Morbidly Obese Rescue

[Aimee2]

You have a hedgehog!! wow! I never knew you could even have them as a pet until yesterday when i noticed tons of them on gumtree etc!

I want one! But I havnt got the space because I'm sure they need massive cages.

oh and I no not one thing about dwarf hamsters lol sorry!

[Crittery]

Good on you for getting her. Can't believe her previous owners

[p_anda]

Originally Posted by Aimee2

You have a hedgehog!! wow! I never knew you could even have them as a pet until yesterday when i noticed tons of them on gumtree etc!

I want one! But I havnt got the space because I'm sure they need massive cages.

oh and I no not one thing about dwarf hamsters lol sorry!

You can't just have any hedgehog as a pet. African Pygmy hedgehogs are not a species that exist in the wild, they were bred specifically for the pet trade crossing the Algerian and Four-toed hedgehog, so they are a hybrid of two species that were already domesticated. African Pygmy is the most commonly kept as a pet, though there are a few others. Under no circumstances should you remove a hedgehog from the wild. [I'm not trying to be horrible, I just don't want anyone get the wrong idea about hedgehogs and end up in trouble]

African Pygmy hedgehogs are illegal in:
US States:
California
Georgia
Hawaii
Douglas County, Nebraska
New York City, New York
Permit is required in these states:
Arizona
Maine, New Jersey and Wyoming
Wisconsin
Virginia
Pennsylvania

Illegal in these countries:
Australia

European hedgehogs are illegal pretty much everywhere as they are protected endangered species.

[Aimee2]

Lol don't worry I'm not daft I wasn't going to try and tempt a European hedgehog in my house with a tin of catfood!
They have have became really popular over here recently. But then they have the "wow" factor and the "cute" factor (despite the self anointing...ew..lol)I just hope they don't suffer the same fate as other "fad" pets such as terrapins, pot bellied pigs, sugar gliders and micro pigs.

[Amazing Miss Alice]

My Hannah looks like this and my vet says she's the very definition of health. She's a right chunkmonster!

Obviously if she is showing other symptoms such a incessant drinking, very frequent and smelly pee, drowsy/ lethargic then of course it is time to seriously start thinking about diabetes.

I was very worried about Hannah but the vet explained that because she is a breeder Djungi (i.e. she's from very good stock) that it is normal for her to be so rotund. I wouldn't want you to be worrying unnecessarily. Well done for rescuing her! I am sure she knows how lucky she was to meet you which is why she was so sweet when you picked her up for the first time! You were clearly meant to have her.

[cathface]

my sister's WW looks more or less exactly the same size/shape as your lovely rescue, and he was recently at the vet's, who said he was in perfect health.

[fluffymunchkins]

Best of luck with her, sounds like shes found a lovely new home

To make it clear - Campbells, Winterwhites and Roborovskis are classed as russian (belong to the genus 'Phodopus'). However, only winterwhites and campbells are able to crossbreed due to their similarities.
Chinese belong to a different genus (Cricetulus) and are actually classed as rat-like/mouse-like hamsters, rather than dwarf hamsters.

[Kissa]

fluffymunchkins: I knew that those three were from Phodopus, I just didn't realise it was that genus that made them "Russians". I thought it was the two that could interbreed (Campbells and WWs) that were called Russians, because pet shops get them confused anyway