Hildy

--Hildy--

Friday, January 23, 2004

I've been trying to decide what animal I wanted to get to replace Fester. Whether or not I wanted to get another snake, or something else, like a turtle (I love turtles.) I thought about getting another ball python, but I don't think I will just yet. And I'm not all that fond of lizards. I did go so far as to call the various and sundry animal shelters around to see if they had any snakes. They did not.

Yesterday, on my way home from the writer's group meeting, I was thinking about the empty aquarium again. I had pretty much decided not to get a reptile until the weather was warmer, but I had an empty aquarium just sitting in my room. And I knew if I removed the aquarium, I'd never find space for it again.

And then it hit me. Self, I thought, You've always wanted to get a hedgehog... and now you can! See, back when I had chinchillas, hamsters, and snakes in my room, the hedgehog craze began and I saw some albinos at the pet store. I thought they were rather ugly, but the normal colored ones were cute! And I really wanted one, but I had no room at all.

But now... now I have an empty 30-gallon aquarium just sitting there. I didn't want to get rid of it, and I didn't want to see it empty every time I went up to my room.

So today, I started to do some research. I looked up hedgehog care, I looked up what they ate, I looked up how long they live (every site said something different in that respect), and I fell in love all over again.

I got the yellow pages out once more. I wrote down some numbers, and I started to call around. None of the animal shelters had any (I wanted to try them first, just because.) The first pet store I called said they used to breed them, but then the law changed or something, and they decided it was too much of a hassle, so they stopped carrying them.

The second store I called had two.

My friend at work was leaving soon after I discovered that there were hedgehogs to be had in my area, and she said she might stop by and take a look at them. So she did, and she called me at work and told me all about it. :) Turns out they were two females, and she thought they looked healthy and well cared for.

So I did some more research, printed out some stuff, and discovered that they can eat high-end cat food (with the right protein/fat mix) and fruits, veggies, meat, eggs, etc., all sparingly. Wow. I don't think I've ever owned an animal so easy to feed!

So after work today, I headed down to the pet store and I peeked in at the hedgehogs. They were adorable. One was larger than the other, and both got very disturbed when the pet store lady went to pick the smaller one up.

It's funny. They roll into a ball and jerk, making purring/growling noises like they're much bigger animals. It's absolutely fascinating to watch the spines become erect. These are cool animals.

And of course, I fell in love all over again, and took the smaller one home. :) She is now sleeping in her hiding box, in a nicely cleaned, fresh cage. I bought a hedgehog book to help me along (although it doesn't really say much that the websites didn't already say) and then went cat food shopping. And now I'm set.

Saturday, January 24, 2004

On SCR, Hedgehogs, and... tubing?

SCR is past 31k. My goal for the weekend is 35k. This should be doable, especially if it snows/rains/ices tomorrow and I don't have to go anywhere.

Kyren's in bad straits. Not going to say more than that, but he's not a happy camper at the moment.

This morning, I ran up to the Feed Store to see about cat toys... and found baby rawhide bones (another recommendation.) So I bought some, and stuck one in her cage. So far, she's ignored it. Later on, I read at Hedgehog Central that they can be litter trained, so I figured I might as well try and see if it works. So I went to Family Dollar, and purchased a plastic container for the litter, some litter, and some poufy pompom type cat toy balls.

Yesterday afternoon after I brought her home, I stuck her in a cardboard box to play while I cleaned out the cage and got it ready. I gave her a toilet paper tube, 'cause all the websites said they love to play with toilet paper tubes. So as I was fixing up the cage, I started to hear this ungodly racket inside the box. (I had put the little box she came in inside the box, 'cause I figured she'd want a place to hide.)

Well, she had the tp tube over her head, and she was walking around like that, making a racket! I thought it was stuck on her head, so I pulled it off. She gave me a dirty look and vanished into the little box.

Well, it turns out that it wasn't stuck. That's just how hedgehogs play with tp tubes. It's called "tubing" (haha.) And one of the things they like to do sometimes is scoop up the cat toy balls and play with them.

So I put another one in the cage. When we got home from lunch, I discovered that she had been tubing, only the tube had run into some poop I missed (hard to see it sometimes) and gotten dirty. So she wiped it across one side of the aquarium and then deposited the poopy tube in her food bowl.

Silly.

I cleaned up the mess, got rid of the poop, and found another tp tube in the bathroom. Ten minutes ago, she woke up, found it, and did the little ball scooping trick I read about on the website.

She left the ball in the food bowl this time. I wonder if she's trying to tell me something?

Oh, btw, she likes Purina One Chicken and Rice formula, made with Real Chicken. She ate every scrap of food I had out for her all night long.

Sound echoes inside the aquarium, btw. The aquarium is in my room. You figure out how much sleep I got last night. :)

Tuesday January 27, 2004

Hey! I feel like I'm reporting on my kid or something when I write stuff about Hildy. :)

But it's true... hedgehogs are litter-trainable! She is using the "litterbox"!! That makes clean-up a breeze. And all I had to do was put some poo in the box, and she used it! Wow. Second day in a row, so I think we're okay now.

Hildy turned her nose up at bananas, apples, and broccoli. However, she scarfed down a piece of chicken last night, and five zipper peas. (This is a good thing, 'cause I was beginning to worry about feeding her veggies if she wouldn't eat them. So I can chalk one up for the zipper peas...)

She also has this habit when she's 'tubing'. Her sleeping box is a one gallon rubbermaid container with a hole cut into one side. She will maneuver around with the tube on her head until she gets inside the box, and then spend the next 30 minutes trying to knock the box over. Ok. It keeps her busy, I guess. But the box isn't very big in the first place, and if you add on a tube plus the hedgehog, there's really not a lot of room to move around. I guess it's a game of strategy or something. Whatever makes her happy... :)

And she is still not used to me yet, but we're working on it. My hands are getting quite used to prickles.

---posts from DisOrganization

Hildegard (Hildy) came to live with me at the end of January 2004. At this writing, I'm still using one cotton ball in my exposed ear at night, because Ms. Hildy just doesn't understand that humans like to sleep when it's dark outside. Other than that, we're getting along just fine.

Hildy likes lima beans, chicken, and zipper peas. So far.