# Pedigree vs Non-Pedigree



## Kutie.Pie811 (Oct 27, 2017)

So, I'ver been on a couple groups and I've seen official breeders and then just hobby breeders. They don't seem to mind each other or anything. I understand that pedigree is a good thing, but the babies that aren't pedigreed are the same price. Is there a BIG deal about buying a baby who's not pedigreed?


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## Hammy (May 3, 2015)

Pedigrees are a really big deal, because they're there for a reason. It's not just "a good thing".

Taken from So you want to breed your hedgehog...:


> Responsible breeders are attempting to eliminate WHS from pet hedgehogs by carefully tracking pedigrees of the hedgehogs they breed. When they get a new hedgehog, the breeder will look through the pedigree, which just has a list of names of that hedgehog's family background. If the names are registered with the IHA (International Hedgehog Association) as they should be, the breeder is able to look up each of the hedgehogs on that pedigree and see how he/she died, to know whether any of them died from WHS. If a hedgehog develops WHS, a responsible breeder immediately quits breeding that animal (if it's still of breeding age), and notifies any other breeders or owners who may have offspring from that hedgehog. There is NO cure for this devastating disease and so far the only way we have to combat it is to only breed pedigreed hedgehogs with clean lines and to immediately retire any who show signs. It may seem harmless to breed your pet hedgehog that you got from the pet store or that you don't have a pedigree for, especially if you're just giving the babies to family members or close friends. But without a pedigree, you have no way of knowing for SURE that your hedgehog doesn't have WHS in his background and that he or she won't pass it on to those babies. If you truly love hedgehogs, you will understand and agree that no hedgehog or owner should have to suffer through WHS just because someone wanted to pass their hedgehog's personality on to his or her babies.


In case you didn't know:
WHS stands for Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome.

"Hobby Breeders" who don't utilize pedigrees are irresponsible, as they're selling hedgehogs without any background information or genetic history, and could be inbreeding.


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