It would be easier to look for Sonic than a real hedgehog!

In case you haven't heard (which would mean you either live under a rock, aren't my Facebook friend, or have blocked my posts), we're in the process of finding a hedgehog for Kayla for her 16th birthday (yeah...the age of surprise birthday parties and gifts is apparently behind us.) So let me tell you what I've learned.

1. Searching for "hedgehog" on craigslists gets you lots of video games, a trimmer, and one hedgehog home (which we're planning to buy...which will prove to be the easiest part of this entire process.)


2. You can't just go to the pet store and pick one up the morning of said birthday. According to the local pet stores "yes, we do sell hedgehogs but we only get them occasionally, we never know when we're going to get them, and we already have a waiting list."


3. From what we've learned, we should be trying to get a hedgehog from a licensed breeder. Yes, licensed. By the USDA. As in the federal government. So in a bass ackward way, we the taxpayers are paying government employees to oversee the hedgehog industry.


4. To me, buying from a licensed breeder is much like buying a race horse; the selling point is that they track lineage to insure there's no inbreeding. I wonder who the "Secretariat" of hedgehogs is, because I really want one of her offspring! But, I also know that they handle the hedgehogs from birth and tend to provide happier hedgehogs, and isn't that what this is all about?!?!


5. Hedgehogs are not cheap. Our budget went from X to 2X and now 2X+T+M where T=time and M=mileage.


6. But it's not just about finding a breeder. We need to find a breeder who actually has a litter or one on the way, because apparently this isn't a year-round business. And, again, there are waiting lists. Plus you to have wait for them to be weened from their mothers (anywhere from 8-10 weeks.)


7. So off to hedgehogbreederalliance.org I go to find a local breeder. Silly me, I thought local would be Richmond. Turns out THERE ARE NO HEDGEHOG BREEDERS IN RICHMOND!!! As a matter of fact, there are only FOUR REGISTERED BREEDERS IN VIRGINIA. Good Lord this is not going to be an easy process.


8. So now we're in the process of finding a breeder within reasonable driving distance (and reasonable has begun to include parts of North Carolina) who has a litter which will be available sometime between now and the end of May because we want hedgie to be adjusted to it's new home before Kayla heads to Florida for her one week of summer vacation.

This is proving to be NEAR IMPOSSIBLE but I'm not about to give up at this point! What started out as a pro-active exercise assuring that we had Kayla's gift in time for her birthday has turned into a full-time job learning more than I ever wanted to know about the breeding habits of hedgies, creating a page of notes about various breeders & hedgehog availability, and accepting the fact that her birthday gift is likely going to be late.

But I've also learned that hedgehogs are adorable! I'm in love already, and haven't even found one yet. They are teeny tiny (especially when they're born) and I just know he/she is going to bring a lot of love into our house.