New Exotic Pet: The Hedgehog

RATHDRUM, Idaho - Hedgehogs are pets with a point. Pointy spines, to be exact.

African pygmy hedgehogs are the new exotic pet in the Inland Northwest.

"I call them the yuppie puppies," said Vera Evans, who breeds the tiny creatures in Kellogg.

"Hamsters and mice are a dime a dozen. People like having something different and new, something other people don't have."

Prices range from $100 to $500 and even more for rare white ones.

"People want unusual things," said Doug Beernink, pet-department manager at Northwest Seed and Pet in Spokane.

Pygmy hedgehogs have joined tarantulas, scorpions, African fat-tailed gerbils and elephant shrews for sale at the store.

Beernink sells about six a month. The hedgehog is a relative of the mole and shrew.

The hedgehog can be petted when it's relaxed. Admirers find its pear-shape body and pointy nose quite cute. But a frightened hedgehog tucks into a circle and becomes a prickly ball of pointy spines.

The animal's underside is soft, white fur, much like a hamster's.

The state Department of Fish and Game has some reservations about the nonnative animals. If the burrowing rodents escaped, they could gobble crops or bore into canals.

"We were not going to allow any hedgehogs in Idaho because we thought they might be dangerous. We just don't want them in the wild," said regional conservation officer Steve Agte.

"So many people brought them in illegally that we finally just gave up."