Breeders of these tiny, prickly critters are reporting their hedgehogs are the hot new thing for rich British women, who are replacing the Chihuahuas and pugs that once had pride of place in their handbags. Domesticated hedgehogs (which cost $400 a pop) are winning the hearts of U.K. buyers -- including, reportedly, the wives of several top soccer players -- as they require less care and attention than a dog, and are more portable and cheaper to feed.
"We've had people traveling from the other side of the country to buy one," says Steve Birchall, owner of Cheshire Waterlife, which has sold 20 pygmy hedgehogs in the past month. "They're very simple to care for. You can feed them on dry cat food, and they just need some warmth, water and light."
Andrew Poertner, Roswell Daily Record / AP
Owners say hedgehogs are easy to care for, but animal protection experts discourage taking them as pets.
And for trendsetters, hedgehog ownership has an added bonus: The animals come in a range of easy-to-accessorize colors, including apricot, white, salt-and-pepper and chocolate.
However, animal charities have warned that these balls of joy shouldn't be used as fashion statements. "Pygmy hedgehogs are undoubtedly very cute, but animals aren't accessories, and promoting them as such is irresponsible," said Leanne Plumtree, of the U.K. Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "These are exotic animals whose needs are very difficult to meet in a household situation and where that's the case, the RSPCA does not believe they should be kept."
Pet store owner Birchall says he always warns potential buyers about the African pygmy hedgehog's unique needs and habits. He says the animals should be kept in a plexiglass-walled box equipped with a hamster wheel. (If kept in a barred cage, they're likely to climb the bars, fall and hurt themselves.) As the animals are nocturnal, owners should be prepared to be woken by the sound of the animal rattling around its exercise equipment; they have been known to run up to eight miles a night on their wheel.
Perhaps the biggest problem with these unusual pets, though, is their natural defense mechanism: hundreds of spikes. Although the animals have been domesticated since the 1980s -- when a breeder first crossed a white-bellied and an Algerian hedgehog -- they've retained plenty of their wild behavior, including a natural fear of predators. So try to give one a sudden cuddle, and you're likely to get a face full of barbs.
On the plus side, unlike a dog or cat, they're not known to bite or scratch. And pygmy hedgehogs will live four times as long as similar-sized gerbils and hamsters, which normally head to the great pet store in the sky after two years.
Unfortunately, Paris Hilton and other American lovers of all things cute and teeny will struggle to catch up with this British fad. Hedgehog ownership is currently illegal in California and five other states, as well as New York City.
