# Best cuddle night!



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Just thought I'd share another story with you guys...It'll start kind of depressing, but it ends much better, I promise!

Today was the three-month anniversary of my mom's death, so I've been a bit upset and sad all day. I decided that I'd get Lily out for some good snuggle time while I read, to see if it'd cheer me up a bit. I got her into her sling and snuggled in my reading corner with my book. She went out like a light and eventually started either purring or snoring (I'm never quite sure which! :lol: ). That alone made me feel a little bit better. As we started getting close to time to get her ready for the night, I decided to try for some petting time and took her out of the sling. Got her settled on my chest against my arm and just quietly pet her for something like twenty minutes while she just laid there and enjoyed it.  The best part? I decided to see how relaxed she was and whether she'd let me try stroking her fur underneath the quill line on her neck/belly, and try stroking her nose. She let me do both! I ended up just stroking her nose over and over for a few minutes and she almost went to sleep from it. I finally went back to petting her quills and she blinked a few times like "What? Oh...I totally wasn't almost sleeping, what are you talking about?"

After I decided I should really get moving and get her ready for the night, I remembered that I'd bought a bag of ten crickets at work today (I work at a pet store) to see if she would like them. I tried offering her one and...she loved it! I have mixed feelings about this...I'm glad I have a new treat to give her, especially an insect that's lower fat than mealworms but...Now I have to start keeping crickets! :roll: :lol: Have to figure out how I'm going to go about this. I'll have to go back and read MissC's posts about cricket-wrangling.


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## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

Anniversary's like that are very hard but I'm glad that Lily helped to cheer you up on a hard day. She sounds like she was really enjoying her cuddle time today and that she was totally comfy  I know what you mean with the crickets, my girl likes them now too. I'm glad she loves them but the part that is always creepy to me is it always seems like there is little parts and legs that come off somehow lol


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## xspiked (Feb 27, 2011)

I'm happy Lily was there to comfort you on such an anniversary. 
After reading this, I tried to touch my hedgie's nose while she was awake. She usually only lets me when she's asleep. Amazingly, she let me and even fell asleep, just like Lily. I was estatic. Thanks for the inspiration


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

You thought you were comforting Lily when in fact she was comforting you.  I'm so sorry about your mother  ,i can't even imagine how that must feel.

Crickets are not that bad if you only buy a few at a time,if you do like i did and buy say 1,000 :roll: be prepared for some serious funk,eww! :lol:


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## hercsmom (Jul 6, 2010)

Aww, Lily knew her mommy needed a cuddle, and she was there for you. I knew dogs can be like that, but it's great when a hedgehog is too. What a sweet girl you have!


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

LM...I am so sorry for your loss...I saw your FB post and it's obvious how you feel about her. 

I'm sure everyone knows how I feel about energy and how everything has energy and if plants can sense it, then hedgies certainly can, so I won't go on and on. This time.

I will just say this: Lily knows.


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## zorropirate (Aug 13, 2010)

It's true our animal friends know EXACTLY when you need them the most. 

Hugs to you both!

Oh and goodness, don't mention that plants know too! I'll never be able to eat anything!  But then I talk to all my houseplants too.


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## Galvon (Sep 20, 2010)

That's so great that you had a spiky little baby to help you through such a hard time  

I think MissC is right and they do know when we need some extra love. Whenever I have a bad day Sandy is always much more cooperative at snuggle time. He sometimes even deigns to let me pet his face/tummy :shock:


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## leaveittoweaver (Sep 25, 2010)

That is so awesome! I hope someday my boy gets to that point


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Hedgieonboard said:


> I'm glad she loves them but the part that is always creepy to me is it always seems like there is little parts and legs that come off somehow lol


Yeah, after she finished eating one of them, I glanced down and saw I had a cricket leg still laying on my finger. :roll: I can't complain though, I was terrified that she was going to decide to annoint and start spitting cricket guts all over herself and me! :lol:



xspiked said:


> I'm happy Lily was there to comfort you on such an anniversary.
> After reading this, I tried to touch my hedgie's nose while she was awake. She usually only lets me when she's asleep. Amazingly, she let me and even fell asleep, just like Lily. I was estatic. Thanks for the inspiration


Aww, glad to help!  Their little noses are so soft.



