That's a great way to organize everything!
I have my dehydrated food in little metal tins I bought from Mountain Rose Herbs. I bought a drink/lid holder to hold them and love it. It's easy to get out containers & get to everything now. Here's what one section of it looks like:
I have a section each for protein, veggies, fruit, and random. All of them are full to the top now except for protein...Need more dry proteins for them! I have some stuff in the freezer for them as well, but still need to come up with a better way to organize that.
I'm totally a hedgehog person, but they're not for everyone. I would say hermit crab people would probably get along with them though...we're used to pets that hurt us.
I love them because I like having a pet that sleeps while I'm busy during the day, wakes up in the evening when I'm home & relaxing, and is content to just curl up on me while I watch tv, read, whatever. Both hedgehogs I've had (first one I got in 2008, lost in 2012, my current girl is about 9 months old) have been cuddlers, which is perfect for me. But in general, most hedgehogs are prone to being huffy & defensive and quick to put their quills up. They take weeks or months to really get used to an owner and being handled, and some are never really great with it. And even once they're well socialized, they can still be quick to react to anything they might deem threatening from noises to sudden movements to weird touches....everything.
Work-wise, they require at least 30 minutes of handling a night. In general, the more socializing/handling, the calmer they'll be with you, but that is pretty dependent on the hedgie. Their care otherwise amounts to probably 20-60 minutes a day, depending on what's needed - food & water bowls need to be changed daily, wheel usually needs to be cleaned daily (they poop & pee on it as they run), and some hedgehogs get messy enough running on their wheel that they need foot baths to clean their feet every night too. That doesn't have to be too intensive, maybe 5 minutes or so. Full baths aren't necessary more than once a month & more often can dry out their skin, so isn't recommended. Cage bedding can be switched out weekly or every other week, depending on if it's liners or loose bedding, and the cage sanitized. Hedgehogs themselves don't smell (they don't have a strong odor to them like ferrets), but their poop tends to smell pretty bad, especially fresh. The wheel can contribute to that a lot once it gets covered in poop. But cleaning it in the morning if you have time can help with that, as well as changing cage bedding as needed (some hedgehogs are messy enough that liners need to be changed a few times a week). Babies tend to have stronger smell pee & poop than adults, but it varies by hedgie.
One of the more challenging things for some people is the heating set up - they need to be kept around 73-80 and it should ideally be steady, not varying more than a degree or two either way. Heating set ups should be space heaters or ceramic heat emitters, both of which can be expensive, & some people aren't comfortable leaving them on 24/7.
Okay, I'll stop there.
I can go on for hours about hedgehogs....my friends all know the basic requirements & care info for hedgehogs by heart now even though none of them own one or want to! If you're interested in reading & researching more, I highly recommend this forum, I'm a moderator there -
http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/ and this book is free to download -
http://westcoasthedgehogs.com/files/hed ... index.html The book is a few years old now, but it's still got a lot of good information and is more organized & easy to find what you're looking for than the forum. The forum is more up to date & goes more in depth about topics. Oh, and feel free to ask me any questions if you want...as you can see, I'm more than happy to help.
Edited to add: Please consider rescuing or rehoming a hedgie if you decide to look into getting one! There are a lot that need homes because so many people get one without researching and aren't prepared for the behavior or work. Often even quite young ones need homes, I constantly see hedgies under 6 months posted on Craigslist from people who changed their minds.
The Hedgehog Welfare Society has rescue stations all over the country & may have one near you.
