# Of the 15 Species of Hedgehogs which are legal to own as pets in the united states?



## EmersonTheHedgehog (Mar 20, 2016)

Besides the African pygmy of course.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Pretty sure the only other one that there has been more than one of in the States is the Long-eared hedgehog. There's still only been a handful though, I think. I feel like there was one situation where someone had a possible Brandt's hedgehog, but I think that was years ago. It's illegal to import any hedgehog species, including African pygmies. Even trying to bring one into the country that's already a pet is extremely difficult.


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

It was hedgiepets that had a male Brandt's hedgehog. She had gotten it as a rescue and i believe he passed away a while ago now.


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## EmersonTheHedgehog (Mar 20, 2016)

So it's illegal to import any hedgehog species into the US? Is that from USDA Regulations or some other agency?


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## shinydistraction (Jul 6, 2014)

...well, I'm curious now. Why are you asking? Is there something specific you're wanting to do?


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## lindypie (Jun 25, 2015)

I have an Amur and a Hugh's and I was doing some research about bringing them back to the states when this contract is over and like Lilysmommy said I learned you can't bring them into the USA. This info came from the USDA and it has a list of countries where it's okay to bring hedgehogs from and if wherever isn't on the list then they're not coming into the states. So I'll be spending more time in China I guess...there's NO WAY I'd leave my boys behind. Here's where I got the information from: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ou...port/travel-with-a-pet/ct_animal_imports_pets


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

Only a few years after the biggest imports of APH started (then still called four-toed hedgehog) the USDA banned imports from countries with foot and mouth disease, which means the wild hedgehogs couldn't be imported anymore. 
I believe there have been a few people in the US who've had long-eared hedgehogs, but they seemed to be very rare, and I don't think any of those hogs are still alive. 

It is possible to import pet APH from countries free of foot and mouth disease but I don't think the process is very easy. I'm not sure how easy it is to import other pet species (the long-eared hedgehog) from those countries.
There has been an export of pet APH from the Czech Republic to the US a couple of years ago. A few breeders imported hedgehogs from there. It seems they might have gotten ripped off though, because they thought they were importing high quality, pedigreed breeding stock but I've heard from several people (including Czech) how the hedgehogs were actually all from a breeding mill.


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## EmersonTheHedgehog (Mar 20, 2016)

shinydistraction said:


> ...well, I'm curious now. Why are you asking? Is there something specific you're wanting to do?


Nothing specific, was just wondering why we have only one species available in the US.

Thanks for all the replies, I had a feeling APHIS was the reason for that.


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