# HAPPY HEDGE HOG DAY



## xhozt (Aug 25, 2008)

;-) hatchet reporting 6 more weeks of winter here , what aboutyour hoggie ?


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## PixiesExoticHedgies (Sep 4, 2008)

My hedgies are hoping for NO more cold winter days! :lol:


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## Cimredopyh (Oct 13, 2008)

Happy hedgehog day!


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## drowsydreamer (Aug 28, 2008)

Since when are hedgehogs and groundhogs the same animal? :|


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## LoriL (Jan 20, 2009)

Happy Hedgehog Day to you too!


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

Happy Hedgie Day everyone!


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## ana (Jan 21, 2009)

Happy Hedgehog Day! 

They actually celebrated it as HH day at our zoo today too! 

http://www.memphiszoo.org/default.aspx? ... 0:2/2/2009
(Despite the banner, they actually used an African pygmy hedgehog. Kinda odd though, the announcer lady said that she "came to the zoo from Europe." Hmmmm.)

Annnnnyway, they said she predicted an early spring here. 

It was a pretty cute little deal, they brought 2 hedgies out (one really overweight, rather scared & fussy 8 mo. old guy and a 3-almost-4 year old explorer/star of the show) for a bit of meet and greet question time after the "event" at the zoo gates. (The girl handling the fussy one kind of annoyed me with the hedgehog Q&A though... Like, someone asked if they were related to porcupines and while she did say no, she then followed up with something about them being related to anteaters or somesuch... One little girl asked if they made good pets and the zoo girl basically said no, because they "aren't cuddly" and that she'd rather have a dog! Pffft!)

I think there was supposed to be an Elvis impersonator too, but he didn't show... lol...


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## Vortex (Aug 28, 2008)

Happy Hedgie Day!!! :lol: yay


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## Zalea (Sep 12, 2008)

ana said:


> (Despite the banner, they actually used an African pygmy hedgehog. Kinda odd though, the announcer lady said that she "came to the zoo from Europe." Hmmmm.)


European hedgies are illegal in a lot of states. "White bellied" are the only ones allowed in many places. Maybe your state doesn't allow European, so she didn't want to risk it?



drowsydreamer said:


> Since when are hedgehogs and groundhogs the same animal? :|


Romans used hedgehogs before we started using groundhogs. It's still a tradition in some parts of the world. Instead of using the shadow from the sun, they would see if a hedgehog saw its shadow by the light of the moon. If the moon was clear in the sky and the hedgie could see its shadow, there would be 6 more weeks of winter.
Here's the HHC page about it: http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/hedgehogday.shtml 
Happy Hedgehog Day, everyone!


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## ana (Jan 21, 2009)

Zalea said:


> ana said:
> 
> 
> > (Despite the banner, they actually used an African pygmy hedgehog. Kinda odd though, the announcer lady said that she "came to the zoo from Europe." Hmmmm.)
> ...


Oh, I'm just saying that I, personally, wouldn't have used a Euro hedgie on a banner to represent the star of their show that happened to, well, not be European at all... but that's whatever - just the designer in me.  The first half of the little event was all talking about the fabulous "Stella the Hedgehog" and her love of Elvis & such, lol... So, I kinda figured they'd use a pic of her. 

What I thought really weird though was the mention of how the zoo supposedly got their hedgehog (the one used at the event / "Stella") from Europe. I can't imagine anyone shipping an African pygmy hedgie from Europe to here... Like, why would they? I'm probably pretty safe in assuming it was just a mistake in the dialogue though.

As for state laws, I wouldn't think that would really apply to a zoo... however, I would think that trying to use a European one for the event might have been a bit more limiting vs. using a well trained/handled African pygmy.


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## Tristen (Aug 30, 2008)

It wasn't too cold out there for the hedgies :shock: 
I live a little ways off in Clarksville and I know its been freezing here  

I might try to make it up there next year if I can


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## ana (Jan 21, 2009)

Tristen said:


> It wasn't too cold out there for the hedgies :shock:
> I live a little ways off in Clarksville and I know its been freezing here
> 
> I might try to make it up there next year if I can


It was really pretty cold... They said they had heaters on the stage and hot hands and other things to keep her warm up there...

They took her inside promptly after the little announcement too...

Like I said, it wasn't really all that eventful. (Like, I wouldn't think it'd be worth the drive from Clarksville, lol.) Of course, the Elvis impersonator didn't show, so who knows about next year, lol...


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