A little porcupine for your weekend...

[Moutaineer]

Button is growing:

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We do love a tasty apple core:

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[Moutaineer]

let's try that again!

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[Canyon]

Aww, what a cutey pie!

How can Button look soft and spikey at the same time?

Thanks for the photos!

[amygdala]

awww --great pics!

and button looks VERY healthy!

[M&M]

I agree, Canyon. If I didn't know better, I would think he had fur sticking straight up!

[Wicky]

So cute!!!!

[Suzon]

So wonderful!

[Tuffytown]

Do they have defensive quills at that cute age?

[ProudHorse]

He is so darling.

[KathyK]

Thank you for sharing that bundle of adorable with us.

[Imperini]

He's adorable, I showed him/her to my DH who said he/she was cute as a button so I thought he saw where you called him/her button, but nope, just cute as a button

[pawsplus]

I love your porkies! Sooooo adorable! They can come and go, right? Do they let you pet them?

[Avola]

OMG! GAH! Thud. That face!!!!!

[Sunshine2Me]

The most adorable thing I've seen today!!

[Moutaineer]

To answer some questions...

M&M, those are guard hairs. The quills are in a layer closer to the body, and in addition they are covered in coarse hair. We have on big guy who we think is this one's dad who has a completely ridiculous head of hair. He's called Donald, for obvious reasons...

Tuffy, yes, they get their hard quills almost immediately after birth. There's something mildly hilarious about this thing the size of a grapefruit turning it's back on you and going all prickly

Paws, they are wild critters. They come and go as they please, they just mooch meals off us and sometimes move into the hayshed in the winter. They aren't exactly pet-able, but they will come hooting and squeaking over to you, and will take food very carefully out of your hand or eat out a bowl. Button used to have to get into the bowl with his food, but is starting to get big enough that he can just tip it up.

We feed them a commercial moose food. The pellets have a high proportion of wood in them which is what they like to eat anyway, and they get things like the odd apple core, or my husband has been know to sit on the front step peeling grapes for them... Sometimes my local feedstore has omnivore pellets, which are bigger and they really enjoy them. They also adore peanuts.

They aren't around every day unless they need something (they appreciate us putting out water for them in the dry summer, for instance, and Button's mom, Porcini, was around a lot when she was pregnant, and when she was nursing,) and as things get cold and snowy we will see more of them.

The adults smell dreadful, by the way. Think ancient, unwashed alcoholic itinerant with bladder control problems in the heat of summer dreadful. which is enough to put one off petting them and means instant hand washing after hand-feeding!

[orono]

I just joined so I could complement your super adorable porcupine!!

[M&M]

There are many worse reasons to join, Orono!

[Pippigirl]

Awww!!! Button is so adorable!!! Can you post a photo of Donald???

[Flight]

Adorable!!!

[Spiritpaws]

Love the names you have given the wild porcupines! That Button is adorable.

[LeoApp]

I would need to call the father "The Donald".
Button is so cute!

[carpevita]

Thanks so much for sharing---I love porkies too!



And possums but don't tell anyone...

[AmityBee]

That's so cute! And now that I know the ridiculous noises they make, they are even cuter!