They don't require quite as much space as a ferret(generally 4 square feet as a minimum),but do require special heating.About the same nutrition requirements too,just different levels of fat that are required(much easier to find appropriate levels for).They do have shorter lives though,when I last checked the average is around 3 years.Of course,diet and general care is going to impact that,but in general they're not the most long living pets.As much as I love hedgehogs,I'd rather at least wait and see how I can fit in the mentioned pets first