All About Amy
First of all, isn’t she just sooo cute? Ugh, I can’t stand it.
Her name: I named her Mrs. Beasley. My boys who, by the way, did not want and were not interested in getting a hedgehog suddenly got all pissy about her name. They wanted to name her Amy. Five points to the person who figures out why. And five more points to the person who gets the Mrs. Beasley reference. So I compromised and now her fancy name is Mrs. Amy Beasley. Hehe.
Answers to questions from the Comments:
Her ears and skin are soft like a kitten, not rubbery.
Oh yes, she hisses, grunts, snuffles. Can I just say that I had a VERY traumatic childhood where “pocket pets” are concerned? I had cannibal gerbils, I had serious awful hamster bites that would not let go, I had a hamster that I killed with my bare hands during a freak accident. And even THEN I was always very VERY reluctant about handling the critters but now I have all sorts of PTSD about it.
Remember our Guinea Pigs? Oh wait - I never blogged about our guinea pigs? Well let me introduce them.
This is Buddha:
This is Bubbles:
The fact that I have such freakish pets probably means I have lost all rights to make fun of Nicole’s Ugly-Ass Dogs, huh? Anyway…
We got them almost 3 months ago and I still can’t handle them myself and GPs aren’t exactly known for their bad tempers 
But they are shy, they squeak like they are dying when you try to pick them up. It doesn’t take much to freak me the hell out. Snuffling hedgehogs are no exception. Actually, all things considered I think I’m doing really well. Once Amy is out, I can pick her up and move her around and hold her all by myself. Of course it helps that once she is awake and active, she could care less about being handled and we don’t hear anything but happy noises out of her.
I’ve had ferret trauma too. Teegan and Noah really want a ferret but we had one once years ago (before Teegan and Noah) and it was a house pet (had a cage but was litter trained, or so we thought, so it stayed loose in our home) and it made a hole in our boxspring, unbeknownst to us, and would go up there and use it as its own personal bathroom. When we figured it out, I was so disgusted beyond belief. Ew, ew, ew. And then one day we couldn’t easily locate the ferret and we feared it might have somehow gotten outside so we looked outside and found him. Except he was fatter and was acting weird. I brought him into our house to get him fed and watered and rested only to later find OUR ferret hiding in our house somewhere. So who, then was THIS ferret? I was pregnant with Teegan during all of this and very sensitive to things (smells, poop namely, freaky weasels especially). It was not a good scene. Teegan is 10 now but I’m still not over it.
Back to Amy….
She does not bite. I think hedgies pretty much have the temperament of a guinea pig, if you know much about them. In other words, they *could* mistaken your fingertip for the rest of the chicken you are hand-feeding them. Or they *could* get totally wigged out to the point of biting. But I think it is *exceptionally* unlikely. What they DO do is ball up into a spikey ball of pain 
Amy does not ball. She is very VERY laid back and friendly and we chose her specifically for those traits. The worst she does is cover her face with the front of her quills sort of like in this picture - it keeps her from being eaten when she’s nervous we are hunting her:
They are kept like hamsters but in bigger cages. They have a running wheel that they get MAJOR miles on every night. They are nocturnal although they can be “adjusted” to their environment’s schedule. They do not smell, at all. They are not rodents, their teeth do not grow so they don’t need to chew. Our cages (guinea pig and hedgehog) both use fleece pads instead of the nasty gross messy wood shavings. Those shavings are the sickest thing ever. The very smell alone of that stuff is enough to make me never walk into a pet store. So we do fleece instead. They are way easier to clean, last longer, are free and reusable (like cloth diapers for pocket pets!).
Hedgies have more sensitive heat needs than rodents - they aren’t meant to live in climates below 70 degrees and could hibernate which would kill them. Shouldn’t be an issue here. As for size, they don’t get much bigger than what you see. Ours is a “baby” (about 10 weeks old) but they don’t get huge.
My other animals don’t seem to care much about Amy but they are obsessed with her food which is annoying. Hedgehog food is similar to cat and dog food and they know it.
Amy is super soft and VERY VERY active and playful. She literally ran her wheel right off the side of the cage overnight. I had to reassemble it this morning - eek! When we take her out to play she runs all over us, up our arms and legs, into our sleeves. Hedgies are super curious.
I wouldn’t say they make a great FAMILY pet. I didn’t buy Amy for our family, I bought her for me She stays in my bedroom and I don’t really let the kids hold her much or anything yet. Dalton can handle her, Addison definitely can not and the other two kids are somewhere in the middle (mostly ambivalent and unwilling). She is still learning my scent and too many people make her very nervous. She isn’t that cuddly, she is very wiggly. But she is super sweet, very very VERY tolerant and laid back for a hedgehog. I love her.
How did we think to get a hedgehog? I’ve been talking about it for six months and looking and finally Tony and I met at lunch yesterday at a local exotic pet store that has a pretty good reputation in our area. Noah and Dalton were hoping for a Fennec Fox - his very favorite animal that he just recently learned is sometimes bred as a pet down here (I have my limits, there will NEVER be a fennec fox in this house, I assure you). Teegan and Dalton were hoping for a nice Mountain Chicken which I would not be opposed to if it weren’t for the price. Noah said he’s settle for a marmoset - darn they were all out (seriously they sold the last one before we got there but again, no marmosets in this house!!). I guess you could say we like atypical pets :) So the hedgehog was pretty boring to my kids, in comparison. I had also considered a sugar glider but don’t think that would be a good pet for our family.
So there ya go - Hedgehog 101. Or All About Amy.
