As the housing crunch ends up putting more and more Valley residents in some unexpected situations, pet safety and welfare are rising concerns.
Some residents have had to give up a pet, house a pet with a friend or relative or consider a pet more conducive to a smaller space or one with limited resources.
Not long before the COVID-19 pandemic, Valley residents might have started to notice that a 2015 state-agency rule change allowed for one type of small pet to be bred, sold and owned in Arizona.
A late-2015 decision by the Arizona Game and Fish Department moved African pygmy hedgehogs onto a “not restricted” list.
While the list of banned and permitted types of animals and species remains vague and nonsensical in many ways and places, including in Arizona, former hedgehog owners from other states and small-pet Arizonans have been happy to find there is no longer a prohibition here.
“I was working at a pet store and someone brought one in, in about 2016,” said Nikki Kulak, owner of Sonoran Desert Hedgehogs. “Soon after, I started researching everything I could find out about them and got one. I was hooked. I could tell by how much I loved interacting with the little babies that I was going to end up becoming a breeder.”
Care and feeding
Kulak, who breeds hedgehogs at her home in Maricopa, said she quickly learned about the commitments involved in effectively and responsibly caring for a hedgehog. The animal’s needs and equipment are somewhat specialized.
From kibble, the dry cat-food-like crunchy matter that’s often a hedgehog’s main sustinence, to mealworms that can serve as treats, to the wheels they run on at night (African pygmy hedgehogs are nocturnal), there are many adjustments to be made — even for lifelong animal lovers such as Kulak.
As part of the erinaceidae family, hedgehogs would be considered insectivores, except they are omnivorous. Mealworms from a pet store can be an occasional treat.
However, aside from mealworms and the Aspen chips that are used to line a hedgehog’s cage, not many items hedgehog owners prefer can be found at common pet supply stores. The sometimes-adversarial relationship between pet stores and both breeders and hedgehog owners is due partly to specialization.
A “pigloo” is part of the hedgehog’s nocternal ways: in daylight, hedgehogs, when not eating or making brief forays around their Aspen -lined cages, seek darkness. Specially crafted sleeping bags, inside of small domed coverings known as pigloos, offer that shelter.
Many such sleeping bags can be used to help remove a reluctant hedgehog from a cage for cleaning, playtime or trips to the vet.
Cardboard paper-towel or toilet paper tubes are great toys to hedgehogs. They stick their snouts in them as if tunneling.
A well-adjusted, easy-going hedgehog will be relaxed and will open up if held. Those who are more tense or guarded will ball up, protect their faces and soft underbellies and sometimes pop and hiss.
Kulak said hedgehogs don't tend to in groups, although groups of all males will sometimes fight, while females usually won’t. However, as each hedgehog has its own personality, owners and breeders must be prepared to put them in individual enclosures if they don't get along when housed together.
She said there’s no real logic to how a hedgehog personality develops, though gentle, frequent human handling throughout early life seems to help.
“I’ve had some who were nice, and a few who were just a brat and a half,” she said.
Hedgehogs live about five years. Kulak said breeders are attempting to stretch those lifespans out by sharing information about health and safety.
One symptom of a hedgehog health issue will be if large numbers of the animal’s 5,000 quills fall out in a short time. Regular vet appointments are important to see if the animal is developing in a healthy way.
Kulak said COVID-19 led to a change in how pet stores and breeders interact with the public. In addition to keeping humans safe, breeders wanted to avoid getting a mite or other infestation, for which treatment would have been an added burden on top of COVID preventive measures.
“That’s why I don’t take rescues into my home,” she said.
Home habitats
There seems to be some disagreement among breeders about the safest method for temperature regulation. Hedgehogs seem to enjoy life best at between 75 and 80 degrees, which is not as cool as most humans keep their homes.
If a home or room were at 68 degrees, Halak said, that would send hedgehogs into hibernation mode. Mounted heat lamps seem to be the preferred modern way of only warming a cage area, rather than an entire room or home.
One breeder says heating devices such as heat rocks or pads are not recommended as they can cause second-degree burns. Kulak echoed that: she said such heating devices are nearly impossible to find now and widely discouraged.
Some breeders and owners use large plastic storage containers, without lids, as cages, which means heat lamps or other hearing devices must not be too close to plastic.
Aside from the 2015 Game and Fish rule change, no Arizona state agency is directly involved with hedgehogs or many other species. Hedgehog breeders need only be registered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and follow all federal requirements.
Keith Lewis, a North Phoenix apartment resident who takes on a handful of rats, ferrets and hedgehogs, has a near-albino rescue named Imani, who is about 2 years old.
Lewis said spaying and neutering is rarely done among exotic pets, as it’s expensive. Keeping breedable animals apart seems a more feasible option.
Tamra Rothenburger is the executive director of the Arizona Sugar Glider Rescue. It’s a Phoenix-area nonprofit rescue for sugar gliders and hedgehogs. She said there’s short list of questions each potential owner can ask themselves when pondering if hedgehogs are the best-suited kind of pet for each person.
Jason W. Brooks is a News editor for the Daily Independent and the Chandler Independent.
He covers the Chandler area for both yourvalley.net and the monthly print edition while writing for and assisting in the production of the Daily Independent.
Brooks is a well-traveled journalist who has documented life in small American communities in nearly all U.S. time zones.
Born in Washington, D.C. and raised there and in suburban Los Angeles, he has covered community news in California, New Mexico, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska and northern Arizona.
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