I mean this is relaxing as it should be

Ashley, Pickle left knowing she was loved and cared for by a kind soul as you. Honestly, that's the best gift you can ever give to Pickle ❤️

@@Nevz00 Thank you. I do think I gave her a good life, but I still feel guilty that we couldn't save her. She trusted me and I remember how she looked at me on that last day, but there was nothing I could really do at that point. I don't know whether I'll get my next female hedgie spayed, but I don't want something like that to happen ever again. Pepper is super timid and I still haven't bonded with him in the same way, but I'm going to introduce him to my partner's girl hedgie soon, so hopefully we'll have some hedgie babies :)

It's normal to blame oneself when unexpected things happen, but hey though Pickle is no longer here, she knows that you were there for her ❤️ The part where she looked at you was her admiring you for everything you have done. Good luck with Pepper! HE is about to enjoy a great life with you.

any progress with the shy hedgehog? i just got a new hedgehog(first one) and wonder how much bonding progress i can expect. she isnt totally shy, but i can not hold her on the back. iknow usually hedgies dont like it, but it would be a bonding goal if she could get to tolerate it and i could handle her like the hedgehog in the video on the back

@@Avlysh Unfortunately, he's still pretty shy and gets crabby when I touch him. I hold him every night with his house on my chest and him lying down inside it. He gets excited when I feed him and he often lays pretty mellow with me as long as he's in his house and I don't touch him too much. He's really cute and I love him, but I've had to just accept that he's not as friendly as Pickle was. In general, I don't think hedgehogs like being held on their backs for more than a few seconds. I think they probably feel defenseless in that position since they can't hunker down behind their spikes if they need to, so it might be just instinct to be in a more defensible position. Anyway, a small update on Pepper is that I did put him with a girl hedgie to try to breed the two of them (was my first attempt) and they seemed to like each other but it didn't look like they were doing anything. However, I didn't watch them 100% of the time and one day, while cleaning the girl, I discovered we had 3 babies! One of the babies is a chubby girl named Molly and she is SUPER friendly and she'll lay right on my chest, curl up and fall asleep. So, we have a sweet little hedgie family now and I've developed a lot stronger bond with Molly on account of her seeming to trust me more. I hold all the hedgies every single day and I love them all for their unique personalities. No regrets, but of course I do still miss Pickle every single day and I still cry sometimes when I think about her. I don't think that will ever change. Good luck though with your hedgies and if you get yours to be more comfortable being held on its back, let me know.