Knarla Pog

Knarla, a brother, and sister Petunia were born at Christie's Critters, a small-scale breeder near Charlotte, North Carolina on March 25, 2001. On May 10, at the age of six and a half weeks, Knarla Pog was old enough to come to live with her new family. She immediately showed off her love for activity by mastering her exercise wheel and ball.

Knarla is an active, active hedgehog. She loves to run in her exercise wheel in her cage, and to run all around our apartment in her exercise ball. The ball is a great way for her to have the freedom to explore on her own terms without our worrying about her getting wedged under something or lost in the apartment.

What's in a name?

The most frequently asked question we hear about Knarla is “how did she get her name?” Easy answer. Both my husband Chopper and I are fans of the Harry Potter series by J. K Rowling, and when he stumbled across this passage in her short paperback Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, we knew we had a name:

The Knarl (northern Europe and America) is usually mistaken for a hedgehog by Muggles. The two species are indeed indistinguishable except for one important behavioural difference: If food is left out in the garden for a hedgehog, it will accept and enjoy the gift; if food is offered to a Knarl, on the other hand, it will assume that the householder is attempting to lure it into a trap and will savage that householder's garden plants or garden ornaments. Many a Muggle child has been accused of vandalism when an offended Knarl was the real culprit.

If you have any doubt of the appropriateness of this name for a wee girl African hedgehog, I can show you Knarla's cage after a busy night of wheeling, digging, and playing! All I need to give her now is a garden plant or two to complete the resemblance.

"Pog" is an affectionate nickname for an African hedgehog that originated with Tig Means, a noted breeder and hedgehog expert, and has become widely used on many hedgehog email lists. It wasn't intended to become part of her official name, but it stuck, and it suits.

Adventures

Knarla's favorite activities include either her wheel or her exercise ball. International Hedgehog Olympic Gym-Bar-EE (IHOG) competitions allow her to show off her superb form and energy to an admiring audience. Knarla has competed in IHOGs in Charleston, South Carolina and Chicago, Illinois (as part of Go Hog Wild), and is the two-time gold medal winner for the Charleston competition.

Knarla Pog was a terrifically cute Pet of the Day on Tuesday, August 14 and Petsmart's Smart Pet of the Day on Saturday, October 15.