Nothing Yet...Still waiting.

So Loofah's first estimated due date has come and gone but I estimated her at 35 days gestation from the first mating and technically, I should have to wait at least until 40 days have gone by as a good rule of thumb to assume she is not pregnant. Let's also not forget that I put her in with Sonic a second time so will have to keep in mind that she may have taken during her second encounter with him which would mean the 16th of June is still a possibility and then I will have to wait until the 40th day as well to rule out pregnancy. Gees, that's a lot to keep track of so it's a good thing I documented this and keep a close eye on her. Some breeders weigh their pet throughout the month after possible mating and if steady weight is being gained by the female, then it can be assumed she is pregnant. I haven't done this with my hedgies but is a practice I might get involved in as it will give me more accurate indications on the progression of each individual pregnancy. Although keeping a very small herd is not much of a demand on me to know exactly if and when a female is pregnant, it's not like I have many people or pet shops calling and asking "are they ready yet?" so I can take the liberty to just let nature run it's course and if it happens it happens or else I will try again. But with that being said, just waiting and not knowing is hard in itself because you just never know if it's going to happen and how soon. I have a scale, I should put it to good use next pregnancy.

I am very excited for Loofah and Sonic as this will be their first attempt at parenthood and heir litters should pack a beautiful punch of colour. I expect to have pintos and solids in chocolates, salt & peppers and maybe more champagnes. Hope she has 4 or 5. That's a nice number, not too many for new mom to handle but not too few either. Nice to see a good sized healthy colourful litter.

(a picture to show Sonics pinto markings. His entire rump is white along with patches on both sides of body)

 Sonic is a high pinto in the salt and pepper colour meaning he has a lot of white markings on him which is very desirable in the pinto varieties. he should be able to pass on those lovely genes. Him and Loofah also have very desirable personalities. They are quick to un-ball (within 1 second of picking them up) even if sleeping and in the middle of the day and are very curious and friendly. In the evenings, even if the lights are on, they will come out to explore and eat and drink and lick my fingers. Oddly enough, I have never seen either one self-anoint so whether they perform this natural behaviour known to hedgehogs or not is beyond my knowledge as I have never seen them do it. What is self-anointing you ask? Well from the time they are only 2 weeks old or so, if the hedgehog encounters a smell or taste which they find appealing, they will like it, taste it, nibble it, then produce a lathery foam in their mouths and spread the sticky, foamy saliva all over their body. While it is not clear why they perform this behaviour, scientists believe it is to cover themselves with that particular taste or smell to ward off potential predators or to attract a mate - weird. Anyways, unless Sonic and Loofah are self conscious and refuse to do this while anyone is watching, I have yet to see them perform this interesting yet innate behaviour.

Tonight I have thoroughly cleaned Loofah's cage so it is ready and prepped for possible babies in the coming days so she is ready to go. The shavings were very fresh and very aromatic so she was out walking the perimeter of her cage taking in the smells. I added a clean peek-a-boo pouch in her igloo as well and scrubbed her food dish and water bottle clean. She is ready to give birth. Fingers crossed her and babies do well when and if the time comes - will keep you all posted :)



(Loofah exploring while I cleaned her cage)







Due Date???

Okay so my champagne coloured hedgie "Loofah" was hopefully impregnated by her boyfriend and will have her first litter on approx. June 3rd or if she took after pairing her with her man the second try, then should be approx. June 16, 2011. It's recommended that you put the male and female hedgies in together in the males cage for a week, but for first time females some breeders recommend placing them together another week after a week of repose and separation in-between. Therefore I have the two dates down, I'm hoping it's the 1st date as I'm excited to see how she does as a first time momma and what colours she will produce. The male is a salt & pepper pinto. Pintos are so cool as they have varrying degrees of white patches on their bodies completely lacking any pigment. Some have small dime size patches and some are completely covered with only a few coloured quills and those would be reverse pintos or tobiano pintos. The champagne looks like a light taupe colour or sandy colour if you will with dark ruby eyes and pink nose with a liver rim. Sometimes this colour is confused with apricot but apricot hedgies have more of an orange tinge to their quills instead of the taupe in the champagnes. For a great discription of hedgehog colours visit http://hedgehogcentral.com/colorguide.shtml
Here are some pics of baby hedgehogs, they are born blind, barely walk or move for that matter and quill-less. They get soft sparce quills within the first hour after being born. They are weaned by about 5-6 weeks depending on litter size and how tolerant the mother is, some larger litters may take upto 8 weeks to wean. 7 weeks is a good rule of thumb and safe age to send them to their new homes if they are healthy. Check the pic. below.

So fingers crossed that Loofah is infact pregnan and has her babies around the two dates listed above. The hoglets sell between $150-$170 which is very cheap compared to the US which I've noticed many, many breeders around the country sell them for $200-$350 yikes! They are very easy to keep but the hardest thing to provide for them is constant heat between 72-85 degrees farenheite. If kept in a basement or garage, these creatures would not survive unless block heaters or heat lamps were kept at a constant temperature to keep them from going into hibernation which is deadly to domesticated hedgehogs and most often irreversible. I will keep posting on Loofah's progress along with pictures.

this is her now...taken two days ago May 25, 2011. It's so frustrating that I cant visually tell if she's pregnant, will have to wait and listen to baby hoglet wines or movement inside her igloo.

(Loofah, first time pregnant champagne coloured hedgie)

Animal Fever!!!

Finally started my blog, new at this so hopefully it won't suck - lol. Well that's not a confident way to start off. I'll begin by saying that all information or details provided on my blog space will be truthful, and will not be taken by other persons or sources unless stated as so. I hope to provide a detailed diary of my pets and how I care for them and any new events going on with my spiny, feathered and furry friends. I also will provide helpful hints and care tips and toy making ideas as well. I hope people who stumble apon this blog can take in some new and helpful information that can aide them with their pets. My menagarie includes a brindle boxer, a budgie, a parrotlet, flemish giant and dwarf rabbits, a bearded dragon and tropical fish. Of course along with all the pets I just listed, I also raise and breed pygmy hedgehogs which will be the majority of what I write about on this blog and cavies which I raise on a very small scale now. They are the reason for naming this blog Northern Pricks obviously hedgehogs are prickly and I'm from Canada. I thought it was original, hopefully people won't be offended. I hope this blog is enjoyed by many as I continue to add my thoughts on pet care.

http://www.canadianquills.yolasite.com/