Chuck

First of all I'd like to say that I'm insanely jealous of ex xian's new puppy. It sounds adorable. As for the bow constrictor, well, that's also very nice.

Now my own pet question. I'm moving into a house next year. I would like a dog, but since I'm a college student, I don't really have the time to invest in a dog. My dog is going to be trained in German or maybe Russian, so I should have time for one, oh, when I retire.

In the meantime, I'm considering getting a hedgehog. The one is question is about a year old and is well-socialized. I like the idea of a pet that can roll up into a ball of spikes AND eat insects around the house. They also seem not uncute (though nowhere near miniature dachsund cute). The only drawback I've seen so far is that they tend to "self-anoint" i.e. spit all over themselves and everything else in sight.

Does anyone have any advice or input?

Chuck

P.S. My parents are thinking about getting a corgi puppy. They're unbelievably cute. But I'm not sure if our 12-year old corgi, whose tastes are limited to laying on the chair by the window, would agree. Yeah, we're dog people.

Marduk

Sounds like an easy maintainance pet. Are they nocturnal? You may never see it in action. Whatever kind of action a hedgehog does when it's not curled up in a ball. I don't see any problem with it, lookup hedgehogs on the web, I'll bet ya there is a hedgehog owners club. How about a nice ferret?
Have fun

Gurdur

If it's a wild hedgehog, you'll need to de-flea and de-worm it.

If it's already domesticated, de-worm it anyway.

Never feed hedgehogs milk --- it kills them quickly through colitis.

They are, however, very partial to raw mincemeat; make sure to get good quality mincemeat (or chopped boiled eggs) so you don't infest them with worms.

Hedgehogs can be suprisingly noisy when they snort, but they usually snort only at each other.

ex-xian

It sounds pretty cool. How are hedgehogs at house training? I used to have a hamster, and he had about 2 specific places in his cage that he would relieve himslef.

I guess I have potty training on the brain. We're having a fun time trying to paper train Frodo. He usually goes in generall vicinity of the paper, but, alas, him aim is not always so good.