County resident has turned ‘hedghoggery’ into a modest side business

How much do you know about African pygmy hedgehogs?

If you answered something to the effect of “not much,” you are certainly in the majority.

Most Americans don’t know much about the insectivore — much less, that they can be housed as pets in a variety of well-controlled environments, such as apartments. Susan Crocker runs Susan’s Hawkeye Hedgies out of her family’s home in Killduff — a small area located between Newton and Sully.

In addition to her regular full-time job at a Des Moines courthouse, she breeds and raises African pygmy hedgehogs. Since there are still not many people who have owned or been around hedgehogs, Crocker spends a great deal of time on educating potential first-time owners about the needs, habits, likes and dislikes of most of the pets she sells.

“It’s not a way to get rich,” Crocker said. “And if it weren’t for my help from my daughter, I wouldn’t be able to do it.”

Maddie, Susan’s 12-year-old daughter, balances caring for the hedgehogs with softball and other activities. Susan Crocker said she and her daughter “fell in love” with hedgehogs on a trip to the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, and decided to try to get one of their own.

“We were surprised at how hard they were to find,” Susan said.

After finding what she calls an “ultimate cage” for a hedgehog, and ending up with a male and female that reproduced, Susan soon found herself in the hedgehog business, for the past six and a half years or so,

Susan’s Hawkeye Hedgies has been either shipping the animals to customers or selling to people who drive to Killduff to pick them up from her home. The pets are not for all people in all living situations. Not only do they require relatively controlled temperatures, regulated in some winter arrangements with heat lamps, but they are nocturnal, running on special plastic running wheels at night.

Enclosures for hedgehogs are small — a clear plastic storage container, such as ones used to store toys or fabric, will suffice, but regular cleaning and changing of the aspen wood chips they prefer are needed. Also, hedgehogs have unique habits, such as self-anointing (making a foam in their mouths after licking a strongly scented place, then placing the foam on their quills with their tongues), and they’re territorial, so they might pop, hiss or curl into a ball until they’re comfortable.

Insectivores by nature, hedgehogs need a lowfat diet. Many Americans feed them “kibble,” which is much like dry cat food, and offer mealworms as treats. Both are available at many pet stores.

Males cost $150 each. Females, which are are not usually as territorial as the males, are $175.

Since the pygmy species was brought in from Africa in the early 1990s in large quantities, several U.S. states decided they didn’t want any animal from that continent to spread diseases. Hedgehogs cannot be legally kept as pets in California, Georgia, Hawaii and Pennsylvania, and there are heavy restrictions in Maine and Arizona.

Other jurisdictions — such as New York City and Douglas County (Omaha and its suburbs) in Nebraska — also forbid the African-originated hedgehogs.

Susan said she’s shipped hedgehogs to Alaska before, but most customers prefer to come pick up the pets themselves. She regularly gets visits from Minnesota and Missouri customers, and students attending college in Iowa make up a large portion of her customers.

Susan has a one-week return policy, and recently had a customer return after a week of discovering the amount of work involved in cleaning and care. There are times when Susan finds it difficult to keep up with veterinarian expenses and all the work of keeping her 150-or-so hedgehogs clean and healthy.

Maddie admits she enjoys the hedgehogs more when they’re younger and sweeter, but she seems adept at managing adult animals as well. However, she has brought “hedgehoggery” into the lives of so many happy customers, she is likely to stay in the business as long as Maddie can help out.

The moments when people arrive, and they and sometimes, their children, leave happy with a new pet are the moments that give Susan the most joy.

“To see their faces light up at the sight of a new member of the family is really special,” Susan said.

Susan's website is www.hawkeyehedgies.net.