Cuda explores with his teeth.

Cuda was born on November 7, 2006 and is the only male hedgehog in the herd. He came all the way from Saskatchewan to live a life of luxury with me.

As the only male in a group of females, Cuda does his best to make sure we never forget it. As all male hedgehogs do, he has discovered several ways to showcase his manhood and loves to show off for company. As it stands, nearly every friend or family member has had the privilege of one of his "private" shows. Occasionally, he will sing to the girls who live in the cages above him, but they just ignore him. I suppose it is equivalent to a female shooting down a drunk male at a bar, hunting for a phone number.

Throughout his entire life, Cuda has been a biter. He's naturally very skittish, but he's also very curious. He uses his mouth to explore his surroundings and sometimes, he uses his teeth. As you can imagine, hedgehog teeth hurt. They are very sharp and small, and some hedgehogs see fit to grind their teeth together to make more of an impact. Fortunately, Cuda doesn't grind his teeth together often; it's a quick nip and he's on his way.

As he's grown older, the urge to bite every finger he sees is dwindling. Rather than biting five times in five minutes, he'll go a few months without a sudden chomp. He still uses his teeth to explore, but he's learned to redirect the energy to fabrics. He's very adventurous, and my bed is a great way to occupy him. He'll amble around, chewing a pillow case or licking a blanket. When he finds something especially interesting, he'll contort his body in the strangest ways and spread saliva over his quills. It's called anointing and no one is really sure why they do it.

One of Cuda's favorite pastimes is running on his homemade bucket wheel. He must run miles every night, because I hear his feet hitting the plastic running surface of the wheel for hours on end. Every morning, the wheel is completely coated in "evidence" of his activities, and he's sprawled out in his igloo, fast asleep. As a result, I have great difficulty keeping weight on the little guy. He's not an easy keeper like the girls and I have to feed him a fattier version of kibbles to keep him at a healthy weight. Luckily, this fattier kibble has extra flavor and he gobbles it up. Since beginning to supplement his diet with the higher fat food, he has filled out nicely and his sides have rounded out a bit rather than being sunken.

When he's not running, Cuda is rooting around his cage and dragging the paper towel into his nest. He's a very accomplished nest builder, and spends a good portion of each day constructing a new one. He'll use pieces of kibble, shredded paper towel, fleece and whatever other items he can drag into his igloo. It's fascinating to watch him build and I've watched him numerous times. He'll drag everything into his igloo, and bury himself completely with it. Then, he'll slowly work from the back of the nest and make his way toward the entrance. He'll back out, build a small barrier halfway across the opening and then shove his TY beanie spider in. Stretching his front legs forward, he'll shimmy back in and snooze the day away.

Cuda is definitely a finicky hedgehog, and not one that I trust around many people. He does come on occasional trips, and has proven to be very good with children, but his mouthy nature means he stays at home most often. Within the last few months, he has gradually opened up to me and demonstrated a very hesitant trust. He'll accept a treat from me and take it right from my hands now, which is a huge difference from six months ago when he wouldn't eat any kibble that I might have touched.

As difficult as he may be, he's a lovable hedgehog and is quite the one-person hedgehog. When I hold him, he'll lie calmly on his back and allow me to stroke his face and belly. He greets me every morning, and will appear to listen as I'm talking to him. He's made a great deal of progress in the recent months and I'm so pleased at how well he's coming along.