Hedgehogs Are The New Frogs

I had a bizarre experience involving hedgehogs recently:

So I'm in a bar, a clandestino in fact, completely unrecognizable as any sort of drinking establishment from the outside. A Chilean woman has latched on to my friends because she wants to practice her English, which is really not all that bad. There is a long discussion as we try to figure out what the English name is for her pets, and after much description, she finally pulls out her phone and we discover that they are hedgehogs, a fairly popular prickly animal to own in these parts. Somehow it ends up that she is now just talking to me, showing me picture after picture of her beloved creatures and rambling on about how wonderful they are. "I love them so much. I really love them. They are very happy when I come home. I like to play with them." All very normal things to say though expressed in an overly excited manner.

And then she says, "I like to lick them."

The conversation stops for a second while a I contemplate this. The bar is loud. She's not a native English speaker. Either I misheard or she used the wrong word. "You like to lick them?" "Yes," she says. And just to be sure that we are understanding each other, she puts her hand in front of her mouth, sticks out her tongue and makes a licking motion.