Aww...cute and sad at the same time: Orphaned hedgehogs adopt cleaning brush as their mother

[Liberal Veteran]

Four tiny orpahned hedgehogs are snuggling up to the bristles of a cleaning brush - because they think it's their mother.

The four inch long creatures are being hand-reared by staff at the New Forest Otter, Owl and Wildlife Park in Ashurst, Hants.

Workers say Mary, Mungo, Midge and Slappy get comfort from playing with the centre's cleaning brush and enjoy rubbing against it.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=478026&in_page_id=1

[WindRavenX]

1. AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

:loveya:

[Redstone]

2. If they'll cover the shipping, we'll offer a good home for one or two of them.

Redstone

[wildhorses]

4. i will take the ones you don't, redstone. same deal.

aren't they cute :loveya:

[Redstone]

7. Cool critters indeed, and I bet they'd get along great with our Beagle puppy.

Redstone

[CBHagman]

3. I don't know whether to smile or cry.

They certainly are cute, and it breaks my heart to see them cozying up to a brush.

[Fire Walk With Me]

20. Yeah. Reminds me of the Harry Harlow experiments.

I hope the critters are alright.

[sanguinivorous]

5. AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW, twice...

Hedgehogs are some of the cutest damned animals on the face of the Earth.

I loves me some hedgehogs!!! :)

[barb162]

6. Those poor little things. I hope thye make it to adulthood. n/t

[TorchTheWitch]

8. ooooo! that is sooo cute!

[seemunkee]

9. Makes me miss my hedgies

Those Euro ones can get pretty big though, about the size of our groundhogs

[CBHagman]

12. You had pet hedgehogs?

Or were they just in the garden?

Anyway, I've never seen a real one, except photos. In Germany someone gave me a marzipan hedgehog for god luck, but of course I didn't eat the cute little thing.

[seemunkee]

13. I've had several pet hedgies

The ones that are available as pets in the US and Canada are African Pygmy HH. They can be great pets and very friendly. They don't have long lives though, most pet hedgies live no more than 5 years.
Here are pictures of the last ones we had:
Jinger


Koko

[Sequoia]

14. How cute!!

[CBHagman]

15. Oh, they are cute. And I have a question...

Do you just let them wander about the house? Do they need daily walks/rambles? Or are they kept in a hedgehog hutch or similar? Inquiring minds want to know!

[ruiner4u]

16. I had one for about 4 years..

They do die very early...

Some people do let them wander. I had a cage for mine. And they can be litterbox trained!..

They are really curious little animals.. I would let mine out for about an hour a day in the living room and it would tip over vases and such to try to find the smallest place possible to nap in.. Once you get them socialized they can be very sweet..

[seemunkee]

18. We would let them out to play

They are very active at night and can run up to 5 miles. One major problem is that they poo on the run and being omnivores it wasn't little pellets like a guinea pig.
We had a 3 story ferret cage with two wheels in it so they could each run. That thing would vibrate at night from all the activity.

[jobycom]

10. AWW! But I wonder how the wildlife folk know what they are thinking.

I can hear the little creatures:

Hey, look, a cleaning brush!
Yeah, cool, those things tickle. Oooo, and they are so comfy.
Oh yeah, that feels cool. I could just lay on this thing all day long.
Hey, look, the humans have those funny expressions where their mouths form circles and they start feeding us.
Let's keep doing this! Win win!

[XNASA]

11. That reminds me....

What ever happened to 'whoisalhedgehog'?

I miss that guy.

[stuntcat]

17. pretty little guys!

oh I'm glad someone's taking such good care of them.

[legally blonde]

19. aaaawwww

they are sooooo cute! It is a little sad that they are cuddling with a scrub brush, though.