A young lad went viral after sharing a video where he picks up his pet hedgehog with his bare hand to show that it will not harm him with its quills.

The footage was obtained by Newsflash from Timothy Avedikian, 23, who said in an interview that his hedgehog’s name was Peter Quill.

Timothy, who works for a State Farm agency in Richardson, in the US state of Texas, said he got Peter from a breeder he found in an online ad in November of 2020.

Timothy became especially popular on TikTok after he began posting videos of his beloved prickly pet, and went viral with nearly 60 million views after sharing this footage of him casually picking him up with his hand.

He filmed the video as a response to a question asked by a fan, who wondered if it hurts to hold Peter.

“I hope that answers your question,” said Timothy in his video as he picks up the hedgehog by its quills while the adorable pet simply stares at the camera while licking its lips, making fans fall even more in love with it.

Timothy told Newsflash: “There is no pain picking him up like that. Quills only hurt when hedgehogs want them to.

“They stick up when they feel threatened, but Peter was so used to me, that he never felt threatened whenever I grabbed him.”

Sadly, Peter passed away in July of this year at one year and 11 months old.

Timothy said it died quite young for a hedgehog, and fans have written him thousands of comments since, saying they all miss Peter terribly.