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:15 am
Our best friend has a family of sugar gliders and they’re adorable. Amy is pretty cute too but now that you have her, I don’t want to hear another word about my ugly dogs!! haha
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:48 am
You’re a freak, but you didn’t need me to tell you that! Ok, confession…I had sugar gliders. Not just one. Well, it started that way, then my brother got one. Who the HECK would’ve thought those things would breed in captivity??? Travis got it for me as a gift in college - I took her everywhere with me. She’d ball up in a sock and I’d bring her to class in my pocket, and since those were the days you could sneak anything on an airplane, so she’d just fly home with me on breaks, etc. Disgusting animal though, when I think about it now; totally not potty trainable, so she pooped wherever, whenever. Anyway, my glider, Tierney, mated with Merlin (my brother’s glider), not just once, but twice, to produce 2 little ones. It was so cool getting to see the marsupial aspect while they raised their little ones together. Eventually we gave them to a glider farm. Pretty cool animals, but we’re done with stuff like that! Jackson is all the wild animal I need right now!
We also had a ferrett once named Forest. And we ALMOST got a skunk. I think that’d be my exotic pet of choice. Hedgies are neat, but I saw a kid at our exotic pet shop get his finger CHOMPED by one and sorta lost interest at that point!
Anyway, congrats on Mrs. Amy Beasley - no clue what that’s from. I just find it hilarious that this pet is for you, not any of your kids!
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:38 am
Oh, geez! I was reading your post and thinking what a good mom you are for getting your kids a different kind of pet. Then I read it’s for you! You’re just a hoot. I know nothing about hedgies, but Miss Amy Beasley is extremely cute. The quills are sort of scary, though.
I guess I know nothing of Guinea Pigs either, because I can’t tell which end is the head and which is the tail. It’s probably best if I just stick to dogs. When Petunia gets about 5 or 6, we’ll get a new puppy, but I think I’ll take a different route than Nicole did when it comes to the breed. Sorry, Nicole!
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:19 am
She is really cute! I don’t know about Amy but Mrs. Beasley…were you a Family Affair fan??? I think you are too young for it but thought I’d give it a try : )
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:55 am
I love the post! If you read my blog at all you will find out that my husband and I are obsessed with pets of all types! I would ike to hear more about the fleece pads…I wonder if they would work with our rabbits.
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:34 am
Girl, I TOTALLY give you props. There is no way on God’s green earth I’d have one of those! LOL I’m VERY particular when it comes to pets. You can have a small dog (which we already have) or a small dog…and since we already have one, the only other pets allowed into this house are stuffed ones.
LOL
Cute little thing though…
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:54 pm
OMG OMG OMG OMG I LOOOOVE her! How adorable!
Family Affair? LOL. I thought you were way too young for that. Are you going to get another and name him Mr French?
Hee hee!
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Hahah - I am apparently ALMOST too young. I remember Family Affair - hence the name - but when Tony was talking about Mr. French I was like “who?!?!”
So no one knows where the Amy reference came from?!?! That just shows how OLD you all are! haha
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:44 pm
I kind of wish I could relate to something in this post, but I am so not an animal person. AT ALL.
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:58 pm
oh my god- i LOVE her.
i want one.
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Ooooh, how awesome, you’re growing your family again !!!
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:49 pm
I had a Mrs. Beasley doll when I was little. She was the first thing I thought of when I saw your post. As far as the Amy reference- is it Amy Winehouse? Is your hedgehog on drugs?
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:01 pm
She’s just adorable. I want to rub those kittenish ears!
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:07 pm
She is so cute! I was going to guess Beatrix Potter but no that was Mrs. Tiggy-winkle.
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:28 pm
She is so cute…but there is no way I’m showing my children her picture because they would want to add a hedgehog to their menagerie. I loved Family Affair. I was a TV addict in a former life so that’s why I can tell you that Mrs. Beasley was Buffy’s doll and it is why I though wearing a ponytail on one side of my head (a la Sissy) was the height of fashion.
February 23rd, 2008 at 2:53 am
No clue on Amy, but Mrs. Beasley is of course Buffy’s doll. I had one as a kid. They’re going for insane amounts on ebay now. I wanted to buy one for Clara because with her little glasses she sort of looks like Mrs. Beasley. LOL Mrs. Amy Beasley is quite a cutie!
February 23rd, 2008 at 4:35 am
Okay, I’m just freaking out at the idea that you brought a stray ferret into your house! I mean, how does one even find a stray ferret? Dog? Sure! Cat? Of course! But ferret? Really? Ewwwww.
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:13 am
I know Elaine - it totally freaks me out too. Weird, huh?
February 25th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Your hedgehog is so cute, but I can’t get over the little guinea pigs. We used to have a guinea pig and I adored her.
February 25th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Amy is so cute!!!!! That ferret story is sooooo super nasty and funny! I had a ferret too, once. Never again! Miles thinks Amy is cute and funny:)
February 25th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
I had a hedgehog when I was younger and I was so sad when we had to put him to sleep because his liver stopped working. I was certainly not prepared the first time he ‘clicked’ at me. I did NOT know they made that kind of noise! Have fun with her!!!
February 25th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
I had a hedgehog for about 6 years. Sadly, he had a tumor and we had to put him down about 1.5 ago. They are so much fun, though! Mine loved dried fruit, papaya was the big favorite. I loved when he huffed. He only did it once in a while with new people. Funny!
Just wanted you to know you’re not alone in your insanity!
February 27th, 2008 at 9:51 am
I am obsessed with hedgehogs and of course now want one!! She couldn’t be any cuter.
February 27th, 2008 at 9:52 am
oops, typo in my website