A Pet You Cannot Pet

I got tired of using old fashioned Brillo pads for scrubbing pots and pans. In favor of a more natural solution, I opted to get purchase an alternate product...


"Hey! I'm not awake, yet!"



Bailey, the name of the new little scrubbie, also requires a USB connection.

Other features include sleeping all day, photophobia, and the ability to generate power by running miles at night in a wheel. Really, I'm thinking about hooking up a bicycle odometer to the thing to measure how far he goes...

As far as the "you cannot pet a hedgehog" comment, you'd be surprised. Once he relaxes, the spines are very tolerable and holding/petting him hasn't been a problem. Spook him, though, and it is a different story!

Very cool! What does he/she/it eat?

what a cute little critter! Hedgehogs always remind me of ALICE IN WONDERLAND 'cause when she played croquet with the Red Queen they used rolled-up hedgehogs as croquet balls (and flamingo's as mallets!)

That is so sweet. Cool pet!

Don't forget to wear your slippers. :thepain3:

This is awesome! We need more pics... hell we need regular pics.

Beestie wrote:

Very cool! What does he/she/it eat?

Bailey, as he has come to be called, eats Meow Mix for Kittens. It is about all he eats, as we've been searching for treats to give him and he only shows interest in liquid cane sugar and turns his nose up at everything else! Grape/raspberry jelly, banana, apple, carrot... everything is ignored. We thought we had it with peanut butter -- he was licking away at it with a great amount of interest. Then he puffed up, contorted himself into several really uncomfortable looking positions, and used his tongue to dab the peanut butter all over his spines with his tongue. "Annointing" is this strange process hedgehogs use to cover themselves in scents they hope will camouflage them from predators.

Right after his bath, too. Hopefully no local predators are interested in peanut butter. In a week we'll pick up some meal worms and we're sure the little insectivore will enjoy those crawlies.

UT - More pics versus regular pics? Wha?

More pics, regularly.

I think we have a new candidate to take oolong's place. Instead of balancing things on Bailey's head, you could just velcro them to him.

Really cute.

Kitsune wrote:

...peanut butter -- he was licking away at it with a great amount of interest. Then he puffed up, contorted himself into several really uncomfortable looking positions, and used his tongue to dab the peanut butter all over his spines with his tongue. "Annointing" is this strange process hedgehogs use to cover themselves in scents they hope will camouflage them from predators...

Now that is what I want to see :lol: !!

[QUOTE=Kitsune], and used his tongue to dab the peanut butter all over his spines with his tongue. "Annointing" is this strange process [QUOTE]

That's what I do with my peanut butter.

LabRat wrote:

Now that is what I want to see :lol: !!

I'll try to get a video of him doing it. The problem is finding something he'll do it with, as he doesn't repeat it with scents he has already used.

...and then there is the problem of a hedgehog that smells of peanut butter/garlic/etc...

Guest:"How come your sofa smells like peanut butter?"
Kitsune:"Umm, it's kind of a long story..."

My bandwidth will probably regret this, but I think it is time for some hedgehog torment video. (Quicktime MPEG4)

Let me know if you have any audio issues, etc.

(note: Bailey the hedgehog really doesn't mind any of this. He seems to enjoy a lot of it, even.)

I only get audio. :(

This is... too cute... *Dies of the cuteness*

Brianna wrote:

I only get audio. :(

You may have to upgrade to the most recent Quicktime to get the proper video codec.

Man, I hate the thousands of mis-matched standards out there. I'll see what I can do to fix it for you, tonight.

Thanks! I, too, want to die of cuteness! :)

Very cute Kits. He's a busy little guy.

Great composition! That final shot made me laugh.

Pie wrote:

Great composition! That final shot made me laugh.

He finally gave up at that point, for a moment. If you hold him on his back, he squirms continuously until you flip him over and let him run free to explore. The same applies to being trapped in a container, including the bathroom sink. The little guy isn't happy unless he has the run of the entire apartment.

