Meet Ruby!

Surprise!  New addition to The Single Sister and her name is Ruby!

So I was meaning to write this post before I got a hedgehog.  But my impatience got to me when I realized it was going to be easier than I thought to obtain one of these cute guys for myself.  So I drove with my new friend Jamie over to Mankato today and adopted Ruby!  

A little bit of a back story:

So I'm sure most have you noticed the survey I had up a while back about this single girl getting a hedgehog.  The results were very across the board....pretty even between yes get one, worst idea ever, and I don't care.  And really, my mind was already set.  I just was curious how the world felt about hedgehogs.  I knew that for me it would be a great choice for a pet.  

I've been wanting an animal for a while but my obvious choices were limited.  

1. I'm allergic to cats.

2. I'm not home enough to have a dog, and I've never trained a dog before.  Dogs a huge responsibility.  Its like owning a house, not sure I want to do it all on my own.  And to be honest, they are kind of expensive...shots and vet visits every year?  And to top it off, I'm probably allergic to them too.

3. Fish.  Tried that.  3 times.  They died.

4. Mice, Rats, Gerbils, Guinea Pigs, Ferrets.  They all tend to have a certain oder to them.  And a certain creepyness.  Well except for the Ferrets, they just have extra oder.

5. Reptiles. Not cute.

So a while ago I stumbled across the cutest video of a hedgehog chewing on a carrot.  It. Was. The. Cutest. Thing. Ever.  I looked into hedgehogs as pets and discovered they are pretty low maintenance animals.  They don't need visits to the vet, don't need to be exercised, you just have to refresh their bedding every week.  They like to live on their own, but are very personable and like to come out and play.  And they eat cat food!  How easy is that? Perfect for this single girl!

One snag. I looked up breeders and their were only 2 in Minnesota.  I kind of put the idea on the back burner after I saw that.  But then I met my friend Tony who had a hedgehog and I actually got to play with one and see what they were like in person and I fell in love.  I contacted the breeders and they were both going to have babies ready to go home by the end of the summer.  Ok, I can wait.  Can't I?

Turns out, I didn't search hard enough.  Pet Expo in Mankato has hedgehogs for sale.  I found this out last night (Wednesday) and Jamie and I were on the search for a hedgehog right after work today (Thursday).  They had plenty to choose from.  And I picked out a female thats about a year old.

She's rather "huffy" toward me at the moment.  Check out the link to see a video of a hedgehog in their "huffy" state.  Its what they do right before they roll up in a ball.  This is normal after moving them to a new surrounding.  I'm supposed to give her time to adjust to everything (a day or so).  So I apologize for the lack of good pictures of Ruby.  This is the best I could get.  She's pretty camera shy.  But thinking of it, if you look at the "huffy" video, Ruby looks a lot like that hedgehog.  

(Her head is facing away from the camera)

And this is Ruby's home.

Complete with a green running wheel.

(apparently they can run a couple of miles every night)

And a purple igloo to hide in.

That picture makes the cage look rather small.  But its actually quite large.  I'm hoping to find a table to put the cage up on so she's not on the floor.  

So, in case you couldn't tell, I'm super excited about this.  

And yes, don't worry I have a hog-sitter lined up if I have to go away for a few days.  He lives right down the road, and he used to own his own hedgehogs.  So I've got all my bases covered. He's already answered a few strange questions.  Like, 'why does she keep biting the water bottle when she drinks?"  Turns out she was used to drinking out of a dish and not the bottle.  

But I realize that now I'm just rambling.  I'll stop the craziness here.  :o)