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| Name: |
Keely
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Age: |
Four and a half years old
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| Gender: |
Female
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Kind: |
African Pygmy Hedgehog
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| Home: |
Bowling Green, Ohio, USA
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This
is Keely, my beautiful baby. She's a total grouch, but I love her.
Keely is the second hedgehog that I have owned. My first hedgie, Spike,
was given to me by a family who didn't take proper care of him. He was
very sweet, but very sick when I got him so he did not live very long.
But even the short time that I had him made me realize what wonderful
pets hedgehogs are so I contacted a breeder in Akron, Ohio and purchased
Keely. When I picked Keely up, she was about six months old. She was
pretty grumpy and the breeder said that Keely was like that when someone
woke her up.
I have since realized that Keely is always like that. Unlike the other
hedgehogs that have been featured on your site, Keely is most decidedly
not affectionate. She is a royal grouch. With that said, if my house
was on fire, I would run in to get her. In spite of the distinct lack
of affection on her part, I love her with all of my heart. She may not
have the most pleasant disposition, but she definitely has a distinct
personality and I wouldn't changer her (well, maybe I would make her a
tiny bit sweeter.)
She likes to sleep and boy does she like to hiss and pop and make her
displeasure known. I have bought her toys in the past but she hasn't
particularly liked any of them. She does like her toilet paper tubes
and is quite good at the "tubey head game." It's fascinating to watch
and I never get tired of it. She puts her head in the tube and runs
around for a bit. Then she spends a good minute or two trying to get
her head out of the tube, looks around for a split second, and then puts
her head right back in the tube. It's even more fun to watch her with a
paper towel tube which is nearly twice the length of her body. She's a
riot.
She loves to eat meal worms and inhales them in .2 seconds. She also
likes chicken, broccoli, eggs, and most kinds of meat. She also likes
to nibble on my hair when I hold her because she likes the smell of my
shampoo. And I know that I am in trouble if I hold her after I have
used cucumber scented lotion. She keeps licking my hands and then she
nibbles them and then she chomps down hard.
When she really likes the smell of something, she self anoints. I was
amazed the first time I witnessed this and I continue to be amazed each
time. She contorts her body into the most bizarre shapes to lick froth
onto her quills that it's almost like she has no bones. She twists in
such a way that she looks like a towel being wrung out. She can also
turn her head upside down and lick the back of her neck!!!
Keely is not a friendly, sweet hedgehog, but she suits me. When I say
something about her being a grouch, my husband says, "Like mother, like
daughter." Even if Keely is not nice, I love her so much and wouldn't
trade her for anything. Now that husband of mine with comments like
that may just be another story!
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