Spike is my friend Ashley's hedgehog. She bought her as a him, but discovered after several days (and naming her) that he was actually a she! But the name suits her perfectly, so it's stayed. Although she does get called "Bad-ass" quite a lot too! Or Hedgie when she's being good.
Hedgehogs are really very intelligent, and Spike is certainly living proof of that! She can worm her way past almost any obstacle, unless it's just too big and heavy for her to move, and doesn't just use the brainless bash head until it falls method that a dog, for example would do. She moves whatever is holding the "wall" up, one at a time, until there's nothing to support it and it falls over on its own.
She loves to swim, and it's one of the only times people besides Ashley can hold her, or see her adorable little mouse ears and wet, black nose! Also adorable is the way she runs across the floor...she "lifts her skirts" and gallops, doing a twinkle-toes impression that would make Fred Flintstone turn green!
Spike got to meet Furbles a couple of weeks ago. We wanted to get pictures, but of course, the camera's batteries went dead just as the two started sniffing noses! So we don't have pictures yet. But sometime soon I will take Furbles back to re-introduce them. She scared him (first thing that ever has!) at first by curling into a ball and "whuffing" at him. He kind of scurried back to his side and hid in his PVC pipe. Eventually, though, they realized neither was going to hurt the other, and came out to play! They didn't interact very much, but they didn't fight either, and Furbles generously shared some of his hay with her (which she proceeded to self-annoint with as soon as she'd finished eating, so I guess she liked it).
The most special thing about Spike (in my opinion) is that Ashley and I had spent a lot of time planning, researching, and shopping for our respective pets, and both were not supposed to get them for at least another week. But we ended up getting them on exactly the same day! So the 2 of them have the same adoptive birthday. How cute!
Oh, and if you ever wondered about Sonic the Hedgehog's curl up in a ball and roll move...yes, Spike actually does that! She uses her quills as shocks and launches herself down the stairs, off the table, etc. when she wants to get down in a hurry.
