who's escaped and now sleeping"... but again as has been previously stated: ADOPT! Please adopt. At least if you adopt (according to the "know the anima's personality" logic) you'll know the personality first!!
Okay - enough rambling from me... more sleep now. :yawn: