Origin Story

Sushi, our first hedgehog

         I have always wanted a hedgehog; having read about them in the Redwall Abbey series by Brian Jaques and researched them online.  When I found my first female hedgehog in a Clarks pet store in New Mexico I was ecstatic.  I brought her home and consumed literature on the raising of hedgehogs.

Our first litter

        I read a lot about the hedgehog breeding process and decided to try it.  Being a Biology major, I have taken many genetics courses and had become fascinated with color varieties and the various intrigues of animal husbandry.  I asked my roommate Jasmine to join me on my venture and Desert Hedgehogs was born.  We were never more careful and paranoid than with that first litter.  We had both read horror stories about mothers rejecting their babies and the bloodbaths that could result, so we kept the house as quiet as possible.  When the babies were older we handled them like eggshells, cooing over their adorable roundness.

        Now that we had the babies, we had no idea what to do with them.  Of course we wanted the most perfect homes the world had to offer, but where to find them?  We decided to advertise first in the local school's newspaper.  Our results were flabbergasting, we got many more replies than we had babies.  The new hedgie parents we met with were wonderful and caring, just what we were looking for.

        After we got a few litters under our belt and began feeling like we may actually have some knowledge, I set up the Desert Hedgehogs website:
DesertHedgehogs.weebly.com
I wanted to have a place where we could post pictures of our hedgehogs and our babies, as well as information for new owners.  After getting registered on several hedgehog breeder websites we no longer needed to advertise in newspapers.  The success of our website has been wonderful and exciting and continues to grow every day.  Going from just one sweet little hedgehog to a potential business has been a rapid change with a steep learning curve.  We want to thank the online community and the hedgehog breeders we've encountered for making it possible.  And of course all of our hedgie parents, thank you for loving our babies!