Hi everyone. I haven’t done a gratitude list in a while and, to be honest, have been struggling to find enough things to be grateful for to make a list out of them. Today was another mixed day. However, I did find a major reason to smile in the morning, which I am sharing with The Weekly Smile.
You see, my assigned home staff has a new family pet and a rather unusual one at that. This morning, she invited me over to her house to see it and I actually got to hold the animal. Can you guess what it is?
Yes, indeed, it’s a hedgehog! Specifically, this one’s a four-toed hedgehog. They can legally be held as pets as of 2015 here in the Netherlands, but there are only a few breeders. My staff said she had to go through a whole screening process to see if she and her family would be fit to take care of a hedgehog. The hedgehog, a female named Willow, can only leave its cage for an hour at a time, because otherwise it’ll lose too much body heat.
When I held it, at first it didn’t feel prickly at all. I compared its prickliness to my sister-in-law’s late rough-haired dachshund. Only when Willow got a little overstimulated at the end did it put up its spines.
Hedgehogs like this one aren’t used to living in groups or even pairs, so they can easily be left alone for a few weeks (provided they have enough food and water) to fend for themselves. Even so, the atmosphere did feel cozy because of Willow.
After my visit with Willow, my staff let me jump on her kids’ trampoline in her garden for a bit too. Her husband has an aviary with Gouldian finches in it. They were too quick for us to even attempt to take pictures of them or so my staff said, but their birdsong was quite beautiful.
A Multitude of Musings 
You write so well. I enjoyed this little passage about your hedgehog friend. Have never touched a hedgehog that I can remember. Found it interesting that she didn’t feel spiky at first. And that they can lose body heat so quickly. Lovely to see you!!
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Thanks for the compliment on my writing. The thing about the body heat only applies to this particular type of hedgehog, which is originally from Africa.
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That does seem to be an unusual pet. Looks nice, but I think I’ll stick with domestic animals. It’s been ages since I was on a trampoline, but sounds like fun, and the birds I’m sure were great.
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Thanks for stopping by! I understand why you’d feel apprehensive about a hedgehog as a pet, but Willow was definitely cool! As for going on a trampoline, we have one at the day center, but it takes two people to set it up and put it away, so it rarely gets set up, unfortunately.
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I’m so glad that your week is starting of well!!
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Thank you. I’m happy about it too.
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This looks so cute. I’m glad you had a fun outing
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Thanks! Yes, I certainly had a lot of fun.
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You’re welcome
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I am glad you have found some things to make you happy. What a great trip out. How unusual to have a hedgehog as a pet but it is so interesting. I imagine them feeling so prickly.
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Thanks so much for your kind words. Yes, the hedgehog was certainly very interesting and no, unless she gets anxious, she really doesn’t feel all that prickly.
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Awww hedgehogs are so cute. I’ve only held two in my life but for some reason I’ve always felt some sort of affinity with these animals. Perhaps because they’re a bit like cats in some respects. So cool that you can keep them as pets in the Netherlands. We have loads of hedgehogs visiting our backyard but our dog Jocky can be quite nasty with them as his territorial instinct kicks in. It’s lovely that you could hold Willow and she didn’t even feel spiky.
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Aw, that’s so cool that you’ve actually held hedgehogs twice. I’d never held one before Willow.
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I would love to hold a hedgehog. They’re so cute.
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They certainly are! I am so happy I got to hold Willow.
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