Igelchen
05-11-2006, 02:47 PM
:hello3: everybody!
I have been visiting this forum and reading your posts for several weeks now (since March 2006) and really enjoyed reading about all your experiences and especially the great love for hedgehogs that we all share.
I have wanted to join the forum as a member myself for some time but then there were always so many other things going on like work and of course spending lots of time with my 2 boys, which are my cute little baby hedgehog Romeo and my husband Tom (can you tell who comes first? :winkgrin: ).
Well, let me start from the beginning: My name is Alexa and I am from Germany (my husband is from Connecticut). Tom and I have been living near Dallas, Texas for almost 2 years now.
Since I can remember I have always loved hedgehogs. When I was a child growing up in a little town near Munich (Bavaria), I was used to seeing wild hedgehogs running around in our garden or the fields + forest right next to the street we lived in. I remember that I was always so happy to see one of them in the evenings and I would watch them sniffing around in the grass with their cute pointy noses.
When I was a little older and came home at night after going out with friends, I would sometimes see a little dark ball run across the street. Every time I would stop the car immediately or force my friends/parents to stop so that I could jump out and get the little guy off the road. I was scared that they would get run over by another car and once I even carried one to safety who was in the middle of the city on a big street. Most people don't like picking them up because the quills of wild hedgehogs are pretty poky (much more than the ones from the African pygmy hedgehogs). I remember that every time I was holding one of them to carry him/her to a field or garden, my fingers would have a kind of burning feeling for several hours. Well, guess what? I did not care at all. Who would if you have such an adorable cutie look at you with their pretty dark button eyes?
So when I came to the US, I was kind of disappointed first to find out that there were no wild hedgehogs around. But then I found out that people here keep pygmy hedgehog as pets. I was so surprised when I heard about that the first time and after seeing one in a pet store some months ago, I completely and totally fell in love with these little guys. And since Tom loves hedgehogs also, we decided the same day that we wanted a baby hedgehog in our family. I did lots and lots of research first, mainly on theinternet, and read many forums. At this point I would like to say "Thank You" to all of you for all the helpful information that I got by reading all your threads. :applause:
We found a breeder in Texas who offered baby hedgehogs for adoption and on April 1st 2006 was the Big Day. We picked up our pretty baby boy and brought him home. His name is "Romeo Riccio Cavallo". Romeo is his first name and what we usually call him, Riccio means "hedgehog" in Italian and Cavallo is my husband's last name and since that is Italian as well I thought that this all sounded very nice together.
Romeo is just the cutest little hedgie (okay okay, I know I am a little biased here) and we love and adore him like crazy. :lovies:
He was so tiny when we got him (65 gram!) but since then he has been growing a lot (now 200 gram). No wonder, he loves meat, especially turkey and chicken, and salmon as treats but does not really care much for veggies or fruits except for anointing with it! I have to admit, I never saw a strawberry before that looked and smelled as sweet as he did and if it was not for his quills, I would have loved to nibble at him a little! :slurp:
He has been very curious and adventurous right from the start and always liked to explore everything. Of course he was a little confused and scared the first few days but he always unballed after only a few seconds when we picked him up and started to run and sniff around. Now he only huffs, puffs and pops a little when we disturb him while he sleeps but hey, who can blame him? My husband does kind of the same thing (haha)! :lol:
So when I wake him up he gives me that "look" and is grumpy for about 1 minute or less but then he is always fine. He lets us pick him up with no problems at all and I can tell that he feels really save with us. We have been handling him very often right from the beginning, especially lots of holding and snuggling at night, and I am convinced that this helped very much.
Romeo definitely knows us and loves to fall asleep in a fleece blanket on our lap, chest or arm after he has been running all over us. Right now he especially likes to sniff around at my neck, hair and shoulders which is funny but pretty ticklish. He also enjoys it very much when I rub his chest, belly or legs while he takes a nap stretched out on his side. I have never seen anything cuter than that!
Well, I could go on and on for hours telling you about my Romeo but I think that I should better stop now. I know that this will be a very long post but I hope that you like reading about my "Life with hedgehogs" so far and that you also want to hear more about my life right now with little Romeo. I believe that you all feel the same way as me which is that there is no such thing as talking too much about our little sweeties.
I have taken many pictures of Romeo since we got him and I will try to figure out how to attach some so that you can all see what a cute boy he is. There are 2 pics that I took right after we got him and the other pictures were taken just a few days ago. I don't know if they will be in the right order though.
