Gnarly said:
When you are looking for a pair of hedgehogs to breed, be forthcoming with the breeder you re buying from. Fully disclose your intentions of breeding, as many breeder will not sell animals to be used for breeding. Many breeders even have a clause in their contract that stipulates if any animal is used for breeding, it will be confiscated.
It's not so much that breeders won't sell hedgies to be used for breeding, as it is that breeders have
different quality hedgehogs, available for different purposes. I have some hedgies that I consider their babies to be PET quality only, and others that I know will throw some excellent breeding quality babies. The parent's pedigree and background lineage is what's used to determine pet quality or breeding quality.
I'm not saying that my pet quality hedgies are bad hedgies. It's simply that their lineages may not be a long and clearly known, which is necessary knowledge to have when you consider breeding two hedgehogs together.
I will not sell a hedgie for breeding purposes, unless it has at least 4 or 5 generations of clean lines. Anything less, and I consider it to be pet quality. Each breeder will have their own opinions of what they consider breeder or pet quality. But I have pretty high standards for
my herd. My goal is to eventually have hedgies with FULL pedigrees and no signs of WHS for at least 6 generations back. It takes lots of time and patience to acquire such a herd. And YES, whenever I sell PET quality babies, my stipulation is that it cannot be used for breeding purposes.
As Gnarly said, that is why you need to be up front and honest with the breeder you are purchasing from. It's likely that you'll end up with someone to mentor you, and answer the thousands of questions you may have with your first few litters. The breeder should also be able to recommend their better quality hedgies for your own breeding herd.
KUDOS to you for going back and reading the Breeder requirements and ethics. Hign sight is 20/20 and you can't change what happened in the past (with your accidental breeding), but with the knowledge you'll acquire here on HHC, it will make you a better breeder in the future.
Good luck!
Pixie