Ode to Kay Kay

Day 353

I wanted to write another blog dedicated to Chaos, because the first one was rushed and I don't think it showed just how much we loved her...

Over two years ago, on February 13, 2012, Bobby decided that he was going to buy a hedgehog. After scouring the current hedgehog market on Craigslist he contacted a seller that had two hedgehogs (one male, and one female, potentially pregnant, and the one they were selling). I was nervous acquiring a pregnant hedgehog (ummm... birthing spike balls cannot be easy?!), but Bobby bought her anyway!

So Bobby brings home this adorable fat spike ball! I was scared of her to begin with because we weren't sure if she was pregnant, and I didn't want to mishandle her (spiky babies inside of her!). But she was soo adorable to watch. Chaos is such a Chaos. She had a somewhat chaotic personality - you give her a bowl of food, she would dig through it and make a mess. I nicknamed her "Kay Kay" because Chaos sounded like a guy name ;) Side note: her full name is Chaos Chaos (Bobby invented a rule that a hedgehog's last name is her mom's first name... but since we didn't know Chaos' mom's name, she is Chaos Chaos... Kiwi is Kiwi Chaos - we are very strange hedgehog people!)

First pic of Chaos! That was the "Ariel/Little Mermaid" towel I gave her. She looooves towels.

She absolutely LOVED hiding under towels. We had a towel mat in the kitchen and she like to hide underneath it. When we let her wander the apartment alone, you would almost certainly find her under there taking a nap. It was adorable :)

So anyway, Kay Kay was potentially pregnant. A potential cue: If you took her out to play with her, she would sometimes fall asleep almost mid walk. I guess that's a cue for being pregnant? But we still weren't sure because hedgehogs are pretty much nocturnal. Maybe she was just tired? But, we decided to treat her like she was pregnant. I wanted to make sure her bones were nice and strong for a potential birth... hedgehogs are lactose intolerant, but I read on the internet that they could have cottage cheese. And so cottage cheese my little miss Kay Kay was treated to. She loved it!! It was adorable how she would just eat it up! Oddly enough, after the birth of her babies, she stopped liking cottage cheese. I guess it was a pregnancy craving ;)

Kay Kay after a cottage cheese snack

We spent quite a bit of money trying to buy Chaos toys she would enjoy. To sum up, she didn't like anything but towels and rocks. The rocks she had fun flipping over with her nose (she was a bully like that! ;)) and the towels to bite the hell out of (she's destroyed numerous towels), and to hide under.

Attempting to teach Chaos organic chemistry - she was not interested

After Chaos gave birth, she lost all of her "baby weight" and she was tiny! We could not believe her previous owners "weren't sure" if she was pregnant since she was so huge pregnant! At times, she got cold (lack of body fat), so apart from special heaters, and lots of blankets, at times, we got creative in how to keep her warm:

Kay Kay chilling in Bobby's sweater pocket

One of Chaos' most adorable traits is that she would eat anything! She loves fruits (mangos!!) and wet cat food. I wouldn't let her have wet cat food often since it wasn't good for her (only on holidays!) but when I let her eat it she would go to town until I took it away. Oddly enough, Kiwi never followed suit... Kiwi is a picky eater like me (her adoptive mom!)

Chaos was a silly nilly. I would always find her chilling in her coco hut, like in the next two pics:

To sum up, Chaos was such an adorable hedgehog who we loved so much! In honour of her memory, we are going to be creating a new geocache in our new 'hood. Location to be announced!

Chaos and Kiwi (in purple), October 31, 2013. Can you guess what their costumes are? ;)

I love you Kay Kay! We (even Kiwi!) all miss you very much!