When I was a new mom of a sweet baby girl — and we lived in England — I had one of those new mom clothing obsessions. I went all in on hedgehog inspired baby goods. Adorable and seemingly so European (I told myself)….I loved the cute details that these small garden rodents brought to dresses, tights, hats…whatever.
So, last week when Roanne told me that you could adopt a hedgehog here in the US, I was instantly intrigued. Now the last thing this family needs is another pet, but if I could infest my garden with these critters, I would soooo be tempted to throw aside all highly questionable ecological species introducing warnings and cultivate these charming garden guests. Good thing they won’t survive the wild here so I’m not tempted with such insane ideas….but I’m nonetheless happy to know that should I need a hedgehog fix….it’s not too hard to come by.
image from the berry
I had a hedgehog for awhile, and while they are totally adorable, they are also completely boring, useless pets. They are pretty much just hamsters for rich people. I ended up rehoming mine to someone who had had hedgehogs before and still somehow managed to think they were awesome pets. If you think hamsters are great pets, and you have a lot of room indoors for a big cage, and a lot of time to spend cleaning up after them (they spend all night running on their wheels, and they poo the entire time, it is totally gross), and a lot more time to spend sitting on your couch trying to play with them so that they don’t get antisocial, then they are your perfect pet. I will stick to lower-maintenance, higher-reward pets, though.