You can also pet unhappy hedgehogs, just not painlessly.
source, owned a traumatized hedgehog when I was little. tried to give it treats and get it socal but 5 past owners (some of which with cats) was too much for the little guy.
‘Captain Crunch’ died a grumpy old man 🫡
edit: fun fact you can see their nuts when they uncurl which was pretty funny to little me
You can actually pet grown hedgehogs, I think if they are happy the needles are not pointing upwards, but I might be wrong about it.
Source: visited a hedgehog café in Tokyo like 10 years ago, did pet hedgehogs.
Edit: rereading what you wrote I realise you maybe didn’t imply that an adult hedgehog cannot be petted…
You can also pet unhappy hedgehogs, just not painlessly.
source, owned a traumatized hedgehog when I was little. tried to give it treats and get it socal but 5 past owners (some of which with cats) was too much for the little guy.
‘Captain Crunch’ died a grumpy old man 🫡
edit: fun fact you can see their nuts when they uncurl which was pretty funny to little me