Hedgehogs -- aka -- "Hedgies"

This page is dedicated to the five little hoglets that did not make it, and who are now happily enjoying their lives on the other side of RAINBOW BRIDGE.

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Hi. So you have made it to the hedgehog page. As you can see Ron, as usual, has got me keeping an eye on the hedgehogs while he's out of the house. I'm here watching Tiggy do her routine in the exercise wheel. The hedgehogs have to exercise because if they don't, they put on too much weight you know... Ron feeds them Science Diet Light Formula Feline Maintenance food. Occasionally he will feed them Mealies (meal worms). Hedgies are tough little creatures, but there are several things that Ron has to make sure about in order to maintain the hedgies' health. The home temperature is very important because if it falls below 60 degrees the hedgies will begin to hibernate. Since they will not have prepared for this, they are in danger of dying. It sometimes takes two to three hours to bring a hedgie out of hibernation. Ron tries to keep the home temperature at about 70 degrees. Bryan, the first hedgie that Ron got, had mites. It was a running battle to get rid of them. The use of a topical pour-on Ivermectin finally got rid of them, but it took 8 months for most of Bryan's quills to grow back. Other hedgies in the herd have from time to time had to be given Ivermectin. All the other hedgies are well and fit, and range in age from 3 years to 5 years. Two hedgies died in 1999. Their names were: Bryan and Claymoor. Bryan was the father of all the hedgies, Henrietta being the mother. Bryan slowly lost weight over a period of four months and eventually died, with no indication as to why this was so. Claymoor suddenly died without any problems visible. In February 2000, Spooky had a growth occur on her chest. The vet surgically removed it and the mass was cancerous. Spooky died 21/2 weeks after the surgery. All of our hedgies have, over the last year-2001-passed over the Rainbow Bridge. Age and illness had cought up with them. This page will remain open as an educational document and a memorial to these wonderful little creatures.