I know, I know you’re probably wondering why on earth a hedgehog, I mean it’s not your run of the mill pet.
But this all started many years ago, with a little girl killing a hamster.
The little girl was me & the hamster was Mr Hammy (original I know).
Little did I know at the time, but that one moment was going to be pivotal in the person I grew up to be.
I won’t go into the horrendous details, but it involved a hamster who ran under a tea towel & a little girl who mistakenly stood on him.
I’m still to this day scarred by it all, but what came after can only be described as bizarre.
Feeling so bad for what had happened I went to the complete other end of the spectrum.
Any creature from ant and spiders, to dogs & horses I was hell bent on caring for.
If a spider was in the house I’d rush to carefully catch it & release it outside to make sure no one hurt it.
When I saw a worm, slug or snail on a path I’d pick it up to move it to a safer spot on the grass.
This crazed nature has only grown stronger as I’ve gotten older.
To the extent that seeing a dead rat left me sobbing and mourning.
So with this mental scarring I knew if we were going to get another pet it needed to have some form of defence mechanism.
You see my boys are unbelievably caring, but at the end of the day they’re children and I’m all too aware what can happen to small animals with little people around.
Now I’d come across hedgehogs on instagram of all places.
It’s impossible not to adore their snuffly little noses, but it also dawned on me that thanks to their spiky defences they could be the perfect addition to our family.
Then started the research, I read every possible article I could possibly find on hedgehogs.
Once I was was confident that hedgehogs could be my specialist subject in Mastermind, then came the hard bit.
Convincing Matt.
I chose our family holiday as my best place to start mission hedgehog & by the end of the 11 days he finally gave in.
By gave in I mean he looked at me despairingly, but didn’t say no. Which in my mind was a “yippee yes let’s get a hedgehog”.
I’d already spied this little dude online and so started chatting with his birth family, who were just the loveliest and were very devoted hedgie owners.
We agreed that the 7th July would be a good day for me to go and collect him and the rest as they say, is history.
We’ve named him Quill Hoggy House (we’re all calling him Hoggy – you can still I’m as original as ever with names hah) and I can’t begin to tell you how much we already love him.
Gizmo (my furry pug baby) had a little sniff of the sleeping bag Hoggy was in, but in true Gizmo style he’s totally unperturbed by it all.
As he’s getting accustomed to his new home I’ve only got him out twice and he’s been so good running around my lap & climbing me.
For now though here are some snaps of Hoggy waking up – that little nose is my favourite…
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