Whilst they have long been seen as quite a prickly customer and a creature
which isn’t really suitable for keeping as a pet, many more people are now
embracing their local wildlife and the animals they can find in their garden,
and are deciding that hedgehogs might just make the perfect docile family pet.
Most people who keep hedgehogs do so because they’ve found that they were
regular visitors in their garden. They might have put food out for them during
the cold winter months or found one which needed a little bit of care and thus
they took on the task themselves. However, it should be pointed out that, unless
you know what you’re doing, the best thing you could do for a hedgehog is to
call in the RSPCA or take it to your local vet. Any animal deserves the best
possible care and, unless you can provide that, you need to take it to someone
who can.
Hedgehogs have long been a treasured national animal; they’ve been around in our
popular culture for many years. From Beatrix Potter to the Animals of Farthing
Wood, hedgehogs have been a staple of our childhoods and our literature for
years and this is why, despite their quite odd appearance, many people feel so
endeared towards them. They turn up in dark places in our gardens, in our
garages and sheds and we do feel an urge to take care of them- we really need to
know how to do it properly though, otherwise it’s just not fair to the animal.
If you are going to take on the care of a hedgehog then you might want to get
support from various societies and charities which are out there and you should
also consider insurance so that, if your rescued pet needs any medical
treatment, you will be able to afford it. However, obviously keeping a hedgehog
is a very unusual choice and thus you may well have problems finding pet
insurance, even from the companies who specialise in exotic species. If you are
confident you can provide the highest level of care then taking on a hedgehog
could very well be an enhancing and exciting project however, if you have any
doubts, then you should really leave it to the professionals and take your found
hedgehog to the vest or call the RSPCA. It’s just fairer on the animal that way.