Been A While...

Well it has been a while since I updated the hedgehog blog. I have been quite busy with school and computer troubles.

Well Tiggy sure has gotten bigger! Rounder and longer. And slightly more anti-social. But we're working on that. I need to get her more friendly before I take her into see my class of 4 year olds. I start work again on Wednesday and the kiddies will be pouring through my door in no time. Soon I'll be taking her in to meet them. She did remarkably well last time. Maybe she'll be even better this time.

She's not really gotten better about having her picture taken. But here's a decent one.
Also, I'm finding clipping her toenails to be a difficult chore! She HATES it with a fiery passion and refuses to let me do it in one sitting. So I usually have to take two or four days to get all of them.

Right now the ball of spines is sitting in my lap while I type. She sits there when I do homework as well. Funny story. The other day I was reading in my textbook with her sitting in my lap when she wandered over to the book and proceeded to eat it! Haha. I took a video of it on my phone and if I ever figure out how to get it on here, I will.

In the mean time, here's a photo of Tiggy updating her Facebook.

Nail Clippings

Forgot to mention how that went. It was remarkably easy. I actually just did it myself. I was sitting watching tv and holding her and she was really calm and friendly and I thought, why not give it a try? So I did. She let me and it was over really quickly and painlessly.

Does Well With Children

I took Tiggy to school last week, and she did great. I kept her in her travel cage for most of the day. I hd her plaid blanket in there and some food and a water bottle. I took her out for show and tell. Even with the kid all crowding around and talking loud, Tiggy did famously. I let the kids do the one finger touch, where they pick one finger and carefully pet her, stroking down her back. She didn't ball up or anything, and no pooping on me!! That was a pleasant surprise. When she snuggles with me, she doesn't poop, but when she's being handled a lot by different people, or even me, she tends to release her bowls. So much poo for such a small creature...

She also had her first (with me) big bath. I put oatmeal wash in the water and gently washed her with a tootbrush and baby soap. She was not a huge fan. Now even the sound of running water makes her nervous. She hears it and tries to hide or climb over my shoulder.

Since she took it hard, she had plenty of cuddle time and we tried some new treats. We tried some chicken, which she was not interested in. She did however enjoy the banana. She seems to like fruits the best, and cantaloupe the really best.
My mom wants to see her annoint, so we tried some cilantro, since it's such strong smell and nothing. Ah well we'll try again another day.

Baths and Breasts

Tiggy the Great had her first bath at my house on Saturday. Well it was just a foot bath, really. I fully cleaned out her cage and decided her feet needed a good cleaning too. The bath was not a well-liked event. Tig did not take well to the water. She was very eager to leave, but she smelled very nice after. The baby soap I have for her is quite pleasant. This weekend she'll get the full bath treatment, and a nail clipping.
I am not looking forward to the clipping of the nails. I'm so nervous I asked a friend to help me.

On Friday, I'm planning on taking Tiggy into my work. I'm a preschool teacher, and I've been telling the kids about my new hedgehog. So I'm hoping that goes well. Tig doesn't seem to like mass amounts of people, and if more than two people hold her when she's active (aka not snuggley) she poops and pees like... endlessly. Haha. My sister-in-law joked last time that she scared the s*** out of the poor creature.

Since it's been cold and rainy the past few days, she hasn't been took keen on leaving her nice warm cage. I have a heating pad under the part of the cage her bed is on, so it's nice and cozy for her, so I don't blame her for not wanting to leave.

So she's just been snuggling, always wiggling her way into a cozy spot on whomever is holding her. When she's with me, he aims towardsthe crook of my elbow, or right under my breast in the palm of my hand. With my mom, it's right in the middle, right in between the girls. Mom joked that in order to get a shot of Tiggy, you have to get some boobs too.

And So far, my favorite picture of my friend is:
Isn't that the cutest thing ever?!

Well... I guess this is... the end.

The Snuggle and Run

The new Tiggy thing is cuddling. Last night, I sat on my bed, reading my book, with a curled up hedgie in my arm. I say curled up, and not balled up; there is a difference. Curled up implies no pain, since her spines are down. She sometimes just snuggles in the palm of my hand, and under the breast, or all the way in the crook of the elbow. When she snuggles, she tries as hard as she can to get so far into it, which is just too cute. At one point she was just sitting on my chest, looking at the book with me. I wish I had someone there to snap a photo of that!

