Hedgehogs of Asgard

Welcome! This blog is about my hedgehogs and tenrecs. It's a mix of fun pictures, videos and educational posts about these species and their care. Buy a Hog a Worm

[hedgehogsofasgard]

7 years old and greying but still going strong 🥰

[hedgehogsofasgard]

Floofy cuddles

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Spooky

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Happy Halloween!

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EARS EARS EARS

[hedgehogsofasgard]

Hey! Just wanted to thank you for all the work you put into sharing information about hedgehogs. When I first got an APH two years ago it was stressful to figure out how to care for him and your guides were honestly my most reliable resource. I LOVE how in depth you go about the rationale behind each aspect of care. It helped me feel more confident making care decisions and my APH has a better life because of it.

Thank you! I’m so happy to read you find my guides useful and they’ve helped you and your hog 💕

[hedgehogsofasgard]

i wanted to say thank you for this blog. i impulse bought a hedgehog about 9 months ago(impulse buying is something i’ll never do again lmao) and your blog really has been so valuable in teaching me good husbandry. american husbandry is so frustratingly mediocre and i get sick of people saying hedgehogs only should get insects as “treats” and i’ve even been seeing they “prefer” fleece. i have my boy in 9 sq ft and am moving into a naturalistic set up for him and try to give insects as a daily portion of his food. i wish more hedgehog keepers followed your example since these animals deserve better. your labor is sincerely appreciated and you’ve been an asset to my journey and i’ve fallen in love with APH’s and hope to only keep improving my husbandry, yours is a level i aspire to 💕

Hi there, I’m happy to hear my blog has been of help to you! And thank you for this message. To be honest, I’ve been feeling a bit bummed out with the hedgehog community lately. It’s a lot of work and you get very little in return. That is obviously not what I am doing it for and the majority of people are absolutely lovely but the amount of times my work has been copied and/or taken completely out of context gets tiring (I don’t mind people sharing it of course, but please don’t copy or translate it word for word and claim it as your own). I’ve never wanted to force my way of doing things on people nor do I think it’s the only way (far from it) but I haven’t been able to find the time and energy I used to have, nor do I enjoy it as much. I didn’t mind having to explain the same things over and over again in the past but now I just don’t have the patience for it. And a lot of people just demand and expect a fast answer as if I’m some sort of robot with unlimited free time to spew out hedgehog information because they’re too lazy to use google. I feel like most of the things I’ve written are in dire need of an update but I just can’t bring myself to do it. I don’t even enjoy sharing pictures that much anymore because every time I log on here it reminds me of the massive amount of work I still have to do.

Okay I didn’t mean to go off on a rant there... Again, thank you so much for your sweet message it really made me smile! Impulse buying is never ideal but I am glad it worked out for you and you’re doing your best to give your hog a great home! Our hedgehogs (and other pets) need more people like you.

[drferox]

Exotic pets meh

@tsundancer said to @ask-drferox​: What do you think of exotic pets? Assuming they’re properly cared for, of course. For example my ultimate end goal when I’m financially stable and living in a moderately sized home is a pair of fennec foxes.

You’re not going to like it, but since you asked, I disapprove of them very strongly and feel like the keeping of very exotic pets is done just to boost humans’ egos, especially in the age of Instagram, where they are seen more as status symbols than anything else. Particularly when there are so many domesticated animals that would offer as-good, or better, companionship that we are better equipped to care for.

‘Exotic pets’ can mean two thinks in a veterinary context. It might mean weird, completely non-domesticated animals like Fennec foxes as you said above, or it might mean anything that’s not a farm animal, horse, dog or cat. That includes domestic species like rabbits, chickens and guinea pigs.

But ‘exotic’ meaning any non-domestic species as a pet? Severe disapproval.

Firstly it is extremely difficult to properly care for all but the smallest and least interactive of them. They have special needs and are not adapted to a human environment. Something small like a frog you certainly could keep in a specialized enclosure within your human environment, but a larger, more active creature? We don’t actually know how to best care for most of these species, even zoo husbandry is updating all the time, how is a pet keeper supposed to manage?

Secondly their acquisition is a concern. Where are these animals actually coming from? Where were their parents coming from? How is this going to influence wild stock, because we should be prioritizing the conservation of the wild wherever possible.

Third is that the promotion of these animals as pets, even if done decently, encourages other people to do it, and many of them will not have a clue what they’re doing.

Ultimately I feel like it’s pursing novelty on the human’s part with relatively little consideration of “should we do this” instead of “can we do this?”

We don’t need to keep non-domesticated animals in our homes. We really don’t. Not when there is already such variety in form and function in our domestic species already.

[vet-and-wild]

This is such a mood. I have a really hard time with the ethics of exotic pets, because I want to see exclusively exotic pets. So I know I’m going to see “pets” that I don’t agree with. But I have such a hard time with that line, and how/if I want to cross it. I’m not ok with primates and exotic cats as pets, so should I just say no? Or is it better for those animals to come to me and get veterinary care and husbandry advice? Or am I promoting ownership of these animals by seeing them? I’ve thought about this a lot, and I really don’t feel like I have a good answer. I’ve also thought about if I want to draw that line, where do I draw it? Do I say nothing not domesticated? Because that would include reptiles, parrots, sugar gliders, some fish, etc. Do I draw the line at species I decide we can’t adequately care for in captivity? Because at that point we’re not just talking about things like coatis and foxes, we’re still talking about reptiles, fish, and birds (and lets be honest–you could say this about basically any exotics species). I also own a snake. It would be pretty hypocritical of me to say “no non-domestic pets” and then go home to my ball python. This is something I’ve thought about a lot, and I don’t feel like I have a good answer for.

