The Wild, Dangerous Hog from Ohio

 This is the screensaver on my phone of my youngest daughter's hedgehog, Harley.

Harley came into our lives in a peculiar way. You see, my daughter was attending Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania and wanted a pet. Now, pets are pretty much frowned upon in dorms, especially by those who are supposed to maintain the rules in the dorm.  Some call them Resident Assistants, some Campus or Community Assistants.  Alyssa at the time, was one of these.  As a CA, she had a room to herself, and being a person who likes social interaction, found herself sorely lacking.  She found someone wishing to rehome a hedgehog--but they were across the way in Ohio. The story was sad.  This hedgie had an original owner who moved away and left the hedgie with her friend, who ended up terrified of a 6oz Danger Mouse.  The friend barely did more than feed, water, and clean his cage for over a year, and finally decided he would be better off with someone else.  Enter Alyssa, who felt that it would be easy to conceal said critter in her room.

Now, what most people in the free world don't realize is that hedgehogs are illegal in Pennsylvania, being deemed a 'Wild, Dangerous Hog'.  Is that the face of a killer?  I don't think so.

Alyssa didn't want to make the round trip drive by herself and enlisted one of her besties as an accomplice.  Together, they crossed state lines, Alyssa purchased the hedgie, and back across the lines to SRU, his cage covered with a towel. Oh, the subterfuge.

She managed to keep him hidden the remainder of the semester, and brought him home the end of the spring semester, at which time she decided that she wanted to return to Colorado for good.  She named this 2 year old Harley.

Because of his earlier lack of socialization, it took a while before he was more than a prickle ball whenever you looked his way or tried to hold him. Eventually the little asshole warmed up to us, and would enjoy snuggling on your chest under a blanket.  

He was a Big, Scary Hedgehog, doing this thing called 'popping' where he would bounce up and make this spitting sound, quills at the ready.  Unlike porcupines, hedgehogs don't have quills  that will lodge in your skin if touched, but they are a little pokey. When introduced to new people, he would 'pop', startling them.  He would then get this pleased look on his face, like he was telling himself  "I still got it". He Noped people and dachshunds alike.  It was hilarious.

Also a bit of an escape artist, Alyssa had to retrieve him from behind the fridge several times.  Always a big production because she had to carefully pull the fridge away from the wall without smooshing him. Fortunately she had carpeted stairs, because another of his favorite things to do was pretty much 'fall' from one step to the next until he got to the lower level, at which time he would race across the carpet to the nearest immovable object he could hide underneath. Couches, chests, etc, were not safe from him.

He had a love of mealworms, and would rouse from a dead sleep when tempted with them, which he would slurp up like spaghetti. It's how I got him to like me. He loved his grandma, and his grandma loved her grandhog. He knew my smell, so he was always hopeful I had brought him worms.

Sadly, Harley is no longer with us, but he lived to the ripe old age of 7+ years, ancient for an African Pygmy Hedgehog who generally live around 4-5 years. 

I miss the little prickly angel.