LarryT said:


> Crickets are not that bad if you only buy a few at a time,if you do like i did and buy say 1,000 :roll: be prepared for some serious funk,eww! :lol:


 :shock: I do not envy you one bit! I have to bag crickets at work sometimes and ugh, they smell horrible. :? If I ever have to keep crickets for all of my future animals, they'll have to be in a room I don't go in much! :lol:

And thanks everyone for the comments, hugs, and sympathies.


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

I'm so glad you were able to get some comfort from Lily. And to give some as well. What a sweet, special bonding moment. I'm so glad you shared it with us. (Except for the part about the cricket  )


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## SnufflePuff (Apr 16, 2009)

I am so very sorry for your loss  

I have always thought Lily was a sweet hedgehog and am really happy that she was able to cheer you up  

It's nice to know that even prickly balls of quills know when their human owners need to the hedgehog-equivalent of a hug. 

And if you think that's icky... I rip the back legs off my crickets before feeding them to my hedgehogs, otherwise they can never catch them... ugh cricket legs are the worst. :shock:


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

SnufflePuff said:


> I am so very sorry for your loss
> 
> I have always thought Lily was a sweet hedgehog and am really happy that she was able to cheer you up
> 
> ...


Yup, she certainly lives up to her name.  She can have an attitude sometimes, but for the most part, she's a little sweetheart.

And ewwwww. :lol: I gave Lily her three crickets just from my fingers so they wouldn't escape, but I'm going to have to get a pair of tweezers or something to designate as cricket-tweezers so I don't start getting bitten! She was still sniffing at my fingers after the last one, looking for more.


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

[quote="Lilysmommy] I gave Lily her three crickets just from my fingers so they wouldn't escape, but I'm going to have to get a pair of tweezers or something to designate as cricket-tweezers so I don't start getting bitten! She was still sniffing at my fingers after the last one, looking for more.[/quote]

:shock: 
You...touch...them?
:shock: 
I have six pairs of tweezers...one in every room plus a few. I'm not taking ANY chances. :shock:


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Yeeeeah, I'm a bit crazy, aren't I? :lol: I don't have anything else to feed them to her with yet, and I don't want them to all get loose because she can't chase them down, so... I'm quickly figuring out that I'd much rather touch mealworms than crickets, though. I will be getting tweezers or tongs or _something_ before tomorrow night's treat time. :?


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

Lilysmommy said:


> Yeeeeah, I'm a bit crazy, aren't I? :lol: I don't have anything else to feed them to her with yet, and I don't want them to all get loose because she can't chase them down, so... I'm quickly figuring out that I'd much rather touch mealworms than crickets, though. I will be getting tweezers or tongs or _something_ before tomorrow night's treat time. :?


Freeze 'em...that way you can hide them all over her cage...see? She can hunt all night. Snarf has moved rocks and leaves to get to his...I am finding he's MUCH smarter than I gave him credit for. :lol:

'course...I still use tweezers...I picked up a stray leg today and almost yacked. I have managed to pick up the frozen creepsters without a full hazmat suit tho'...progress.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

:lol: Congratulations! Hedgehogs = the best way to force yourself to confront a fear.

I might freeze them, but I'm not sure just yet. I already get yelled at about freezing baby food in ice cube trays, I have a feeling finding a bag of bugs in the freezer might get a bigger tantrum fro my brother. :roll: Right now my plan is to buy a Cricket Keeper from work when I get another bag of crickets on Wednesday. At the very least, I can keep them in it to gut load before freezing if I do end up freezing them.


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