When most people think of a house pet, dogs, cats, fish, and various other animals come to mind.  There’s the occasional horse, a snake, and even rodents such a guinea pigs and hamsters. Yet when Junior Alex West is asked about her pets, her answer is shocking to most.

“My sister had a unit in CCL (Center for Creative Learning) that had animals. My sister loved the hedgehog so we looked them up on the internet,” West said. “We thought they looked cool, so we got two.”

West’s hedgehogs are named Nina and Daisy, and she has owed them each for a year. Though the animal seems outlandish, it is relatively easy to take care of.

“They have a cage and you have to take them out for about an hour or else they’ll get bored,” she said.

In addition, feeding them is easy, and they are quite easily entertained.

“There’s actually hedgehog formula, and they also eat kitten food and vegetables,” West said. “They like to play with toilet paper rolls. They’ll put their heads in them and walk around and run into things. They run on hamster wheels, too.”

The animals are approximately the size of a guinea pig, and West foresees owning more hedgehogs in the future. She finds the animal to be a unique aspect of her personality that sets her apart from others.

“I think it’s fun to have an exotic pet just because no one really knows about them, and it’s cool to be able to say, ‘Yeah, I have a hedgehog!'”