# Is it the hedgehogs?



## supercocoa (Feb 22, 2009)

A couple of weeks ago, small fluid-filled bumps started appearing on one area palm. They eventually spread, worsened, and started peeling. They're healing up now. However, I recently discovered more of these tiny, itchy bumps all over BOTH of my hands. They're only visible in the right light and have not progressed to be what the first couple of bumps are now.

What I was wondering is if these bumps were caused by the hedgehogs (maybe their quills poking urine under my skin?), and the area where they first appeared and worsened just got infected. I've seen a dermatologist and she guesses that it's either infected eczema or a viral infection, but she only saw the bad area on one hand as this was before the other blisters appread, and she doesn't know I have hedgehogs.

There's only one reason that I'm not sure about this theory. That is I'd had my Junie for a month when the blisters started appearing, and nothing like this ever happened even though I held her every day. Oh, and when the blisters first popped up, Junie had just had her babies and I hadn't held her for a week. 

So do you guys think it's just eczema, or an allergic reaction to hedgehog urine? If it is, how can I prevent this from happening?


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

It's possible it's from her but it may be something else causing it. My daughter works at a petstore and the same thing would happen randomly to her. She narrowed it down to when she cleaned the fish tanks and even further to one brand of salt they used on occasion.


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## Gnarly (Aug 29, 2008)

A similar thing sometimes happens to me. I think it's possible it could be from quill pokes, but it really never bothered me much. 

Are you getting large blisters? 

My hand would just get a tiny little skin bubble, that eventually peels; but they are so small, you can't see them unless my hand are all wet and prune-y, from the shower.


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## GoodSmeagola (Apr 6, 2009)

If my hog 'HUFFS' when in my hand, the quills poke my skin alot harder, and I notice small bumps too.
Today I had her out in my hands about 4inches above my legs.
This was early am, and I was in boxers.
The lil girl jumps from my hand to my lap(she landed ass-quill first, a quill made me bleed slightly, and the entire area right now, is lumpy and itchy, she fursure poekd be hard this time.
The gentler I am with her, the less she pokes me.
Kind of obvious, but yeh, nice slloooww movements to get her out of her house, and she is good normally.


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

I get those every so often, usually like once a year, sometimes during weather change, and sometimes(usually), when I wash dishes for too long or too much.

It could be from the quills, I recently got them again, however, it's on my left hand, and I'm right handed. Most of the petting is done with my right hand, and it doesn't really bother me either. I've just limited contact with my left hand and my hedgie's quills, for both our sakes, but my right hand is fine XD which is the hand I use to handle him more anyways. 

But, like I said, it doesn't really bother me much, as I've gotten them randomly before. Either reaction from dish washing(I've been stuffing everything into the dish washer lately, but I usually just wash them by hand, since it's only me and my dishes that I use), or it could be some reaction I get at the barn, because you do get down and dirty while doing stuff with horses :lol: 

They're really tiny as well. Though I do have a bad habit of popping them :lol: But once it pops, I put some polysporin on, or wipe it down with peroxide and the bump is completely gone and it's healed within a day.


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## supercocoa (Feb 22, 2009)

Wow! It's good to know I'm not the only one who gets these. They don't bug me that much either, that is unless they get infected (because that's REALLY painful). I feel a lot better now.


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## supercocoa (Feb 22, 2009)

I have these tiny blister all over both my hands now. I started noticing them Friday, and they haven't healed yet. I'm on oral and cream medication for possible infections (for that one patch), but they haven't healed. If it doesn't clear up soon my parents are going to force to to wear gloves when I handle the hedgehogs, even though I explained to them about the whole smell bonding thing. What can I do, and how do you make yours go away? I think it's an allergic reaction from urine poking under the skin... after all, all six babies and mommy are in the same cage and they poop and pee everywhere, so they probably are covered in urine. Once all the babies except the one we plan on keeping are gone so we can keep the cage cleaner do you suppose the bumps will go away?


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## Zalea (Sep 12, 2008)

It definitely sounds like an allergy to the urine since it didn't start until you hadn't held her for awhile. A lot of people are allergic to urine, so it wouldn't be unusual. I don't know when you can start bathing the babies, but when you can do so the problem with the bumps will likely lessen. You need to separate the boys from the girls by 6 weeks, so I would guess you can start bathing around then--but I would ask a breeder to be sure because I really have no experience with that. Hopefully that will help and you won't be getting those bumps anymore. If it continues, you may have to look elsewhere for the cause.

In the meantime when you're picking up the hedgies try doing it with a cloth that smells like you to keep quill to skin contact to a minimum. You might even consider wearing thin latex gloves while using the cloth to keep your blisters from getting anything else into them, especially if they're open blisters--yes it hinders the direct smell, but that will help you heal up faster and the cloth will smell like you which should help. 

I hope your hands heal up soon and you narrow down the cause!


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