It's not everyday that someone surprises our librarian with information about which she knew nothing. One day, however, Emily and Miranda announced that their hedgies were four weeks old. What are hedgies? Why do you have them? Question upon questions arose.
It turns out that Emily and Miranda raise hedgehogs for fun and profit. If your only experience with hedgehogs is Sonic Drive-In or Sonic the Hedgehog Video Game, you don't know how cute hedgies are! Our first view of the "herd" was on the business web site managed by Lara, Emily's and Miranda's older sister. There are pictures, care information, and purchase information that will open your eyes to a new type of family companion. The most common hedgehogs raised as pets are African Pygmy Hedgehogs, which are small insectivores.
The first thing you should know is that raising hedgehogs is not easy. To have strong healthy animals, you need to have a temperature controlled environment, clean cages for them to inhabit individually, a sensible breeding plan, and proper food. At the twins' house, their mother sews a little sleeping bag of fleece (that's so sweet!) for each little hedgie born to the herd.
The business was started by Lara. She became fascinated by hedgehogs because of the Sonic drive-in and, after a couple of years of research, she decided to raise one of her own. She found one named Bitsy in Ohio and brought it home. It was love at first sight. She decided to raise them and her family joined in to help.
Her Dad created a room in the basement. They purchased cages. They purchased a second hedgehog and started breeding them. Miranda took one from the first litter named Mongo and started raising them, too. Emily got a female named Lilly from Indiana and soon they were breeding and selling hedgehogs as a business. Lara is in charge and the business is primarily hers, but they all have their little part.
As a business, it is not very profitable. In addition to food, cages, and other supplies, the veterinary expenses are huge. Hedgehogs are fragile creatures and often require special care. Emily and Miranda say the only reason to get involved with the business is that you love hedgies because you will not make much money. The worst part is major cleaning they do twice year.
If you are interested in hedgies as a pet, you could purchase one from the family but you must first be prepared to meet their special needs. One look at their sweet little faces may cause you to fall in love. A new litter will be born in March.
If you want to find out more information about raising hedgehogs, wikipedia.org has a very interesting article. There are also several books available through inter-library loan or at Amazon.com.
Reporter: Mrs. M.
Editor: Renee A.
Photographer: Mrs. M.
Hedgehog photographs: http://www.freewebs.com/laraslittlehedgehogs/