Swimming tired him out for awhile, at least.

A new discovery, several nights ago: he has figured out how to climb the stairs. I couldn't believe it, but that little squirmy pin cushion can make his way, slowly, up to the loft, with the help of his claws. He's getting around better than I'd imagined he would, including moving so fast in short bursts that I have to break into a jog to stop him from getting into something he shouldn't be in!

It isn't a question of if, but when he learns to escape his enclosure. That morning searching is going to suck. :)

OK, now I seriously want one too. Reminds me of when I had gerbils. I loved putting them in the bathtub, with or without water, and letting them go to town trying to get out. Little buggers could too!! More than once I stepped out for literally a second, and the next hour would be spent hunting them down. Thanks for taking the time to share!

Kitsune wrote:

It isn't a question of if, but when he learns to escape his enclosure. That morning searching is going to suck. :)

Little-bitty padlocks are cheap at your local hardware store.

dar512 wrote:

Little-bitty padlocks are cheap at your local hardware store.

We don't have him in a cage, as most cages are too easily climbed (and hedgehogs love to climb) which opens a lot of opportunity for injury. I went the "big ol' plastic tub" route and ended up with what you see, here. Once he gets large enough to stack the stuff inside and find his way out, I'll fashion some screened tops for them and add air holes to the sides. For now, he's not able to even come close to getting out.

The lego stairs (which assist him to get into the PVC connecting pipe) will also be removed once he gets big enough to climb without them, which will make it even more difficult for him to find anything to stack. Still, I'm sure he'd figure out a way.

...and yes, the "check cap" on the PVC pipe ensures that his home is exapandable enough if he ever tires of the lack of space. This pen proved to be really cheap and easy to make, not to mention easy to clean.

Great video! What did you pay for the lil bugger?

UT:

I want to report a suspicious post. If this isn't a blatant whopping product placement post designed to sell 1,000,000 hedgehogs, I'll eat my hat.

Kitsune:

Thank God I watched that in private or we'd have to shoehorn another link into the food chain here at HouseofV. And since *I* don't have my goats yet, that would not make me very happy. Not that I could sustain that indignation for long with a li'l rascal like that scampering about. Running for his little spiky life from the cats. :rolleyes:

*struck down and in critical condition from cuteness, with hopes of survival*

That was just too extraordinarily sweet.

He's a cutie! I don't know that I'd want one over a dog, but I'd consider it.

I don't usually like the word cute, but am struggling to express myself with another word... He is very appealing :)

I had no idea hedgehogs swam so well! Although I suppose it makes sense given their habitats.

I used to rent a house that had problems with damp - to the extent we would get slugs inside the house. If we left the door open on summer evenings, hedgehogs would come up the back steps and sniff longingly...

Kitsune wrote:

You may have to upgrade to the most recent Quicktime to get the proper video codec.

Man, I hate the thousands of mis-matched standards out there. I'll see what I can do to fix it for you, tonight.

I had to uninstall QuickTime and download QuickTime Alternative 1.68 final. It was worth it. :D

xoxoxoBruce wrote:

I had to uninstall QuickTime and download QuickTime Alternative 1.68 final. It was worth it. :D

You had to what? Oh, for the love of--

I struggled, endlessly, to produce a distributable video with Windows and Pinnacle and had little luck, so I moved to iMovie. Everything looked good, but I didn't realize the encode had defaulted to H.264 and it seems not everyone has that or their installs don't give it to them. Sigh. The next one will work out better, I hope.

BigV wrote:

Not that I could sustain that indignation for long with a li'l rascal like that scampering about.

He's been a pain, lately, so don't let the cute fakery in the video fool you much. He's fun, but he can be a punk. The main issue right now is that he wants his day to begin at 01:00 and I'd rather it begin around 21:00 or so. I've been waking him early in an attempt to force him to a diurnal schedule, but he wants nothing of it and remains highly photophobic. (Did you notice all the shots in the video are of him struggling to find a dark place to hide?)

