One benefit of taking a couple months to plan and start the vivarium before getting a hedgehog is that it has given me lots of time to do my homework on everything that is going into the enclosure. I picked up a jade plant while shopping for vivarium plants and planted it in with the other plants I had selected, and also added a couple of cuttings from other succulents we had in the house.

A couple days ago I took some time to read about each plant I had purchased for the enclosure, mostly to document each one’s preferred light and watering levels, but one other thing I tried to do was to make sure that the plant was not poisonous to hedgehogs. I was very surprised to find that both the jade plant and one of the cuttings I selected (Crassula ovata ‘Gollum Jade’) are indeed toxic, and even aloe plants are listed as mildly to moderately poisonous to cats and dogs, which I’m assuming means should also be avoided by hedgehogs. A third cutting turned out to be safe (Orbea variegata ‘Toad Cactus’), and I have other, confirmed non-poisonous, plants available to replace the gaps that will be left from removing the jade plants and aloes.

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