REGINA – The wall has fallen, the closed society is open, and the hedgehogs are flooding in.
Alberta is now allowing hedgehogs to be imported and a Saskatchewan breeder says it is drawing any available breeding stock into its maw.
“Alberta is taking everybody’s,” said Moose Jaw breeder Robin Hill. “They’re just draining the market. They’re pulling them in as fast as you can produce them. Nobody can keep up.”
Hedgehogs are now legal in Alberta with a temporary shelter permit. John Girvan, of Alberta fish and wildlife, said he expects legislation will soon allow them to be brought in free of regulations.
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Previously barred
Prior to October, no one could import or possess the animals in that province.
Most Canadian provinces have been open to hedgehogs for some time, but Girvan said Alberta tends to be slower to accept new types of animals because “we don’t want to open up a problem for our wildlife.”
Girvan said Alberta wildlife officials were worried about the insect-eating hedgehogs because they can carry tuberculosis. But after examining the animals, the province has decided they’re safe.
That’s good news for breeders such as Hill. Not only is he able to sell his growing stock of hedgehog weanlings, but he is seeing the breeding base expand as well.
“If the breeders realize what we can do with this, if they can just keep that vision, we can all make a good business out of this,” said Hill.
He considers hedgehogs to be an ideal new animal for the pet market. He thinks his spiky African pygmy hedgehogs are superior critters to hamsters and he predicts pet buyers will think so too.
“They’re going to replace some of these old faithfuls because they’ve got a lifespan of eight to 10 years,” Hill said. “I hear most hamsters don’t even make it to their second year.”
Hill said hedgehogs are a good investment because a breeding pair can produce four litters of four weanlings per year and the animals can breed before they are four months old.
With present prices as high as they are – a proven breeding pair costs about $1,000, Hill said – breeders can make money and quickly recover their investment.
And pet prices are good too. Hill sells a male hedgehog for $150, and he said he has heard they are being sold for as high as $300 per animal.
But the boom has Girvan concerned about over-breeding and the animals’ welfare.
“It’ll hit the saturation point and there’ll be all these little hedgehogs out there,” he said. “People see it as diversification. It’s not diversification. It’s a fad. It’s not going to last. Then what happens to them (the hedgehogs)? That’s what you have to worry about.”