Again, I am very happy that I finally found the time to join you all on this great forum!
I have been visiting this forum and reading your posts for several weeks now (since March 2006) and really enjoyed reading about all your experiences and especially the great love for hedgehogs that we all share.
I have wanted to join the forum as a member myself for some time but then there were always so many other things going on like work and of course spending lots of time with my 2 boys, which are my cute little baby hedgehog Romeo and my husband Tom (can you tell who comes first? :winkgrin: ).
Well, let me start from the beginning: My name is Alexa and I am from Germany (my husband is from Connecticut). Tom and I have been living near Dallas, Texas for almost 2 years now.
Since I can remember I have always loved hedgehogs. When I was a child growing up in a little town near Munich (Bavaria), I was used to seeing wild hedgehogs running around in our garden or the fields + forest right next to the street we lived in. I remember that I was always so happy to see one of them in the evenings and I would watch them sniffing around in the grass with their cute pointy noses.
When I was a little older and came home at night after going out with friends, I would sometimes see a little dark ball run across the street. Every time I would stop the car immediately or force my friends/parents to stop so that I could jump out and get the little guy off the road. I was scared that they would get run over by another car and once I even carried one to safety who was in the middle of the city on a big street. Most people don't like picking them up because the quills of wild hedgehogs are pretty poky (much more than the ones from the African pygmy hedgehogs). I remember that every time I was holding one of them to carry him/her to a field or garden, my fingers would have a kind of burning feeling for several hours. Well, guess what? I did not care at all. Who would if you have such an adorable cutie look at you with their pretty dark button eyes?
So when I came to the US, I was kind of disappointed first to find out that there were no wild hedgehogs around. But then I found out that people here keep pygmy hedgehog as pets. I was so surprised when I heard about that the first time and after seeing one in a pet store some months ago, I completely and totally fell in love with these little guys. And since Tom loves hedgehogs also, we decided the same day that we wanted a baby hedgehog in our family. I did lots and lots of research first, mainly on theinternet, and read many forums. At this point I would like to say "Thank You" to all of you for all the helpful information that I got by reading all your threads. :applause:
We found a breeder in Texas who offered baby hedgehogs for adoption and on April 1st 2006 was the Big Day. We picked up our pretty baby boy and brought him home. His name is "Romeo Riccio Cavallo". Romeo is his first name and what we usually call him, Riccio means "hedgehog" in Italian and Cavallo is my husband's last name and since that is Italian as well I thought that this all sounded very nice together.
Romeo is just the cutest little hedgie (okay okay, I know I am a little biased here) and we love and adore him like crazy. :lovies:
He was so tiny when we got him (65 gram!) but since then he has been growing a lot (now 200 gram). No wonder, he loves meat, especially turkey and chicken, and salmon as treats but does not really care much for veggies or fruits except for anointing with it! I have to admit, I never saw a strawberry before that looked and smelled as sweet as he did and if it was not for his quills, I would have loved to nibble at him a little! :slurp:
He has been very curious and adventurous right from the start and always liked to explore everything. Of course he was a little confused and scared the first few days but he always unballed after only a few seconds when we picked him up and started to run and sniff around. Now he only huffs, puffs and pops a little when we disturb him while he sleeps but hey, who can blame him? My husband does kind of the same thing (haha)! :lol:
So when I wake him up he gives me that "look" and is grumpy for about 1 minute or less but then he is always fine. He lets us pick him up with no problems at all and I can tell that he feels really save with us. We have been handling him very often right from the beginning, especially lots of holding and snuggling at night, and I am convinced that this helped very much.
Romeo definitely knows us and loves to fall asleep in a fleece blanket on our lap, chest or arm after he has been running all over us. Right now he especially likes to sniff around at my neck, hair and shoulders which is funny but pretty ticklish. He also enjoys it very much when I rub his chest, belly or legs while he takes a nap stretched out on his side. I have never seen anything cuter than that!
Well, I could go on and on for hours telling you about my Romeo but I think that I should better stop now. I know that this will be a very long post but I hope that you like reading about my "Life with hedgehogs" so far and that you also want to hear more about my life right now with little Romeo. I believe that you all feel the same way as me which is that there is no such thing as talking too much about our little sweeties.
I have taken many pictures of Romeo since we got him and I will try to figure out how to attach some so that you can all see what a cute boy he is. There are 2 pics that I took right after we got him and the other pictures were taken just a few days ago. I don't know if they will be in the right order though.
Again, I am very happy that I finally found the time to join you all on this great forum!