# Another Quilling question...



## Meagan (Jun 27, 2012)

I have had max since June. I got him from a pet store and the lady originally told me that he was 8 weeks old, but when I came in the next time to get some supplies from her, she told me that I had gotten him when he was more like 11 weeks. I am estimating him to be about 28 weeks(7 months) and I have noticed lately that Max has been super grumpy. I have not found any quills laying around or in his hedgebag. But I have noticed that a few of his quills' bases are red and irritated. Is this quilling or is it more like an ingrown quill or something else? He used to want to cuddle a whole lot and would let me pet him and love on him all the time, but lately he does not want his quills to be touched at all. He hisses and pops if you get close to touching them. Do hedgehogs even quill at 7 months? The quills look kind of new. Like halfway grown in.


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

Some hedgehogs can have a more minor quilling around the area of 6ish months, and it can happen again closer to a year old. That's most likely what's going on.

Looks like an ingrown quill, which is kind of a general term applied to quills that cause minor irritation or swelling because they come in weird. It happens a lot around the area of the visor quills, and especially when a hedgehog is quilling. Sometimes they just go away on their own, sometimes a little pocket of pus (kind of like a whitehead zit) will form at the base of the quill. Try to keep it clean if possible. You can apply a dab of neosporin or polysporin (regular, not extra strength or the pain killer kind) with a Q-tip. Often the pus pocket leads to either the quill falling out on its own, or it can be pulled out, or it'll form a small open sore that will quickly scab over and heal. For the pulling out, if that's a viable option, it will come out easily on its own when lightly tugged with tweezers. If there's any resistance at all then it's not ready. You shouldn't try that anyway unless you see that little bit of pus and it looks inflamed, but if it gets to that point, pulling out the quill really is just a faster way of getting out a quill that was going to fall out anyway, which then lets the liquid drain so a dry scab can form.


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## Meagan (Jun 27, 2012)

Thanks so much! I figured it was something like that but I will keep it clean. He has a few of them around his visor quills and on his back. But none of them have pus pockets yet. I am keeping a close eye on all of them though.


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## Meagan (Jun 27, 2012)

Ok so I just sat down and started looking Max over a little more thoroughly and his back has multiple quills that are red. There are a couple on his visor quills, but it is primarily all over his back. There are even a few with a little pus pocket starting under them, but i gave them a slight tiny tug with tweezers and they didn't budge so I stopped messing with them. But I also noticed that there are a few spots that are red that aren't on the base of a quill. Just a few little pink random spots on his back. What do you think about that?


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

They may be spots where a new quill is starting to come in and isn't visible yet, or irritated in general from either dry skin or the quilling. Often during quilling there will be a lot of them that are a tiny bit bothered as they're coming in, or that end up with a little dirt gathered around the base. When a new quill comes in, the pore it comes through basically is stretched out to accommodate the width of the quill, and then it shrinks again when the quill is all the way in and only attached by the tiny ball at the end. When the pore is stretched out, dirt can collect in there and that's one thing that can lead to irritated or "ingrown" quills. I've found that actually seeing that tiny bit of redness is much easier if you have an albino or if it's located on a pinto spot, because the white quill and the skin without pigment makes it a lot easier to see. In general they're there a lot of the time during quilling, but they go unnoticed unless they actually form that pus pocket or form a small scab. In general, you can give him a bath with oatmeal body wash every few days (or even every day) while he's quilling, which will both soothe the skin and help keep it clean.


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