The life and times of a tiny Hedge

by Meg on April 10, 2006

Hedgies.com, your complete online Hedgehog resource ;) is the source of this terrific little story of "Tenzing" the baby Hedge. Here he is, looking like a hairbrush, on Day 5:

Tenzingday5

On day 15 then Day 20, Tenzing looks more like his Momma, developing from wee hoglet to perfect junior Hedge.

Tenzing_day_15_02_1Tenzing_day_20_01_1

Until finally, he takes programming classes to become the C.O. intern.

Hedgies_com

Don’t miss more images of Tenzing growin’ up at Hedgies.com. Especially this one of him doing the "Prickly Snug" with his Momma on Day 36, and washing off some gnarliness during his first bath on Day 42. Ahn! <head tilt>

 

{ 53 comments }

1 newby 04.10.06 at 1:19 pm

cute!

2 wombat 04.10.06 at 1:30 pm

Day #5 hedgie looks like some sort of weird alien sea creature or something. Where is his head?!

3 Emily 04.10.06 at 1:32 pm

Those pictures are so cute i want to barf/ralph/throw up/spill my cookies. AWWW esp. the snuggling one and the bath one. AWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!! i cant handle it, ive had an overload of cuteness!

4 Alex Jeffries 04.10.06 at 1:34 pm

Quick! Attack with the computer duster!

5 Constance 04.10.06 at 1:36 pm

Ok, I didn’t think hedgehogs could be cute…but awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

6 A thinker 04.10.06 at 1:43 pm

Eek! That first picture made me laugh out loud. Hairbrush indeed, or mutant sea urchin, or something like that. . .

Total adorableness though from the rest of the pics! New CO intern!! Yay!!!

7 little miao 04.10.06 at 1:50 pm

Hegdies are so cute! Momma and Baby have such adorable wet little noses. I’d like to give them a kitty-kiss.

8 Casey 04.10.06 at 1:57 pm

♥Sigh… I wish I had my own!♥

9 Ouch 04.10.06 at 2:03 pm

Cute yes, but its gotta hurt giving birth to one of those :)

10 Adrienne 04.10.06 at 2:03 pm

i had had no idea that hedgehogs were so adorable and awesome until CO showed me the way. i want one! maybe not a creepy baby hairbrush one….but a slightly more grown up one.

11 you guys r silly 04.10.06 at 2:27 pm

Can I ask a question?
I don’t know *anything* about hedgehogs. Are they BORN with quills, or do the quills start growing right after birth?
Just wondering…
(yikes…..&:o[

12 E. Collison 04.10.06 at 2:31 pm

Tenzing is a favorite of mine – and the perfect C.O. intern!
(Should be “purrfect,” since hedgehogs do make that sound at times.)

13 Doubleclick 04.10.06 at 2:42 pm

As much as I love hedgehogs, that baby one does look like a testicle in the first pic

14 E. Collison 04.10.06 at 3:05 pm

The Hedgies.com site is down – I think it’s been Cute Overloaded…

15 emily 04.10.06 at 3:31 pm

Hedgies are born without quills, and develop them shortly after. :)

16 you guys r silly 04.10.06 at 3:49 pm

Thank you emily!
(I was just concerned about those poor *hedgehog MOMMIES*!)
&:o)

17 loralee 04.10.06 at 3:54 pm

Thank goodness it is after or OW OW OW OW OW OW!

18 Jan Spencer 04.10.06 at 4:03 pm

Just adorable aren’t they??

19 kristin 04.10.06 at 4:07 pm

NUH-UH!

20 snusnu 04.10.06 at 4:08 pm

Do you SEE the foot in the first picture?? The baby has a foot! And it’s sticking out!

21 M- 04.10.06 at 4:27 pm

Don’t ask me why but something about hedgies just tickles my funny bone, they are so cute in a funny sort of way.

22 Jen 04.10.06 at 4:57 pm

Awwwww!!!! He’s so cute!! And tell him congratulations on scoring the intern job…such a young go-getter!

(psst. might want to teach him how to work the coffee maker…he looks like he might need it in the bottom picture. *squee* cute!!!)

23 The Travelling Stuffed Lamb 04.10.06 at 5:16 pm

OHHHH WOOOOOOOOOW! How cute?!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s awesome! I love hedges ;)

24 DLT 04.10.06 at 5:16 pm

doubleclick: i thought the same thing! (that in the day 5 pic, baby tenzing looks like a spiky testicle).

THAT is worthy of “cute…or sad?”

25 Aubrey 04.10.06 at 5:43 pm

We have the hedge.

Now – bring us a SHRUBBERY!

