Hooray For Hedgehog Breeders

What do hedgehog breeders know that we do not? Everything! But fortunately most hedgehog breeders and enthusiast are more than happy to share their knowledge about their wonderful hedgehogs. Many hedgehog associations, clubs, and welfare societies operate webpages that can be found easily with a Google search. It is also best to do a search or ask your area authorities if there are any laws regulating the ownership or breeding of hedgehogs.

The simple behavior of anointing has cost the lives of many hedgehogs through the ages. If they smell or taste something they like, sometimes they will chew on it until they make a frothy saliva and then twist and bend to try to spread the saliva on their backs. Persons who have witnessed this mistakenly thought there hedgehog may have had rabies and was foaming at the mouth and going into convulsions or having seizures. Although it has not been verified, many people now believe this behavior is an attempt to take an aroma from the area to mask their scent from predators.

With all of the concern about the spread of disease, escape of exotic animals with contamination to native species, or human attacks from larger exotic animals many lawmakers are reassessing their laws for the ownership, breeding, housing, and transportation of exotic animals. Hedgehogs are already illegal in some areas and it is now illegal for wild Algerian or African pygmy hedgehogs to be exported as pets. It was always illegal to export the larger European species of hedgehogs and it is always been illegal to own them as pets.

Having hedgehogs as pets has prompted much hedgehog merchandise such as books, comics, cups, paperweights, and all manners of representations on greeting cards and on other media. For the people who have opened their homes and open their hearts to their hedgehogs to find there are even more strict laws coming is disheartening. It has been the responsibility of breeders and owners and reputable pet stores to maintain clean bloodlines with no inbreeding and no breeding of unhealthy pairs. Documentation for linage, medical reports, birth and death records, help breeders take a scientific approach to ensure the captive population of hedgehogs never diminishes. They believe that with careful selective breeding they will be able to breed out genetic disorders among hedgehogs such as WHS (Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome). It is also believed that the study of genetic diseases and the documentation of their lineage may help scientists understand genetic disorders in humans since they can study many generations of hedgehogs in a shorter span then generations of people.

Hedgehog breeders are a loyal group of people who work hard to ensure their babies will never disappear.

By: Alan Stables

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Alan Stables is a freelance writer on topics related to the animal kingdom. For hedgehogs as pets, Alan advises that you contact listed reputable hedgehogs breeders before you buy a hedgehog.