# Hedgehog keeps her eyes closed all the time.



## Glyth (Sep 9, 2010)

Darwin keeps her eyes closed all the time when walking around her cage. She can (will?) open her eyes when handled, but only after a while and seemingly reluctantly. Otherwise seems to be walking around as normal. She refused to eat her kibble for a while so she was given a change of diet to eggwhites and some superworms. Now she is eating her kibble again. Her skin is dry and flaky and we are going to give her an oatmeal bath to fix that but are afraid of stressing her as of the moment. Is there anything wrong with her?


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## Puffers315 (Apr 19, 2010)

Are you sure she can see? Hedgehogs in general don't have good eye sight or depth perception, but it is curious as to why she would walk around with them closed. It makes me think maybe she is blind, but that would depend on if she reacts to things like shadows and movements.


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

Even the few fully blind hedgehogs I've read about on here don't walk around with their eyes closed. Do her eyes look clear when she does open them? If they are cloudy, have mucous or injured in some way that might be a reason for keeping them closed. (This is just a guess by the way, I have never heard of a hedgehog doing this)


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## Judi (Jul 9, 2009)

My old girl Lulu has one blind eye, and she keeps it open most of the time. 

Is it really bright in the room when she's closing her eyes? You might try a very dim light in the room and see if she will open her eyes then.


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## Glyth (Sep 9, 2010)

Thanks for the replies.

Her eyes aren't cloudy and are clear when she opens them but she doesn't ever open them fully. Like she is sleepy or something. This has been going on for a few days now. We have cleaned her cage in case something inside is irritating her and changed to a water dish since she seemed to have trouble drinking from her bottle. We tried adding more variety to her diet, in case she was getting malnourished. I don't think she has been feeling lethargic because if she is allowed to run about freely, she zooms about pretty fast. I first found her with her eyes closed in the morning, which I attributed to the indirect sunlight in the room. But at night, she still has her eyes closed (the room was pretty dim, since the light is on the other side of the hallway and is obscured by a partial wall).


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

I think a vet visit is probably needed for this. It could be something in one of her eyes, or she could have an injury. Leaving something like that could lead to blindness and would be very very uncomfortable.


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## Hedgiepets (Aug 21, 2008)

I recommend a vet visit ASAP.


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## Glyth (Sep 9, 2010)

That is the problem.. I would have taken her to a vet already if there was one where I lived. There are only cat and dog vets around.


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## Puffers315 (Apr 19, 2010)

Where abouts are you, people around here are good at sniffing out a vet that might be able to handle hedgehogs, its important to have one, it may require driving a good distance too, many owners (including myself) have a good 2 hour drive to get to one.

But I vote with the others on a vet visit, I was thinking blindness but indeed any creature that is blind doesn't keep their eyes close. The only other thing I could think of is being very sensitive to light, even in dim lighting.


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## Glyth (Sep 9, 2010)

I am pretty sure that the capital has a vet for her but I'd have to fly since I live in an archipelago. I live in Cebu, Philippines. It would be a big help if anyone could sniff one out because so far I have had no luck finding one


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## Glyth (Sep 9, 2010)

Thank you for the help guys. Darwin's keeping her eyes open again, hopefully she's really ok now.


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