Sophie: She'd splat out in her tube with her pink little tail sticking out. She first did that when we were listening to Turkish Pop music. She had the cutest little butt! I'll always remember how her ruby eyes looked at me so wisely when she was resting. She also loved to bite my toes when we had nap time together. Little stinker! She really bit me hard a number of times, but really, each time I knew she was sending me a VERY CLEAR message, not trying to be mean. I'll never forget the time very shortly after she came to live with me when I awoke to the sound of the screen lid of her aquarium slamming shut over and over again. She was standing on top of her hidey-house flipping up the lid with her nose! She could scale the walls of her ferret cage, which amazed me. She also looooved to run in her ruby-colored ball. She'd zoom all over the house, bumping into door frames, furniture, fighting to get over cords in the livingroom. I always had to do clean-up duty when she was done, but it was so great to be able to let her run around like that.
Yoda: He sticks his tongue waaaay out and then opens his mouth waaay wide when he yawns, which is fairly often. He likes to sniff my nose, give me snuffly kisses and reach out his paw to me when I say hi. He also enjoys snuggling up on my chest, most reciently in a hammoc-like scarf draped around my neck. I like having him near to me when I study; he's very calming and comforting when I'm working on yucky stuff like writing a paper for Constitutional Law II with Klug. He loves to splat out when I rub his back, and loves the attention.
Monday, March 27, 2006
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Quirky Pets
Hedgehogs are very quirky pets. They have such individual personalities; there really is no mistaking one for another, at least in my experience.
Lola is the hedgie in my household with the strongest personality, or maybe just the hedgie with the biggest attitude. She's the wild one. As such, she will not tolerate being kept in a boring cage or eating cat food. Well, maybe just a little cat food, but not much. Wild hedgies like Lola only eat BUGS, like mealies (live mealworms) and crunchies (roasted wax worms, smell like peanuts). Wild hedgies find their own sleepy place, which is NOT the tube designed for that purpose. Wild hedgies run out to see their owners when they want, not when they're called. Wild hedgies must run and run and run all night around the house, and sneak from dark spot to dark spot.
Wild hedgies also find their OWN toys. Toys are things like scarves, food wrappers, plastic grocery bags, tea bags, gum and ESPECIALLY cell phones. All toys are to be dragged to a very dark, secret safe-spot to examine.
The first Lola decided my cellphone was a good toy I was really stumped; I looked and looked and couldn't find my phone... until it started ringing from waaaay underneith the futon. I've learned enough to leave my cellphone plugged in when I leave it on the floor. That way, I can find my phone by simply tugging on the cord. With the help of the red light, I've even had the opportunity to watch Lola dragging around my phone. She grabs it by the sparkly charm and trotts across the room with the phone riding across the carpet like a tiny sleigh behind her.
If Lola were my only hedgehog, I might think she was just like any other, wanting to be independent and exercise her curiosity because that's what hedgehogs do. With Yoda and Heddie, and formerly Sophie to compare with, however, I know how very special Lola is because of these traits.
More about the quirks of the rest of my herd later~
~kz
Lola is the hedgie in my household with the strongest personality, or maybe just the hedgie with the biggest attitude. She's the wild one. As such, she will not tolerate being kept in a boring cage or eating cat food. Well, maybe just a little cat food, but not much. Wild hedgies like Lola only eat BUGS, like mealies (live mealworms) and crunchies (roasted wax worms, smell like peanuts). Wild hedgies find their own sleepy place, which is NOT the tube designed for that purpose. Wild hedgies run out to see their owners when they want, not when they're called. Wild hedgies must run and run and run all night around the house, and sneak from dark spot to dark spot.
Wild hedgies also find their OWN toys. Toys are things like scarves, food wrappers, plastic grocery bags, tea bags, gum and ESPECIALLY cell phones. All toys are to be dragged to a very dark, secret safe-spot to examine.
The first Lola decided my cellphone was a good toy I was really stumped; I looked and looked and couldn't find my phone... until it started ringing from waaaay underneith the futon. I've learned enough to leave my cellphone plugged in when I leave it on the floor. That way, I can find my phone by simply tugging on the cord. With the help of the red light, I've even had the opportunity to watch Lola dragging around my phone. She grabs it by the sparkly charm and trotts across the room with the phone riding across the carpet like a tiny sleigh behind her.
If Lola were my only hedgehog, I might think she was just like any other, wanting to be independent and exercise her curiosity because that's what hedgehogs do. With Yoda and Heddie, and formerly Sophie to compare with, however, I know how very special Lola is because of these traits.
More about the quirks of the rest of my herd later~
~kz
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