Hedgehog disapproval, by the way, is shown in the form of grumpiness (spikes!) and poo. My hands always show evidence of both by around 11pm or so. :p

Griff wrote:

What did you pay for the lil bugger?

You can pay anywhere from $100 to $200 for a hedgehog, depending on coloration and such. A couple of things to consider: they're illegal in some states (CA, GA, PA) and they're prone to genetic problems. It is a wise idea to look into the critter's family history to make sure the family tree has "enough branches to support it", or else you're in for a lot of misery. If all works out, they stick around for upwards of seven years or so.

Kitsune wrote:

You had to what? Oh, for the love of--

I struggled, endlessly, to produce a distributable video with Windows and Pinnacle and had little luck, so I moved to iMovie. Everything looked good, but I didn't realize the encode had defaulted to H.264 and it seems not everyone has that or their installs don't give it to them. Sigh. The next one will work out better, I hope.

I just clicked it and it played. No problems at all. (XP user running Firefox) I have no idea when I last downloaded Quicktime, but apparently it was recently enough.


Thanks for sharing the movie of the cute little guy. Feel free to post more.

If you have iTunes, it keeps your Quicktime up to date.

Oh, yeah, and that video was awesome. The little guy's photogenic, and your editing is perfect.

You had to what? Oh, for the love of--

I struggled, endlessly, to produce a distributable video with Windows and Pinnacle and had little luck, so I moved to iMovie. Everything looked good, but I didn't realize the encode had defaulted to H.264 and it seems not everyone has that or their installs don't give it to them. Sigh. The next one will work out better, I hope.

My problem, not yours. Six weeks ago, I had to reinstall QuickTime, along with everything else. Since then I'd quite often get a pop-up that said I needed something that wasn't available on the QuickTime site....wtf?
The things I was trying to view weren't interesting enough to dig into it until now. Now God's in his heaven and all's right with the world. :D

oh_my_god I want one!!

So you're saying their is an untapped black market in hedgehogs..hmmmmm....

seakdivers wrote:

oh_my_god I want one!!

Well you're in luck.

from here, a better list is here.

To start this off, I have some good news to add for a change. I have
received word from Julihana, in Alaska, that:

The Alaska Board of Fish and Game called off the ban on hedgehogs on
July 1, 1998. There is still a little talk over having to have permits,
but after talking to them today, Game and Fish assured me that they are
99% sure that no permit will be required.
-- Julihana

At a guess, I would say that 'farm' states with temperate climates would be most opposed to critters like hedgehogs. I can't imagine Alaska having too many issues with invasive species on land since most critters would not be adapted for the winter there.

Well then that seals the deal.

One hedgehog, coming right up!

(my husband would kill me)

Will the Aussies let you bring it along? ;)

I doubt it.
Doesn't matter - they've got enough odd creatures over there on their own! I still get the shivering heebie-jeebies over the huntsman spider incedent I had.

One bit of advice - you may already know this, but I lost a hedgehog because I didn't know - do NOT us cedar chips for the bottom of his cage.The green stuff work fine. The cedar chips have a strong odor which makes it smell good, but it caused my hedgehog to develop repiratory failure - the poor thing was barely breathing for a couple weeks before he died - made me feel terrible,,,but I didn't know....

seakdivers wrote:

I doubt it.
Doesn't matter - they've got enough odd creatures over there on their own! I still get the shivering heebie-jeebies over the huntsman spider incedent I had.

Can you give details? I found the chart here that lists hunstman spiders as 'low risk'.

That being said, the spiders at the top of the chart creeped me out. I'd hate to wake up one night to one of those crawling the walls or ceiling.

My guess is that the mouse spider would find hedgehogs very tasty.

I'd definitely need wiping. :speechls:

I recall an Australian song that Dr. Demento used to play ... "The Redback on the Toilet Seat."

Ohhh..... I literally shivered with I saw that picture, Bruce. I hate spiders.