The one “guide” I’ve found about the welfare of exotic pets is this chart that could theoretically be used to classify and regulate the ownership of exotic pets. We talked about this in my exotics class so I unfortunately don’t remember the source, but it’s a really interesting concept.

[drferox]

Anonymous said to @ask-drferox: Regarding the recent ask about keeping exotic pets, could you share some thoughts on how one should try to draw the line between exotic-but-okay-to-have (rabbits) and too-exotic-to-have (fennecs) species? In large mammals it’s decently straightforward, but what about animal groups where even some of the common ones aren’t that far domesticated like rodents, lizards and some weird outliers like axolotls? Especially in countries like USA where every animal seems to be legal to have.

Adding this ask to this reblog chain because the reply above is really useful for this discussion.

And keep in mind that when we’re talking about ‘exotic’ pets in the context of veterinary medicine, we might be talking about tigers, or we might be talking about rabbits, the third most popular mammal pet, or the ubiquitous goldfish. Context.

The categories listed above are a pretty reasonable way to define what species are reasonable to keep at pets, which are not, and which are a grey area. Because like most things in biology, there’s a spectrum.

Category A would include domestic rabbits, and domestic rats and mice. These strains are very domesticated, and easily capable of having positive interaction with careful humans.

Category B would include many of the commonly kept reptiles, and most aquarium fish. You need a special setup and a fair amount of husbandry knowledge to keep these species well, but you can do it. Only captive bred species would fall into this category.

Category C, for me, is where I would put the larger breeds of captive bred parrots. It might be theoretically possible to keep a species as a pet if you dedicate your home and life to it, but it is unattainable for most people.

Category D and E should really only be in zoos, and the crux of ‘insufficient knowledge’ is important here because someone with an hour of internet research might think they know what they’re doing, and feel confident, when they really, really don’t. Also collecting them from the wild puts most saltwater fish here.

Category A species you would expect to derive something positive from human interaction. Category B should be positive-to-neutral, or at least not negative with a little effort.

Category C takes significant effort to not drop below neutral.

And in regard to vet-and-wild’s ethical dilemma, you’re going to see animals you don’t think should be owned wherever you work as a vet. They will be out there unless you can make their ownership illegal, and this applies to exotic animals, extreme brachycephalic dogs, or even one vegan vet I knew who tried their hand at dairy medicine for a while.

The only difference is they will either be there with your advice and expertise, or without it. You’re not promoting their keeping by seeing them, you’re promoting their care.

[hedgehogsofasgard]

There’s a lot to unpack here, but most of the initial remarks are way too generalised imo. Keeping any pet is egotistical and selfish. Are there people who keep exotics to fuel their own ego? Absolutely. But there are plenty of people who keep domesticated animals for the exact same reason. And what counts as a “very exotic pet”? Something big? Something rare?

My main issue here is the assumption that exotic equals hard to care for. There are smaller exotic species out there which are easier to care for and better suited to a life in the average household than many of the domesticated species. And there are a lot of exotics which are captive bred and have been so for decades. Their existence in captivity does not influence the wild population (for some, their existence in captivity might actually save the species). My point is: you can’t compare a tiger with a stag beetle.

Domesticated does not equal easy care. The sad thing is that we’ve normalised subpar care for many domesticated species. And when owners provide proper care for their small exotics people are often surprised about the amount of work these owners put into it. However, this generally has more to do with the insufficient care these people are used to. If domesticated pets are properly cared for it often takes the same amount of effort as caring for a small exotic pet (depending on the species) and sometimes even more. Any animal species has their own requirements and needs to be researched thoroughly before buying, so that point has little to with exotics. Just because a dog or a cat is a domesticated animal doesn’t mean anyone should just go ahead and buy one without knowing what they’re getting into.  There are plenty of exotics which would fall in category A or B, while there are domesticated animals that would fall in C - imo, dogs for example (especially certain breeds). Just because we’ve normalised subpar care for such species does not mean they don’t have demanding and complex requirements and don’t need an owner with a lot of time, attention and skill.

Access to vet care can definitely be an issue for certain exotic species and is something every (aspiring) owner should keep in mind.

Anyone who has followed me for a while knows I am not someone to promote the keeping of exotic animals, and I firmly believe that animals such as hedgehogs are not well suited for the majority of people. But there are probably even more people out there who should not own a cat, or a dog, or any other domesticated animal - yet almost no one bats an eye when they keep these animals in mediocre conditions. Imo, the issue shouldn’t be centred around exotic pets; the question should be if people are fit to keep any of their target species whether they’re exotic or domesticated.

[hedgehogsofasgard]

Where’d I you get you fluffy hedgehogs? Or what kind are they if they aren’t African Pygmy hedgehogs. I love their coloring and would be very interested in getting one!

You’re probably talking about my desert hedgehogs (Paraechinus aethiopicus). They’re very rare in captivity, mine are originally from Egypt and were supposed to go to an animal park which fell through at the last minute so I was lucky to be able to get them!

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hi there! i'm having an issues with tiny black flies. i think fungus knats or soldier flies, i'm not sure. how to i get rid of them? do i need to remove all of her soil?? thank you in advance!

Probably fungus gnats, they can be quite persistent. They need damp soil so the easiest way to get rid of them is to let your soil dry out a bit more. You can also get beneficial nematodes which will kill them off and aren’t harmful to your pet, although they might eat some of your cuc (if you use any).

If you’re keeping an APH they need to be kept relatively arid anyways so if you have fungus gnats your humidity is probably too high and/or the soil too moist.

[hedgehogsofasgard]

You have hedgehogs and toads!’

Yes I do! 🐸🦔

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Keep calm & touch your toes

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Fall vibes

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