hedgehogs as pets ???

Legacy_user

Just been to my local pet store they are selling south african albino hedgehogs for £200 !
i will admit they look cute but not exactly cuddly .

emmzy

dont know exactly what your question is, but African pigmy hedgehogs make quite good pets, a bit like guinea pigs but they need the extra heating and different diet, a friend of mine has one and its adorable. Ive looked into getting one but never got round to actually buying her. but they arent exactly cuddley and as long as you stroke them the right way they arent jaggy

Raksha

Like Hamsters, Hedgehogs in the wild will cover many miles in the course of a night. Personally, I don't feel it's fair to deprive them of the natural desire to explore their territory

mrcol1000

At least its better than the people that have monkeys as pets.

lowis

mrcol1000 wrote: »

At least its better than the people that have monkeys as pets.

i saw that documentary on channel 4 the other week 'My Monkey Baby'. Within ten minutes of watching I was absolutely livid at what I was seeing. couples 'adopt' (buy) a baby monkey and treat them just like human children. the baby monkeys are taken from their mothers when they are about 2 weeks old...the pitiful screaming of both the baby and mother monkey as they were separated cut through my heart.

one woman actually put make-up on her monkey and dressed it up as if it was entering Miss America contest everyday. needless to say, each of the people they featured who owned monkeys quite clearly had mental health issues and could not differentiate between a monkey and a child. one woman actually got offended when she took her monkey to a restaurant and the manager told her that she should not bring animals into the restaurant...she replied that her monkey was not an animal, it was her child!

despite being pampered within an inch of their lives (in human terms) each monkey 'child' looked so sad and lost...heartbreaking

grrrrr....

foreign_correspondent

I saw that too, and felt it was very sad, both for the humans who were clearly trying to fill some sort of void in their lives, and the monkeys, who despite being pampered were not able to live a normal, healthy life for a monkey.... it was a classic case of pet owners who love, and over anthropomorphise their pets, but have no understanding of their real needs, much like people (Paris Hilton etc) who cart their toy dog off to nightclubs in their handbag!

Why make a wild animal (like a monkey or a hedgehog) live in a house, when we have planty of domesticated animals just crying out for homes?

System

emmzy wrote: »

dont know exactly what your question is, but African pigmy hedgehogs make quite good pets, a bit like guinea pigs but they need the extra heating and different diet, a friend of mine has one and its adorable. Ive looked into getting one but never got round to actually buying her. but they arent exactly cuddley and as long as you stroke them the right way they arent jaggy

There wasnt a question , i just found it quite distasteful. but each to their own.

Froglet

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

I saw that too, and felt it was very sad, both for the humans who were clearly trying to fill some sort of void in their lives, and the monkeys, who despite being pampered were not able to live a normal, healthy life for a monkey.... it was a classic case of pet owners who love, and over anthropomorphise their pets, but have no understanding of their real needs, much like people (Paris Hilton etc) who cart their toy dog off to nightclubs in their handbag!

Why make a wild animal (like a monkey or a hedgehog) live in a house, when we have planty of domesticated animals just crying out for homes?

That is definitely the most sensible,yet poignant Question/statement i have heard in a long time,FC.

Wild animals belong in the wild. Why on earth do people think they have a right to alter their basic needs? it disgusts me.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

:eek::eek::eek: @ keeping hedgehogs, of any kind, as pets.