She has moments of that adorable snuggles, and then moments of constant motion. She just can't sit still, it's go, go, go! This is fun too, if not a tad hard to keep up with. She can book it! She almost walked off the edge of the bed today, she's pretty speedy. Luckily I caught her in time. I think tomorrow I'm going to get those spiffy pet cage things, that you can set up in your living room of wherever and it blocks in some space where they can roam free.

I went toy shopping today. She's been avidly running on her wheel at night, so I thought maybe some toys would be fun. I bought a ball and a matchbox car! It's seems strange, but some folks mentioned that their prickly friends like to roll them around. I thought I'd give it a shot. Especially since I found a Shelby Mustang GT500! If I can't have one, by golly, Tiggy will.

I've been trying to find a suitable carry-cage, one that's more portable than her main one. Something I can take her to work in. Since I'm an assistant preschool teacher, I want to take her in and show my kids! They know I was getting her, and one little girl in particular has been very excited about it. I'm going to have a dry run in a few days, see how Tig does with my niece and nephews before bringing her around a bunch of four year olds. The kids at school would be fine with her, I just need to know how she'd be with them. Not that I'd let them hold her, just mainly for noise factor.
Anyway, I found a handy plastic bucket thing my mom had, however I don't think it will work, since Tiggy can reach the top when there's nothing in it.

Also, I'm finding it to be less than easy to snap a decent pic of the darling creature. She's often flighty with the lens comes near her, or she's curled up so much you can't she much. Hehe, she's camera shy I guess. I tried to tell her she's very photogenic and doesn't need to worry about taking a bad shot, but I don't think she understood me. So I'm going to keep trying to snap them when she's occupied doing something. Like eating, for instance...
Gah!! I love this little thing!

Melon Perfume

So my friend Savannah was just over, and I had Tiggy out. Tiggy was in a snuggly mood all night and she kept squirming her way into the crooks of our elbows. Which Savannah wasn't quite used to, so there were a lot of "Ow!'s" and "Oh!'s". Today wasn't quite as hot as yesterday, and tonight there was a cool breeze and we had windows open downstairs, so that may be a reason why she was so cuddly.
We looked around for a bit for some sort of toy for her to play with, and when we couldn't find anything suitable, we ventured into the kitchen. I told her what happened with the cheese and so we went looking maybe for some fruit. We found some cantaloupe and decided to give it a shot. We placed a little bit on a spoon, and Tiggy went straight for it! She sniffed it and licked it like crazy!
And then she twisted funny, and we were confused until that long tongue darted out and started lathering her spines up with cantaloupe foam!
I guess she really liked the stuff, enough to want to smell like that. Anointing is so funny. Also it's a tad icky when she's covered in melon foam perfume and I have to pick her up and it gets everywhere... But watching her do it is priceless!
God made nature so interesting!
I'm finding having a hedgehog to be very interesting and just all around cool!
I love that I can tell when she's feeling a little nervous or peeved when her spines perk up off her back. I love the way she can move them in different directions. I just find her so fascinating... So much so, I started this blog!

Bonding and Cheese

As I am typing this one handed, Tiggy the Great is snuggled up nice and warm in the palm of my hand. And even though this impedes my movement, I don't care. This is too adorable for words.

I'm getting used to her quills, and they don't hurt anymore. It's really more the anticipation of pain that gets to you. When asked, I say that they're like toothpicks made of fingernails. Which sounds weird, but since the spines are made of keratin, the same stuff as fingernails and hair, it makes sense.
The breeder I got her from told me that it was important to handle her, even when she doesn't want to be held. Otherwise she'll manipulate me and act up and be all emo and antisocial.

Tiggy is now fast asleep in my hand. I wonder if she's dreaming...

The best food for them is high in protein and low in carbs. So I tried to feed her a piece of cheese. Her reaction was quite amusing. She just smelled it, rubbed her nose on it, and her quills bristled. Maybe we'll try that again whe she gets a bit older. HeHe.