Taking Hedgie Home
• Travel Cage
• Water
• Food For the Trip
• Once You Are Home
• USDA Paperwork
• Pedigree
• Final Payment

Taking Hedgie Home For the First Time:
When you come to get your new pet there are some things you will need to bring or know:

Travel Cage: You must bring a small animal carrier or shoe box with holes punched in the sides. It is ok to handle most hedgehogs in the car when driving him to his new home...BUT NOT IF YOU ARE THE ONE DRIVING!  Please bring something to put the hedgehog into in case of any emergency...You never know what might happen on the road! Also, hedgehogs can be very active and you may get tired of keeping up with him on a long drive. Hedgehogs tend to potty sometimes when handled, especially when they are nervous or in a new place, so it would be wise to bring paper towels and hand sanitizer to clean up with if you do plan to hold them on the drive home. I would also recommend an old towel to place on your lap to prevent a mess. Also, make sure there is some sort of bedding in the bottom of the travel cage to absorb any possible 'messes'. For our travel cages we use small Rubbermaid containers that we drill holes in the sides and put wood shavings in the bottom. The hedgehogs seem to prefer the solid colored ones best since they do not allow light through and they, thus, feel more secure.

Water: A water bottle is not needed for short trips and I don’t recommend that they be placed in the travel cage since they usually will drip a lot from the vibrations of the car and make the cage very wet. If you do have a long trip (over 2 hours) then a water bottle should be brought along, but not left in the travel cage for the entire trip. Place the bottle in the cage when you stop for gas or food.

Food for the trip: I will provide about 2 cups of the food that your new pet is already eating. This is so that you can use it to switch him over slowly to a new brand of food if you will not be feeding the same food. You really do not need to put any food in the travel cage during the trip unless you will be traveling at night...They usually do not eat during the day anyways.

Once you are home: Please resist the temptation to handle your new pet at this point. He has had a stressful trip. Just put him in his new home and give him at least 12 hours to adjust to his new surroundings. Please see the caging section about the best place to put the cage. It is common for hedgehogs to not eat or drink very much when they first go to a new home, but they should be eating and drinking well within 3 - 5 days. Diareaha can be a problem, as well, but this should not last for more than a day or two.

USDA Paperwork: Since we are a USDA licensed breeder there is some paperwork that will need to be filled out. I will need the Driver’s License number and signature or either the new owner who is over 18 years old or of the parent/guardian that comes to pick up the hedgehog with the new owner who is a minor. If you have someone else pick up the hedgehog for you then I will need their Driver's License number and signature instead. If you are not willing to give me this information then I will not be able to sell a hedgehog to you...I am only abiding by the law.

Pedigree: All of our hedgehogs are sold with a pedigree. A pedigree shows the hedgehog’s lineage and usually the colors of his ancestors. This is very important to have if you ever want to start breeding your hedgehog. If you need to sell your hedgehog for some reason, make sure the new owners know to contact me so that I can send them a new pedigree listing them as the new owner. Or they can contact the International Hedgehog Registry directly to update the change of ownership. This also helps me keep tabs on the offspring of my hedgehogs to track any possible genetic problems that show up in the future.

Final Payment: I prefer that the final payment be made in cash or by money order. Sorry for the inconvenience, but a few people have ruined it for the rest of us...It is a hassle for me to deal with returned checks. If for some reason I do accept a check, remember there is an added $25 fee required should the check be returned. Payments can also be made ahead of time using PayPal, but I must receive the payment BEFORE you arrive. To use PayPal, please see the Payments page and scroll down to the PayPal link. Do not use any other e-mail address other than the one given here or the payment will not process correctly.