Is This What My Life Has Led To?

(lovely to see you back on ILX though!)

Loverly to be back amongst the good folks :)

If anyone can make rectally probing a hedgehog a transcendent experience Laura, it's you :)

LMAO - thank you, I'm taking that as a compliment and think I'll use it as a signature line, too.

Your life consists of two question marks. :-(

Aye, that it does.

I didn't know you could have pet hedgehogs.

I had to go through a lot of hoops to get the licensing for rescue - they're legal in most states, though, and there's starting to be a breeding community in Great Britain *sigh*. I'm inclined to think that they should have never been imported for pets - just too frail and we don't know diddly-squat about their lives in the wild (these are African hedgehogs, which've not been much studied) and we don't even know that they should be fed! Oh, and we've gone and bred horrible health issues into them, too, like cancers and Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome (right now I've five with WHS, and they're breaking my heart!). That being said, they're fascinating creatures. And thanks for the welcome back :)

As long as you don't wind up one of those old ladies that lives alone with a house fill of broken links you'll be fine.

Um, that's kinda my long-term goal. Should I be reassessing it, in view of your concern?

Here's another painfully cute photo of the little one (she's just laden with health issues):

http://f7.yahoofs.com/users/44607a29mfd37c7b3/fbcascd/__sr_/75c3scd.jpg?ph4XYtEBVKoUNhNU

plz post the photos to imageshack or something for those of us that want to see yr. CUET hedgehogs.

GRRRRRRR. Sorry 'bout that. Let me know if this works, please.

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/9714/051113emmarose8lowres4cm.jpg

http://img426.imageshack.us/img426/48/060607emmarose30lowres3ge.jpg

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/3854/sbandagedfeet7lowres1db.jpg

Right back atcha, Sam! How are you?

I'm fine. meaning not wonderfully great but not completely broken. v. bored however.

Yep - tiny balls of energy, quills, and attitude. I'm in love.

Fine is good - bummer 'bout the boredom, though. Wanna come help me audition houseboys?

I've done wildlife rescue in the past (possoms, coons, squirrels, etc.) but right now can only do baby fostering 'cause we're in an apartment. Once we get into a house again I'll be back with the wildlife. In the meantime, I do volunteer transport for injured and orphaned wildlife - mammals, birds, and reptiles, for the most part. I also work with a couple of groups to transport exotics (which are illegal, here) to approved rescues or out of the state, as needed.

I do have some shelter rescues - rats, hamsters, mice, plus two shelter rabbits, two stray cats (now spoiled-rotten monsters!), and I foster for a couple of the local small/pocket pet groups (primarily guinea pigs and hamsters).

And then there's the quilled critters - lots of people purchase hedgies 'cause they're cute, not realizing just how fragile they are, how many health problems they have, and not understanding that "Hey, an animal covered with quills probably isn't going to be cuddly!" Grrrr. So I take in the hedgies with health issues - those that I can rehome or place with other rescues, I do - those that are too sick or too needy stay here.

I've a lot of respect for your friend, caring for the orphaned hummingbirds - that's an incredible undertaking and committment!

Hiya, Mr. Chaki. How goes life?

When I first read that, I thought it referred to the houseboys/girls.

People buy hedgehogs? I don't think you can do that here.

When I first read that, I thought it referred to the houseboys/girls.

LMAO - thanks, I needed that.

You know, when I was still in Florida, g kept suggesting that I open-up "Ms Laura's Home for Wayward Subbies" - maybe I need to contemplate doing just that.

Actually, they're ickle bandages on her ickle feeties :) She sucks on her feet in her sleep and actually soaks off all of the callouses, and then when she runs, she ends-up with bloody feet that get infected with all kinds of yucky stuff.

Here's her bloody feeties:

http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/4815/sbloodyfeet6lowres6zd.jpg

People buy hedgehogs? I don't think you can do that here.

Ah, well, depends on where "here" is - the African hedgehogs are being bred/sold as pets throughout the US and Canada, and now there's a couple of breeders in the U.K., too. But it's only the African hedgies in the U.S. - the European hedgehogs can't be bred/sold as pets. Oh, but the Indian Long-eared hedgies are being bred in the U.K., too, I seem to recall reading. Gotta luv humanity.

Poor hedgy. At least she has you.

On the other hand, I did purchase my first hedgehog, so I should probably keep my mouth shut.

But, in terms of Emma Rose having me - it sounds corny as hell, but I'm thankful to have her. She's a "special needs" critter (I tend to attract those, anyway), and cannot eat on her own, so I have to syringe-feed her three to four times a day. Since I got her last October (the night before she was to be euthanized), we've been pretty much inseparable - where I go, she goes. Thankfully she travels well and can sleep through almost anything.

Sounds horrid, and more than a bit obsessive, I know, but I don't mind - I went through a nasty depressive period early this year, and many days I only got myself out of bed because I knew that if I didn't get up to feed her, she'd die.

Anyway, she's spunky and sweet and a little bit slow (brain and neurological damage), and somehow she's crawled into my heart and we're in it for the long-run. Right now she can still get around (though she has balance issues), but at some point she'll likely develop Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome, because three of her siblings' have developed it and we know that her mother's a carrier. At that point I'll have to make some horrible decisions about when she'll need to be euthanized - but for now she's getting around and I know that she enjoys being alive.

When I'm feeding her and she looks up into my face and her eyes follow me as I talk, I know that there's something akin to a soul inside her damaged body. She's really teaching me a lot about caring for ill critters (and people) and about accepting limitations.

Here's more cute photos.

From the first night I got her:
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/3239/051013missemmarose6lowresbo7.jpg

I think she looks like a bat or a fox in this one:
http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/2504/051022emmarose15lowressd2.jpg

And here she is meeting one of my other rescues, Little Mister Mogget (the one-eyed hedgehog) (right after I took this photo, Emma staggered over and started chewing on Mogget's quills, much to his dismay):
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/5386/051209emmaandmogget3lowreshg2.jpg

This does not sound horrid or obsessive at all. Of course I know that you're not standing over her twenty four hours a day singing creepy songs, or proferring her to people in the supermarket going "here, hold my hedgehog while I look for my car keys - HEY WATCH HER ICKLE FEETS!" You know, you're reading books and getting the housework done and keeping an eye on your hedgehog. Seems normal to me.