26 faye 04.10.06 at 6:01 pm

He almost looked like a cactus!

27 em 04.10.06 at 6:57 pm

you know what they say… a thing, accompanied by a smaller version of that thing, is always cute.

28 E. Collison 04.10.06 at 7:34 pm

“Don’t ask me why but something about hedgies just tickles my funny bone, they are so cute in a funny sort of way.”

Same here – and they *are* funny. See this hedgehog video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yVYet0wVKk&search=toobin%27) for proof. The music is perfect.

29 Mook 04.10.06 at 7:42 pm

Re day 20: Um shcoosh me – could shomeone “take a letter”?…

30 The Guy Over There 04.10.06 at 7:43 pm

When I first saw him, I honestly thought it was a pine cone. I dunno, I think they’re cuter when they’re all grown up and more possumy.

31 A thinker 04.10.06 at 8:02 pm

E. Collison, that video is *hilarious*. Especially the part where he tips over onto his back and all his feet wave. . .

That must be what Numo looks like!

32 E. Collison 04.10.06 at 9:08 pm

Glad you liked it, A thinker. I would love to have my own hedgehog, partly for entertainment value – the legs waving in the air have the same effect on me… (See Numo’s blog for some great pics of hedgehog/tube antics.)

Apparently, they’re *all* “tube addicts.”

33 Errata 04.10.06 at 9:32 pm

Wow, so they’re actually born that prickly? Poor mom! Imagine a breech birth.

34 pzcritz 04.10.06 at 9:47 pm

Awww. Looks like a spiny sea cucumber :)

So adorable!!

35 Carmen 04.10.06 at 9:50 pm

They ARE born with quills! OUCH!

Scroll half way down the page and see Tenzing’s development from day one.

http://hedgies.com/hogletdev.htm

36 pz 04.10.06 at 11:03 pm

LOL!!! Just click on the Day 1 pic. It’s so unusual to see such an image.
Thanks for the link :)

37 A thinker 04.10.06 at 11:04 pm

E.C. – yes, if I ever get a wee cute thing, I am leaning toward a hedgie. And I wonder why the tube thing? Is it some kind of instinctual thing related to hedgehog behavior in the wild? I am intrigued.

38 E. Collison 04.10.06 at 11:36 pm

A thinker, nobody seems to know about the tubes. I’ve seen pics of a hedgehog nursing her young while while “wearing” a tube…

39 Numo 04.11.06 at 2:40 am

Hedgehog represent. Yo!

40 Michele 04.11.06 at 3:26 am

is it a… shrub-let?

41 Subhangi 04.11.06 at 4:41 am

EEEEEEEE!!! Spiny cuteness!!!

42 constintina 04.11.06 at 6:38 am

I audibly gasped as I scrolled down and saw the tiny baby. I thought “oh, cute hedgehog…oh my god there’s a teeny one. It is 1/10 the size.”

This is an excellent example of rule #7.

I do believe that for maximum impact it may most effectively be viewed a little at a time for the slow reveal.

43 gazard 04.11.06 at 9:53 am

Love this story of hoglet!

44 Loris 04.11.06 at 12:55 pm

Hedgehogs put cardboard tubes on their noses all the time in their natural habitat. Officially, a wild hedgehog with a tube on its nose is known as an echidna.

http://www.habitat.org.pg/Long-beaked%20Echidna.jpg

PS – Cuuuuuuuute! new intern!

45 Constance 04.11.06 at 6:50 pm

For those of you who think the hedgehog looks like a testicle….

I should let you know, as a biology major…that if your testicals look like that, you should have that checked into…

46 Pat 04.11.06 at 11:19 pm

Do they sell them in the USA? I’ve never heard of anyone around here (NYC)having one.

47 Pat 04.11.06 at 11:22 pm

Nevermind – found answer to my own question. That internet is a lifesaver.

48 emily 04.12.06 at 12:06 am

aww so cute! and hilarious (in the first one he looks like a sea urchin or something)

49 Hammy 04.12.06 at 2:14 am

*Searches around computer monitor* Noooooooo!!!!! What about my hedgie??

50 kitty d 04.12.06 at 4:25 am

now i want a hedgehog! gimmee! :D

51 Heather 05.10.06 at 6:08 pm

Hi everyone! I’m Tenzing’s human mom, and I am so tickled you liked his photos. I have to tell you that he is even cuter now at almost 2 years old. Heh.

Heather

52 Simon 10.04.06 at 5:22 pm

I love hedgehog.

53 Jennifer 07.11.07 at 3:33 am

are his quills prickly? cuz i want to buy a hedgehog but i have no clue if it smells really bad or anything.

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