# New Pet.



## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

We got a hedgehog last night! :shock:  

We've decided to name him Koloth which is a Klingon name and it's perfect because our cat is named Tiberius after Captain Kirk from the original series and Koloth was a recurring adversary of Kirk's (as well as an awesome recurring character in Deep Space 9) 

So Koloth the hedgehog is an adult rescue about 2 years old. I held him last night for a little bit before letting him settle into his cage. He's skinny, He's very squirmy, he likes to wiggle and move and is one of those hedgehog's that doesn't seem to want to be held. Just from two seconds of holding him I could tell he has really bad dry skin, and his quills are really sparce. So we'll be going to the vet as soon as possible. I can't believe I'm doing this again! :shock: My Dad told me that I'm crazy and hedgehogs are so much work and I sort of see his point. I feel like I'm crazy to take it on again but you all understand me. It's like a physical need. Hedgehogs just get to be a part of you to the point where you can't not have one. 

I forgot this new hedgehog owner feeling. I've been checking the temperature at regular intervals all week in the cage to make sure it would be steady when hedgie got here but now I keep convincing myself it's too cold even though the temperature gun is reading 75 or 77 around the cage and is not detecting any drafts. I kept feeling imaginary drafts all night last night, my Fiance insisted they were imaginary as he was sitting with me, but each time I got up and checked the area with my temperature gun anyway. I kept wanting to get up and play with him. He doesn't have a wheel yet so I felt so bad that he'd be bored all night and I stayed up to listening to him scurry around and dig at his cage door. Bottom line is I didn't get much sleep. 

My cat is also very amused, he kept a watchful eye on the cage all night which Koloth didn't mind at all. 

I wasn't expecting to have a hedgehog again so soon but he needed a home and I had a home to give so here he is. It's going to be interesting.


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

Congrats!  Love the Star Trek names


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

I'm glad he seems to be settling in well! Haha, I so have NOT been stalking HHC to see if you've posted updates 

Lets see, I gave him a dose of Revolution after school started, so he should be fine for another precautionary dose. 
And I love the name! It'll fit him much better :lol: 

Now I'm going to stalk here for updates on the little guy! Though I so didn't mean for you to lose sleep!!!  But it's also totally understandable. 
Oh, and his weight earlier this week was 488g. So you have a starting point. 

I'm happy for the both of you! And glad that he's in a much better home than his previous owner!


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

Thanks Larry, we like to embrace the nerdiness  

Immortalia it was nice to meet you last night, thanks again for driving over here to drop him off and for finding him and being a temporary home  I didn't want to bug him too much last night, I thought a car ride, meeting my cat and a new home was enough excitement. I restrained myself to sitting beside the cage. I think I would have been up all night for the first night no matter what. I was a zombie at work this morning but no-one seemed to mind.  Where do you get your revolution? Can you treat adult cats and hedgehogs with the same kind just different doses? It would be good to combine buying meds if I can. His quills seem to be falling out from the root they still have a root attached so I'm thinking it could be some kind of skin infection and not mites. He also doesn't seem to be scratching. Or it could just be really dry skin and we'll need a strict skin care routine. We'll figure it out.


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

I got my Revolution from work, before I had to quit for school. I just stole a drop from my cat's dose :lol: (so yes, the same can be used for both)
The strength of the Revolution is the same in Cat and Kitten, the only difference is the amount. So they are essentially the exact same. So you can order the Cat one for your own cat, and just steal a drop like I did.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I literally squealed when I saw this - I was NOT expecting a hedgehog! :lol: That's awesome that you've been captured by a hedgie again and he's going to have a fantastic home now!! Can't wait to see pictures and get more updates!


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

Cool thanks Immortalia I will do that. 

Kelsey I was not expecting our next pet to be a hedgehog either! It's nice to hear that you are excited for us though. I will post pictures of our cage and Koloth soon. 

It's still early days but for the moment our cat seems unfazed which was a big concern of mine I wasn't sure how territorial or predatory the cat would be towards the hedgehog so far he's showing signs of neither.


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

Koloth having bath time supervised by humans and a cat. :lol:


IMG_1489

I got to sneak in some petting. 


IMG_1490


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

:lol: Love the cat watching too! Kitty's a gorgeous boy too - I love orange cats! All of our orange cats at Wildside seem to have the most uh...personality. Little mischief-makers! :lol:


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## Quinn (Apr 24, 2011)

Awww I'm glad he's settling in! It was good to meet you the other day. Keep posting pictures and updates of the new guy!


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

Kelsey it's so true, or cat is a mischief maker. He has a very strong determined way of getting what he wants. Usually we figure out a compromise so he can do what he wants in a way that works for us. I'm so glad he's not having a problem with the hedgehog, he seems to like watching him and is very slow and cautious around the hedgehog. 

It was nice to meet you too Quinn hopefully we can do it again and get more Toronto people to come out too.


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## juuth (Aug 25, 2011)

How cute! Love the cat too btw, so curious!

My hedgies are almost jealous of his bathtub.. Mine have to deal with a simple washtub, lol.


