# Rant.



## SpiritWolves1 (Apr 5, 2012)

Okay so I'm just YouTubing and I come across this "breeder" and he thinks he's just the most amazing person ever. Says mesh wheels are fine. Says hedgehog food is perfect. Breeds animals he doesn't even know the gender of. Keeps a brother and sister together at 2 months 1 week.


Come on! Get ur act together man! If you can't give your animals the best then don't breed them and give people bad info! Seriously!

Omg had to. If you wanna know his youtube account(s!) Just PM me and I'll tell ya. Makes me so angry!!


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## alexvdl (Dec 19, 2012)

You mean earthling1984?

The mesh wheels bothered me, but it was the feeding live mice to hedgehogs that really pissed me off.


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## Sar-uh (Sep 6, 2011)

alexvdl said:


> The mesh wheels bothered me, but it was the feeding live mice to hedgehogs that really pissed me off.


Why?


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## SpiritWolves1 (Apr 5, 2012)

how could you guess? and yes thats him, he lets his animals " play together" because they " like it" and it pisses me off, i mean really, you tell us one thing then go and do another thing the complete opposite!


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## alexvdl (Dec 19, 2012)

Why would feeding live mice to a pregnant hedgehog bother me?


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## Sar-uh (Sep 6, 2011)

alexvdl said:


> Why would feeding live mice to a pregnant hedgehog bother me?


Why did it really piss you off? A lot of people here feed their hedgies pinkies. They're high in calcium and low in fat.


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## Alex (Dec 7, 2012)

I can understand your anger at the youtube user...they're really a piece of work. I looked at one of the videos and in the comments he made hedgies sound like very low maintenence pets that 'anyone can take care of'. I made a point of correcting him and explaining how hard work hedgies are, and of linking them to LizardGirl's book.

The pinkies though, there's nothing wrong with that. I've heard of a lot of people doing them. Animals eating other baby animals happens in the wild all the time. They're nutritious and the hedgies love them.


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

I think it's the feeding live part. At least that would be what bothers me.
Have you actually seen a hedgie eat a pinkie? They tend to chew a bit, spit out, chew and gnaw some more. I personally could not subject a live pinkie to that. 
I have no problems with feeding whole or freshly killed. I'd just feel sorry for the pinkie if the hedgie decides to chew from the back end first.


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## HappyHedgies (Feb 17, 2011)

This guy is very uneducated and has no idea what he is doing. He keeps his hedgehogs in less then ideal conditions. He lets them free feed, gives them crappy food, wrong wheel, keeps wheel in with nursing mom and I'm pretty sure he has them on cedar shavings if I'm not mistaken. It's hard to tell though. I have tried giving this person information on what to do right and he is not receptive. In one of his other videos he has all the baby hoglets in the sink practically drowning because the water is so high. When he drains the water the poor hedgehogs are completely exhausted. I was really upset when I seen that video. 

I'm not sure what to do. Maybe someone else can try getting trough to him..


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## alexvdl (Dec 19, 2012)

If "lots of people do it" this would be the first I've seen or heard of it. It's certainly not on any of the approved treat lists that I've seen, and there appears to be one sentence in LizardGirl's book about it.


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## aydree (Oct 19, 2012)

I didn't even have to ask! I knew it was earthingling. I can't express how much see things annoy me I can't lame you for your rant


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## aydree (Oct 19, 2012)

I've tried to talk to him about the way he operates I got no response. I had never heard of the pinky thing til I saw it, then I looked into it more as other people do it for extra protein or pregnant mamas. 


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

Pinkies are perfectly acceptable as a treat, but most people don't use them because of the "gross" factor. Plenty of other options that aren't as gory.


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## eskye (Oct 5, 2012)

Euthanizing a pinkie humanely in a CO2 chamber is near impossible due to the fact that they require so little oxygen - an evolutionary development based on having to cram under their mother's body. Because of this, the only ways to kill pinkies is a blow to the head (which would be messy, and they are not sold like that), or frozen to death. Would you rather be frozen to death slowly or killed quickly by a bite? I don't like feeding live, though in some cases the only way a baby snake will eat and survive is by live offering. With hedgehogs, I agree that frozen/thawed would be preferred, but I can't say that I am entirely against it for high moral standards.

As for feeding pinkies themselves, it is safe in moderation. I see so many arguments against pinkies for uninformed reasons, and I urge you to please view my thread on the nutritional value of pinkies, which can actually be quite good when you know what you're feeding.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=20959&hilit=+pinkie


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## Sar-uh (Sep 6, 2011)

I've never given my girls pinkies, but I know that they prefer their insects alive when they eat them, so I don't know if they'd take a frozen pinkie.


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## eskye (Oct 5, 2012)

Sar-uh said:


> I've never given my girls pinkies, but I know that they prefer their insects alive when they eat them, so I don't know if they'd take a frozen pinkie.


Frozen thawed is just a warmed up dead pinkie. They'll go for it, no doubt. It still smells good.


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## shmurciakova (Sep 7, 2008)

Please inform the Hedgehog Welfare Society about this. Go to their website and write someone about it - see what they say.
Good luck,
Susan H. :|


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

What would hedgehog Welfare do about it? Pinkies are acceptable for hedgehogs to eat and they do in the wild. This isn't an HWS issue.


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## Christemo (Oct 5, 2011)

I would stay away from any f/t mice from the southeastern part of the US right now. There's been at least 15 snake deaths from some distributers down there and they're in the process of finding out who they got them from.


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## hedgieglue (Jan 5, 2013)

I think shmurciakova was talking about earthling when she mentioned HWS.
:lol:


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## eskye (Oct 5, 2012)

Christemo said:


> I would stay away from any f/t mice from the southeastern part of the US right now. There's been at least 15 snake deaths from some distributers down there and they're in the process of finding out who they got them from.


Where is your source for this information? I'm active on multiple snake forums, other reptile forums, and have contacts with breeders throughout the country. I have not heard anything about this. Can you link me?


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## Christemo (Oct 5, 2011)

It was on the Passion Reptile group about a week ago. The post was unpinned from the FB group, but someone was trying to collect info on it.


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## shmurciakova (Sep 7, 2008)

I wasn't talking about the feeding pinkies part of it, I just meant if it was a case of a guy breeding irresponsibly, not giving correct advice (i.e. mesh wheels), etc....maybe they should bring it to the attention of HWS instead of posting about it here, where we really can't do much if anything about it.


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## HappyHedgies (Feb 17, 2011)

This isn't a HWS issue as Nancy has stated in a previous post. He actually posted a new video with better information on hedgehogs. He seems to have learned a little since his previous videos. Please keep in mind some of his previous videos are a few years old.

He isn't abusing or neglecting his animals. Sure he might have them in less then ideal cages but its not a crime that HWS can do anything about.

Yes he is irresponsibly breeding, free feeding and keeping older siblings together but in his newer video he has some correct information in it, far better then the last. Hopefully he has learned to keep siblings apart after they reach maturity, that was my biggest concern.

This is one of the videos that makes me quite upset: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7LRZkIj ... 1B&index=4
The hoglets are practically drowning. The water is coming up to their eyes, no doubt its getting in their ears as well..

This is his newer video with updated information:


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## shmurciakova (Sep 7, 2008)

OK, well, when I first replied to the post I hadn't watched the video. I have seen this guys videos before and actually found some of them to be helpful. You are right, that I don't think this guy is abusing hedgehogs or needs to be reported, although I do not know anything about him. The post was a bit alarmist and I reacted to it. As for the HWS, I did not mean that they would do anything about it per se, I only meant they could advise the person who complained about this in the first place, what, if anything, could be done about it...... :?


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