Welcome to I Love Hedgehogs!

Dear readers,

Welcome to my hedgehog blog. I've always thought of starting a blog dedicated to my hedgehogs, Cactus and Quills, and perhaps spreading the love to other people.

Hopefully this blog will go on for years to come, and have everything needed for someone who wish to own a hedgehog.


Regards,
livingmonolith

Monday, February 16, 2009

Hoglets off to new homes!

I had my first litter of hoglets back in October last year after my second attempt to breed my hedgehogs Cactus and Quills, and by Valentine's Day last week all three of them are off to their respective new homes!

To be honest, while I'm glad that I do not have to take care of so many hedgehogs at a time, it was a bit heartwrenching to see the hoglets leave. After all, they've been under my care for the past four months, and I've watched them grow from the size of my thumb to the saiz of my palm.

All three hoglets have grow into different individuals with different characters in the past couple of months, and I think it would be an understatement to say that they've brought much joy in my life. They've taught me many new things I never knew about hedgehogs before this, and even today I am still learning new things from my hedgehogs!

Farewell my little ones, may you continue to spread joy and love wherever you are, and bring happiness to your new owners!

Friday, February 6, 2009

Pet Stores

There aren't any pet stores that caters exclusively for hedgehogs (considering the fact that hedgehogs aren't really common pets in Malaysia), but it's safe to say that quite a lot of these stores carry items and accessories that suit hedgehogs.

I frequent several petstores in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya regularly to stock-up or purchase items for my hedgehogs. While I have my preferentials whether it's on the quality or price, I shall list down all my recommended choices of pet stores for anyone who wishes to purchase items and accessories for their pet hedgehogs.

There are also plenty other pet stores around town which I may not include, but as I mentioned these are my recommendations ONLY, if you have any good recommendations feel free to notify me!

Pet Stores (in no order of preference):-

Store Name : The Pet Safari
Website : http://www.thepetsafari.com.my/
Address : S1, IKANO Power Centre,No. 2, Jalan PJU 7-2,(Level 2), Mutiara Damansara,47800 Petaling Jaya.
Tel / Fax : 03-7724 1578 / 03-7724 1527

Store Name : Pets Wonderland
Website : http://www.petswonderland.com.my/
Address : Lot No. T-015A, 3rd Floor,Mid Valley Megamall, Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel / Fax : 03-2284 3388 / 03-2283 6399

Store Name : The Pet Family
Website : http://www.thepetfamily.com/
Address : Taman Megah,Petaling Jaya,Lot 10991, Jalan SS24/8,Tmn Megah,47301, Petaling Jaya.
Tel / Fax : 03-7805 2342 / 03-7804 1057

Store Name : Pet Shack
Website : http://www.petshack.com.my/
Address : 102, Block A, Mentari Business ParkJalan PJS 8/2Bandar Sunway, 46150 Petaling Jaya.
Tel / Fax : 03-5637 4536

This list will be updated from time to time, as there are surely more pet stores which carries range of products for hedgehogs which I will come across in the future.

Till then, have a fun time shopping!

: )

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Breeding

Initially, I thought of breeding hedgehogs to make some simple income to cover my expenses in rearing hedgehogs.

After my first batch of hoglets I realized that mathematically, I'm actually not making any profit considering the additional expenses I had to fork out to take care of several more hedgehogs in the house.

It was not easy to breed hedgehogs, as a few quality breeders would point out, and most of them would tell you that they are hobbyist breeders. Yes, they breed hedgehogs as a hobby.

Funny? Well, I thought so too, back then.

After going through months of research (before I finally got my first hedgehog), I realized that breeding hedgehogs doesn't really make you a lot of money, but it brings a lot of satisfaction, and in a way, you can consider it an experiment as well!

Hedgehog colours are inherited to offsprings. Most of the time, if you breed between hedgehogs with different colours, offsprings will usually take either one of the parents' colour. But there are also chances that the hoglet will carry a colour which is in between the colours of the two parents! That's how cinnicot came into hedgehog's colour chart (offspring from cinnamon and apricot parents).

Besides that, it's also a tedious selection procedure to find the suitable hedgehogs for breeding. Temper, in some books, are also inherited. Although I do not believe this without scientific proves, I do notice that some hedgehogs have better tempers compared to others, and usually identical to their parent. Perhaps it's just the bonding procedure by the parent hedgehogs which differs, but it's still something that bugs me until today!

There are other aspects to look into when breeding hedgehogs, such as the facial shape of the hedgehog and body shape. Many hobbyist breeders are looking to produce the 'perfect' hedgehog offspring, which I believe is a good resolution for all responsible breeders.

But the best thing is, from my personal point of view, looking at the hoglets growing up day by day, from the size of your thumb until adult. How the baby quills develope and slowly replaced by adult quills. How the hoglets lick and nibble your fingers when you put them on your palm. How they crawl and climb and stumble.

It's the most beautiful thing to witness them growing up.

And that's the greatest thing in breeding hedgehogs.

:)