When people have pets, we only really think about dogs, cats, parrots and goldfish, but there a ton of other animal species out there that deserve to be petted and loved by their owners. Hedgehogs, for example, are just perfect pets and this adorable little hedgehog certainly is living proof of that.
Waldo is an African pygmy hedgehog with the largest smile you’ll ever see – some people are even calling him the smiliest and happiest hedgehog on the planet, and it’s pretty hard to argue with that.
Remarkably, Waldo wasn’t always this happy and joyful little animal, as he was very timid at first and needed to open up, his owner Niki Brown recalled when she first adopted him from the National Exotic Rescue in the UK.
‘I used to cry, I used to think, “This hog hates me”.
‘It can take a while for them to get used to you, but he would bite and run away.’
Luckily, it didn’t take long before Waldo truly opened up and revealed his true personality. The adorable three-year-old now is a very photogenic hedgehog with a smile that’ll just melt your heart.
‘The change is unbelievable,’ said Niki. He will come out now when I call his name and he follows me around.
‘He’ll run around my bedroom which has been hog-proofed so that he can’t eat things.
‘He’s so happy and friendly. He’ll start to smile particularly when he’s being given food – I’ve never seen anyone seen anyone so happy to see food in all my life.
“He just melts my heart. The faces he pulls are just hilarious.”
‘We even take him to the pub with us quite regularly on a Friday night. He’s really sociable.
‘He goes to the pub in his carry case but we take a blanket with us so he can snuggle and some of his favorite food which is sweetcorn.
‘As presents, people send him toys and snuggle sacks, and cat treats.’
Step aside Sonic, there’s a new popular hedgehog in town. Adorable!
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