Introducing Primrose Stevenson-Bonney

That is Prim, the hedgehog. Yes, hedgehog. I got her this past Wednesday! She is absolutely adorable and I am totally in love and obsessed with my little Prim. She is very very sweet. She will let anyone hold her without "puffing up" and putting her quills up. She loves to explore. I have to put a sheet over my bad so she doesn't get any Prim poo on my blankets. She will take you down for some popcorn. She is about 100 grams (4 ounces, so 1/4 of a pound) and about the length of my hand when she's all stretched out, so about 4.5 inches...ish. She is so well mannered. I was clipping her nails and she actually fell asleep while I was doing it!

Why a hedgehog you ask? Well first of all, look at that face! She's adorable! Also, they are very easy to care for and very very sweet. Surprisingly, hedgies are not related to the porcupine and they are not considered rodents. They are actually classified as a shrew, along with moles. Unlike the porcupine, hedgies quills are not barbed and they cannot "shoot" their quills. When they are scared or feel threatened hedgies curl up in a little ball, similar to the picture above except when they feel threatened the tuck their little heads in too and put all their quills up (she has her quills down in the picture). It is still possible to pick them up when they have all their quills up but it does hurt. Imagine picking up a bunch of very sharp toothpicks. But when she has her quills down, which is most of the time (unless the cat or dog are trying to eat her) it feels like petting a bunch of drinking straws. Unlike rodents, they do not smell and their teeth do not continually grow, so they don't chew on everything like a gerbil or hamster would. Also unlike gerbils, hedgies are much more social with people. However, they do not like other hediges. At all. Often times if you house two hedgies together they will kill each other (which makes me wondering how the whole breeding thing works... I guess they put aside their differences for the sake of the species, I don't know).

I am sure you will all hear more stories about Prim in the near future! I will, hopefully, be taking her to class with me on Friday. She pretty much goes everywhere with me. Except work and food places.

Asleep on the way home from the pet store

Well that's my Southern Soapbox! I hope you enjoyed meeting the newest edition to my family!