This is incredibly niche, but I’m happy I thought of it and it is really useful so I’m sharing it in case it gives someone else an idea.
I breed hedgehogs in Chicagoland and while a lot of my processes are automated and simplified, photo taking still has a lot of bumps that cause problems. One of the issues is that I don’t always know which baby I’ve shot after the fact when I’m trying to separate the photos into folders. I’ve tried using my fingers, I’ve tried putting a post it note in the field, but I always mess up and the photo doesn’t show up in the icons easily to let me know the start of the next babies (or adults sometimes). After a literal wasted three hour photo session because I couldn’t differentiate some older adults from each other, I decided to make a slate I could use between subjects. I decided to use a file for a cellphone stand and removed all the decorative elements so it would be smooth. I was going to use the little clips but they turned out not to be necessary, so while the holes are there for them I could have removed those holes too. I believe I also resized parts of the file, but I don’t remember 100%. I didn’t need a phone to fit on it so I think I shortened the ledge, and I think I made it shorter overall as well. I only cut it once, and while I could make it prettier/cooler/less holey if I cut it again, this literal scrap project works perfectly so I don’t need to remake it.
I cut it out of some scrap green acrylic I had from making plant markers and it takes a dry erase marker perfectly. I can also rest the marker on the little ledge when I’m done, which is a bonus and was unintended. I did find that if I don’t erase the marker and leave it on for 3 weeks it becomes more difficult to remove, so I am careful to wipe it off early now. Anyway, here is the photo - I write Dad x Mom or just Mom on the slate so it lines up with my notebook notes, take a photo as pic 1 right before or with the baby, and then take the baby pics. The bright green is so bright I can see it in icon previews and sort the photos very easily.
Last thing I like about it - I keep my photo booth on a piece of laminate countertop that rests on two kitchen cabinets from my old kitchen. I put all the backgrounds and nail polish and pens and batteries and stuff I use in the drawers. This disassembles super easily and goes right in the drawer with all the other small stuff.
It was one of the considerations. Nothing else is bright enough to stand out. I went between the yellow and the green but my yellow scrap didn’t have a big enough spot leftover so the green won. I put the photos in list view and the bright green photo icon tells me that’s the start of a new baby. Makes the sort take minutes instead of a long, long, long time.
Cute idea! We travel to Czech Republic often to see family, our first trip there we saw a hedgehog family in the yard - it had never occurred to me until then that they were “wild” animals Our friends have one as a pet and I never gave it any thought lol
Fantastic idea for the photo tags! (And thanks for the notification tag @deirdrebeth, I’d have hated to miss the cute hedgie baby pics! Definitely brightened my day!)
We have several flavors of non-indigenous snakes wandering around.
Probably why nobody here is overly concerned about another rat family member that breeds fast.
Python eats enough of them and will be easy to snare when it gets wedged in the fence.
(Joking aside, I have to admit the pygmy rattlers are the worst, though, because hard to spot. And they belong here)
I knew about sugar gliders, but I did not know it was legal to have a kangaroo in Colorado. ROFL!!
I’m not sure that would be a good idea with Ace (the 13 month old Aussiedoodle), at least not until he’s a little older. I know Ace would love a hedgehog but when he gets all wild and runs around, he’d be likely to scare it or something.
I know a breeder in CO if you ever decide you want one. Lovely woman named Lydia, I mentored her for awhile and she takes excellent care of her babies.
They are different species and even different genera (genus). The ones we keep as pets are native to central Africa. They are Atelerix albiventris, the European ones are Erinaceus europaeus. They cannot cross breed, they have different anatomy in many ways, different vocalizations, even a different number of toes! I also have Egyptian long eared hedgehogs, Hemiechinus auritus, which are ANOTHER different species that can’t cross with either of the other two. There are between 12-14 in all, with around 3 in each genus, and I believe 4 genus total.
Hedgehogs are not even rodents. They breed medium-speed. In the wild they have 1-2 litters of 1-6 hoglets a year. They are considered territorial, though there is debate on that. The thing of it is though that most states in the US are too cold for enough of the year that the hedgehog would die if out in the wild. The ones most people keep as pets hibernate below 68F and they die if this hibernation continues for more than a short while. So in the illegal states (PA, CA, HI, NYC) the hedgehogs would die if introduced in the wild for everywhere but Hawaii and some parts of CA. The laws restricting them in PA are due to poor information and fear from the HSUS.
