We obtained our first two "pygmy" hedgehogs in 1986. Back then little was known about keeping these little creatures as pets. After a couple of years of caring for our own pet hedgehogs we found ourselves becoming more enchanted by their antics and found ourselves investing more and more time (and money) into our hobby. Three years later in 1989 we decided that we were ready to start a small scale breeding herd in hopes of producing a few babies so that we could study them closely, in hopes of learning more about their development and their habits. We also knew that back then very few people knew hedgehogs even existed let alone that people kept them as pets. We knew that if we wanted to keep this hobby going we would need to sell some of our animals and the challenge would be finding responsible pet homes for the animals that we produced in our breeding program. Other than a few people that we personally knew who thought that they would enjoy keeping a pet hedgehog, we hoped that with time we would meet people who showed a genuine interest in keeping these odd little animals as pets. As luck would have it, we met plenty of people who wanted to purchase animals from us, enabling us to continue this rather expensive hobby.

Now, after a couple of decades spent caring for hedgehogs, we have learned a fair bit about their needs. We have experienced many of the highs and lows that are associated with breeding and domesticating wild animals and we still look forward to the other unexpected surprises that will surely come our way. Every day brings about new experiences and it is the challenges that we are faced with that keep our hobby forever, interesting.

We are fascinated with genetics and we breed most of the colour morphs that are currently available. Possibly by selective breeding more unusual colour patterns will start to appear in our breeding program. While colour selection and prediction can be a fun part of breeding, when we select the right animals to pair up for breeding we don’t only pay attention to colour and personality, we also pay particular attention to the adult size of the hedgehogs. We are working to produce and maintain smaller sized hedgehogs than those that one might find in pet stores or from other breeders. We feel that smaller hedgehogs are more suitable to keep as pets, not only do they need a little less room but they seem to be a little more manageable for the average pet owner.

We work closely with several dedicated breeders who, like us, share in our fascination with these exotic little pets. All of us are committed to learning more about and sharing the information, our knowledge and our experiences with other hedgehog guardians and potential pet hedgehog owners.

This site is intended to be a source of reference to promote responsible pet ownership and it is not really meant to promote the breeding of any animal. We suggest that if someone is considering breeding animals as a hobby, to contact us or other knowledgeable specialists before they make that type of commitment. Breeding any animal is not something that should be done on a whim.

There is certainly a lot of information available. There are books and many articles on the Internet and at times the information can be confusing and even a bit contradictory. We always need to use a bit of common sense when reading information on the Internet. Some of the information you will find is based on fact while a lot of it is based on a person’s emotion, cuteness or one off situations. Again using commonsense needs to prevail. We feel that nothing can replace a mentor program. We believe strongly that before anyone decides to breed any animal that it would be in everyone’s (including the animals) best interest to seek the advice of a professional. Keep in mind that most dedicated breeders have already experienced (directly or indirectly) many of the situations that you might be faced with and better off avoiding. If they have the time, a reputable breeder can help you get started in the hobby of raising hedgehogs. The more information you gather the more successful you will be and the more you will appreciate the hobby.

The purpose of this site is to share our experiences in hopes of helping to educate people and perhaps even to debunk a few of the myths that are all over the internet regarding hedgehog care. We try not to get too technical and the site is updated regularly. We maintain a no-nonsense, and common sense approach to caring for a pet hedgehog.