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

Great pictures. I love his name too  And I can totally understand the need for a hedgehog... we'll probably never get over it :roll: :lol:


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

*Re: New Pet. Update! New pictures*

So we've been very busy with Koloth lately. He's had two vet appointments since we've had him, one to take out his last tooth and one to take off the tip of his toe which got a hair around it (I think he was digging on the cat's scratching post :roll: ). Also he's been running around the apartment like a maniac, he's so fast! The main room is hedgehog proof so he gets to run around for a few hours every night. I also got to take him in to meet the kids in one of my art classes. These kids are only 18 months-3yrs old (most of them are about 2 yrs old). Koloth got to hang out in his playpen and then some of the kids and adults wanted to hold him. He was so good! I was amazed, he sat in the lap of a little two year old boy and the boy was just sitting and petting him only he was petting backwards, so even though Koloth's quills were flat the boy was getting poked :lol: but the boy didn't seem to care and was just sort of amazed by Koloth. The other kids just wanted to watch him, Koloth walked around a little and then started to get comfortable in his little snuggle bag which was highly amusing to the kids watching. Koloth is coming in for a visit again Tomorrow and Saturday, it's a different group of kids both days. After visiting with the hedgehog the kids made little hedgehogs out of clay and tooth picks (with the help of the grownups). I think it was very successful and Koloth was a great performer.

Also I promised pictures, I'll link directly to my favourites but you can always browse them all on flickr too.

Took him a few days to figure out the wheel but now he's running like he's in a marathon every night. And we get to watch! 

IMG_1590 by HeatherAsh44, on Flickr

Tiberius watching from a distance 

IMG_1540 by HeatherAsh44, on Flickr

His food is mixed with water and crushed in a little food processor so he can eat it without his teeth. 

IMG_1541 by HeatherAsh44, on Flickr

I love the next two, Koloth is a blur in half the pictures I take but these are good anyway I think. 

IMG_1551 by HeatherAsh44, on Flickr

IMG_1552 by HeatherAsh44, on Flickr

These are just cute (he's almost always with the cat) 

IMG_1557 by HeatherAsh44, on Flickr

IMG_1559 by HeatherAsh44, on Flickr

Lastly he is still ferocious even without his teeth. This backpack was clearly looking for a fight. It's hard to tell from the pictures but he was trying to chew on it. 

IMG_1565 by HeatherAsh44, on Flickr

IMG_1566 by HeatherAsh44, on Flickr


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

He's just so adorable!! I love that he and the cat are buddies.  And that's so great that he did so well with the kids...especially kids that young! I always love reading about good interactions between animals and kids - I really want to do wildlife education, especially for kids, so it's just always something that makes me smile. I'm glad he's doing well eating without his teeth, he's such a lucky little guy. Thanks for all the pictures!


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## JulieAnne (Sep 3, 2012)

That's awesome that he's buddies with the cat! We are currently remodeling our house so Prim can't run around the living room  I'm hoping we will be finished soon, it has been a HUGE undertaking (redoing paint,cabinets in the kitchen and putting down new floors. add school and work to that and it's taking FOREVER... can you tell i'm losing my mind lol?) Anywho, I digress lol. I can't wait for everything to be finished so Prim can run around. My critters seem a little weary of her. They want to smell her.. but at the same time... she could turn around and eat them at any moment, or so my 100lb dog thinks lol. 

LOVE LOVE LOVE the name btw!!!


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

Thanks to both of you. 

Lilysmommy it's amazing how calm he was with the kids, he was happy to just sit in laps, in one of the classes he moved between about 5 kids. He did well with the other classes, although they were morning classes so he was a little more grumpy than when he visited the afternoon class because he didn't want to be woken up. He was really a charmer though, the adults that held him for a little longer seemed to really like him. 

JulieAnne renovations suck while they are happening but just wait until everything is done and it's all pretty, it's exciting to be able to renovate and make a space your own. We're finally starting to get there with our apartment it took almost all new furniture and lots of organization but it's so close to perfect now. 

I feel so lucky that we ended up with a perfect apartment for Koloth to be able to run around in. My cat is particularly troublesome and gets into every little space so we've worked hard to make the apartment as tidy and safe for him as possible. Almost all the furniture is flat to the ground, every cord is tucked away, the base board heaters are closed off so he can't get toys stuck under them, and the rocking chair's spring mechanism was taken off (now we have a super comfy, low arm chair that takes up less space because it doesn't need rocking and turning clearance). This all worked out perfectly for Koloth the only thing I have to figure out is how to keep him from peeing on our area rug. Right now I'm covering it with towels every night which doesn't seem like a very good permanent solution. :?


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

Awww, I'm so glad that he's doing so well! I bet the kids remind him of the ones in his previous home. I'm just so happy he's with you, seems like a perfect match by the sounds of it! And to be able to bring him to class sounds awesome! 
And I may or may not have bookmarked your flickr account 

How large is the area rug? If it's around the size of a mattress, could you buy one of those plasticish mattress covers? That keeps moisture from getting through? Then you just have to sort of wrap the rug every night and wipe down the cover afterwards.


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

oh it's not a big area rug but it is bigger than a mattress there is also a coffee table in the middle of it so I've been putting towels sort of around that, I think we just have to be diligent with litter training. I've also been putting him in the tub (empty) to run around for a few minutes when he wakes up which lets him get out most of it. It's just that, if there is going to be little accidents around the apartment it's easier to clean up if they end up on the hardwood but there have been a few times where he's managed to do it just after running onto the rug, he almost always stays off it but the one time I don't put towels down or I don't make sure he relieves himself in the tub is the time he goes on the rug instead of the hardwood. :roll:


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