What is this I’m hearing about there being no hedgehogs on this continent? Surely, that’s not possible?
24 responses to “Where Are the Hedgehogs?”
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No hedgehogs, but we’ve god woodchucks (marmots) and when they aren’t eating your garden, they are pretty cute – sort of big brown guinea pigs.
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Sorry, it seems to be true: There are no hedgehogs native to Australia, and no living species native to the Americas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HedgehogLikeLike
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Here, a more reliable source, see the map:
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/hedgehog/LikeLike
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See how beautiful they are?? Why wouldn’t they be wanted on this continent?
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Not only that but they’re illegal as pets in parts of the US and Canada
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_hedgehog#Legality
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Ok, I’m completely shocked by this news. ILLEGAL????? This is just wrong.
I’m so shocked I forgot to worry about the offer.
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Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂
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Posted the above the wrong place. But I do find hedgehogs to be impossibly cute. I have never seen one in person though. 🙂
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many kids had pet hedgehogs and pet turtles when I was growing up. And I envied them. 🙂
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Yes. I do know that some people have them as pets here too. One of my students actually had a pet hedgehog! I didn’t know they weren’t native to N. America until this blog. I am always learning something here. 🙂
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Hedgehogs are cute as long as you don’t know that they carry every disease and parasite known to mankind. At least those here in Germany do. And nothing is nicer than you or your dog getting fleas from one.
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I don’t know if it’s the lingering sense of cultural inferiority or just the general principle that the critters of imagination are always more appealing than the vermin of reality, but rodents native to the British Isles get more love in the U.S. than do the locals. Hedgehogs, badgers, and doormice? Adorable. Possums, weasels, raccoons, and voles? Not so much.
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I have a possum living right next toy house and the creature is do ugly that every time I see it my heart stops. They are really, truly ugly.
Who’s with me on this, people?
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When we first moved into our house, I tried to keep up the compost pile that the previous owners had made. Every evening when I’d go out with a bucket of vegetable trimmings and bread crusts and such, I’d find a possum, parked in the compost heap, waiting for his evening meal. My devotion to composting was fairly short-lived.
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Should I start a compost pile when we buy this house? Does anybody know?
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Possums don’t have much charisma, though I think armadillos are kind of cute (though I think you’re too far north for them).
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Meh–if the thought of putting biodegradable waste in a landfill bothers you or if you plan to do some gardening, composting might be a good idea, but it’s by no means a given of home ownership.
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Armadillos carry Leprosy!!!
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Oh God. The possum is one of the ugliest creatures on Earth. They truly make me shudder.
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As a Brit, I find weasels adorable and raccoons kinda cool looking. Hedgehogs and badgers are the dullest, dumbest creatures I’ve ever seen. Oh god, words cannot describe my seething hatred for badgers.
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It could be fond associations with Kenneth Grahame and Beatrix Potter I suppose? And it’s easier to romanticise animals you have no experience with. But honestly, habits wise, hedgehogs and dormice are much easier to live with – badgers can be a nuisance if they dig a sett under your shed foundations, but they rarely do – they prefer as little contact with people as possible.
And unlike foxes, they don’t generally ransack your rubbish or come through your cat flap. Racoons and possums, are in my experience, quite inclined to be a pain in the ass to co-exist with.LikeLike
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“Armadillos carry Leprosy!!!”
That just means you have to cook it thoroughly. No armadillo tatar or medium rare armadillo steaks.
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