A pygmy hedgehog to adopt?
 

I'd never even heard of these little critters.

But my girlfriend is thinking of adopting one.

They are legal in Nevada but not in California and a few other states apparently.

Ferrets are legal there too (Nevada) and at the feed store south of Carson City the other day they had huge sacks of ferret food for sale!

This is off-topic, so feel free to tell me to shut up, but did you get a place in NV?

On topic, how do you pick up the critter to cuddle it? Or make it go anywhere it doesn't want to go, for that matter?

Shut up. :P

Intensive discussions are being had with a breeder up in Reno; and apparently, they are safe to pick up carefully, and easier if they are socialized at birth and a young age, which this breeders one supposedly are.

They don't mind being picked up by humans IF they are gently treated and don't mind being petted a little bit, BUT if startled or scared their quills can rise up.

If really frightened, supposedly they curl up into a little ball.

They are burrowing creatures basically and like to dig, it is said.

They work best indoors caged so long as they have a cage big enough to run around in. They will run on an exercise wheel inside but the wheel has to be constructed so they can't trap a little leg in it and get injured.

A two level cage is preferred, with a little ramp they can walk up to the second level, that gives them more room to play.

The ramp is essential for descending, because they can't judge distances to jump down.

A typical baby's lifespan, I am told is about 3-5 years.

They like to run loose in a house BUT it can be a problem if one gets lost.

(Just in the investigation stage at this point however.)

I've never understood the attraction for "pets" that need to be kept in cages. How soon will the novelty wear off?

"Adopt" is right. There are so many of them breeders can't give them away. The hedgehog bubble has apparently burst in the U.S. already. "Wobby Hedgehog Syndrome"??

The craze for pet hedgehogs will be a disaster - Telegraph

Send 'em to Iraq :D

I don't think they're Halal. They'd soon overrun the country!!

If they were switched out for hamsters would it cure the Homosexualaholics ?

I've heard hedgehogs are jerks

naw, that's hedgefund managers, a different beast entirely.