Hedgehogs. Good 'pet' or not?

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

DD is an eccentric little girl to say the least. When I asked her what she wanted for christmas she said a hedgehog. I assumed she meant a toy one, but no, she wants the real thing. We live in a house with a fully enclosed walled garden and a ridiculously healthy slug and snail population.
I have tentatively agreed that we'll wait until spring to try to find an animal shelter that will allow us to adopt one.
She has already started making plans, it has a name (Fandango) and she is planning to buy some straw so it can make a bed.
Would I be unreasonable to try to get one, or should I let this idea die a natural death?
She is 9.6 if that has any bearing on it.

They don't actually eat many slugs apprently, so aren't great for keeping slug numbers down. For that (and this is utterly from memory and I could be very wrong) you want toads and slow worms.

Asteria I think it was someone from here that gave the talk. They sometimes need homes for blind hedgehogs, too. They do OK because their sense of smell is so good, but obviously are better off in a walled garden that out on their own.

OMFG, you can BUY THEM

Ocarina I love tortoises. I think people keep them indoors these days, allowing them out in runs in the summer.

I've read that hedgehog rescue centres do need occasional secure gardens for hedgehogs, but you have to feed them as one garden's supply of worms isn't enough to feed a hedgehog.

I've always fancied homing a rescue hedgehog, actually, and when I have a secure garden, I'll look into it.

A very good friend of mine has always had house rabbits - they live in North London with a walled garden and it was free range in the house and garden - they are very easy to house train. Their rabbit even used to go down to their house in Cornwall in a cat carrier for the summer holls. They are far more cuddly than hedgehogs, but do like to eat your plants rather than the insects!

Would your dd be content to look after and encourage wild hedgehogs? This links to a hedgehog house design. Maybe you could help her build a house and put it somewhere where it might be used. Or try leaving out dog food at night and recording?

Apocalypsecheese they have been popular as pets for a long time. They are not the same sort of hedgehogs as UK native hedgehogs.

I do wonder why people think it is so different domesticating hedgehogs as oppsed to rabbits or dogs? Both require lots of room and exercise, yet plenty of people keep rabbits in a tiny hutch and run, or dogs with only an houra walking a day.

She had a tortoise in Bangkok. No trouble at all, Dude (her name) would free range and only need to be found when the lawn mowing men came.
I don't want to go out and buy one for her and there is no way one could accidently wander in. Garden walls are brick.
I think on reflection, we'll wait till we move back to England (next year) and get her a couple of kittens.
Asteria, I really don't like rabbits and can't see much point in them really.

Well, YABU for not wanting tobuy her one and expecting to be able to take one from the wild.

Only thing with that, TeddyBare, is that if the garden is very secure then hedgehogs won't be able to get in.

The hedgehog lady who gave the talk I went to (I live a proper Rock 'n' Roll lifestyle, me ) mentioned that one of the problems hedgehogs have these days is not being able to move freely along all the gardens in a street as people choose fencing over hedges.

I've had a family of hedgehogs adopt me this year, I think they live in the blackthorn bushes next to my garden. I used to feed my cats in the shed (to stop the dog eating their food) and one night caught three of the little buggers happily munching away on the cat food - it also explained why the cats constantly had fleas. Since then I've caught them snuffling around my garden and sunbathing on my drive in front of my car - they gave me a filthy look when I disturbed them so I could do the school run .

They've disappeared in the last couple of weeks so I presume they've gone off to hibernate. They were very cute though and didn't seem that bothered by us. The DC's would just go up and have a look at them and the hedgies would look back before carrying on with what they were doing.

I took care of a injured baby hedgehog once (I was always bringing wild animals home as a child) I found it being attacked by a dog I had no chioce but to pick it up to stop the dog attacking it further, which resulted in my hands being all cut and mine and hedghogs blood mixing my dad saw and said I would shout but it wont make a blind bit of difference so I will just sigh instead.

They were not protected then so I nursed him back to health my parents drew the line at fetching him in because of fleas. I gave him a shallow bowl of water a stable which at first he could not get out of and some cat food. I bathed his woulds with cool boiled water and after about a week he went on his way but he was hard work and my hands were constantly getting cut I wouldn't recommend one to be honest.

My Harold never cut my hands, it must have been an older one

You can buy hegehog food and habitats to put into your garden to encourage them to come and nest (or whatever it is hedgehogs do?!). Some examples here. It might be an idea to do something like this so she can watch and feed hedgehogs whilst learning that they are wild and not pets?

We have a hedgehog which eats the hens treats. It sat on the patio the other week crooning away while munching a roast potato. Huge great fat thing it was. I do like seeing them mooching about the garden.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I won't be getting her one from anywhere, if I did, Fandango wouldn't be able to go anywhere apart from our garden. Wouldn't have the chance to meet a hog of the opposite sex and would live a dull life.
pjmama, the hedgies would need crapmons to get over the wall, it's about 2 metres high!

I love the name Fandango, your DD sounds fab! Eccentricity should definitely be encouraged!

Flamegrilledmama, lucky it wasn't a radioactive hedgehog otherwise you'd have become HOGGIRL!

at hoggirl

Apocalypse it may have cut my hands because it was scared .

Just another point - my dp volunteers at an animal centre and says that having spent a morning mucking out a cage of baby hedgehogs that they may be cute but smell pretty foul. Definitely doesnt recommend keeping them inside even apart from all the other points raised.