Usually a furry, four-legged animal is thought of as man’s best friend, but a prickly quilled animal can bring a person the same amount of happiness, a pet owner said.

This past August in Colorado, Karin Rich, a senior in biology from Cobden, said she bought a male African pygmy hedgehog, a type of miniturized porcupine, for $95.

She said she was so pleased with the prickly little guy that she traveled to Cape Girardeau and bought two female hedgehogs.

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Besides raising three hedgehogs, Rich has one dog, two cats, one rat, and two turtles. She said her love of animals stems from a childhood spent on the farm.

Growing up on a farm, you’re surrounded by chickens, pigs and other sorts of animals, she said. I’ve just always loved animals.

Rich said she also has raised abandoned opossums and injured squirrels.

She said the baby opossums’ mother had been killed by a neighbor’s dog, and the baby squirrels had fallen out of a nest in a tree. After nursing the animals to health, she released them back to the wild.

Rich said she returned the animals as soon as they were healed and would never keep a wild animal as a pet.

But with all her animal experience, Rich said the hedgehogs are truly her most unusual pets.

They really are a strange, exotic type of animal, she said. But, they are the perfect pet for a college student.

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Rich said when pygmy hedgehogs are babies they are about the size of a bird and will not get bigger than a guinea pig.

Because of their small size, she said she keeps her male hedgehog in a 10 gallon aquarium and the two females in a 29 gallon aquarium.

Caring for the hedgehogs costs under $20 a month, Rich said. Their usual diet consists of cat food, mealworms and the occasional treats.

You can feed them cottage cheese, meat and eggs, she said. Most pet stores carry basic care books for hedgehogs.

Although pygmy hedgehogs are docile animals, they do have thick quills and will use them if they are scared, Rich said.

When they’re scared they make a puffing noise and stick out their quills, she said. It can be kind of scary.

It’s important to give them a lot of attention, she said. They need to be handled and moved around so they get used to their surroundings and you.

After the first few days, the hedgehog becomes more relaxed and docile, but might revert to its original behavior if it not held or played with, she said.

If you spend time with them, they aren’t hard to handle, she said. You can use gloves when you hold them.

Rich said the hedgehogs only shed a few quills and are very clean animals. She said they can even be trained to use a litter box.

Janie Russell, the manager of the Pet Stop in University Mall, said she agrees that hedgehogs make good pets with the right care.

In the beginning, they might use their quills and roll up into a ball, but once they learn who you are, they can be trained, she said. They will walk on you just like a hamster.

Although hedgehogs have an eight-year life expectancy, Rich said she cannot keep them that long.

I have so many animals to take care of, she said. I don’t have the time to give them the attention that they really need.