# 31 quills lost overnight



## smhufflepuff (Aug 28, 2008)

Tex Buckaroo Hufflepuff, a Texas Tumbleweed, came home mid-February and has been doing a good job of settling in. He stopped the mean greenies about a month after coming home, adopted a more trusting "hedgie" appearance (he had initially look scared, uncertain, and a tad like Pat Riley as he held his quills very tight to his head & body), maintains his same weight around 325g, went through two rounds of meds for giardia, preventative Revolution treatments, and typically lost a quill or three every couple days. 

Quill loss changed abruptly yesterday. Yesterday morning, I found 17 quills in his cage; last night, 5. This morning, 31. He's not balding by any means, his quill coverage is quite thick making a 50-some quill loss rather unnoticable... at least, for now.

Hedgiemommy and hedgiedaddy were out of town for a week, returning on Sunday. He had stress poops that cleared up with a little acidophilis and extra love from his hedgiebuddy while we were gone. Beyond that, everything's been about the same for him (and Satin too, for that matter).

I'm looking for a little guidance on interpreting his sudden quill loss. 

So far, I'm thinking: 4-ish months out from adoption (quilling related to improved food/nutrition?), maybe a 1-year quilling (we don't know when the little guy was born), stress over hedgiemommy & hedgiedaddy going away, illness (currently without any other signs) ?? 

Thoughts?


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## Beanie (Jun 9, 2010)

If you look through his quills to his skin do you see new quills coming up?


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

It's possibly stress related or has it gotten really hot there lately? 

My Yuri always lost a couple quills per day. It was just him. Last week he suddenly started dropping them so fast I thought he'ed end up bald. I didn't count them but it was massive. He also had a rash all over his underneath that if he was a human, I'd have said it was a heat rash. He got soothing baths every night and by the 3rd night the rash was gone and the quill loss is now back to his normal. I have no clue what caused it but it has quit as quick as it came. I suspect possibly the heat.


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## smhufflepuff (Aug 28, 2008)

A few days out now... and, happily, he's just losing a couple here and there. Perhaps it was a heat spike. We're working on making sure the a/c is getting to him... seems like it should be good.

Little guy is just such a mystery - huffing at and running toward things that he wants (baseball hat, bath blankey) and running full throttle away from horrible things like mealies :roll: whatcha gonna do?


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## shadowHH (Jul 4, 2010)

31 quills?? DEFINETLY MITES!

One or two, even considered NORMAL, I find is result of mites/fleas. Ask for Selemectin, its the same pink box for small cats. It works..the other stuff doesnt.
They say hedgies shed, but I havent seen it unless she has mites or fleas.
Fleas leave little red dots, EVEN on YOU...mites not so much.
If you cat is scratching ears all the time, have yer hedgie checked.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

shadowHH said:


> 31 quills?? DEFINETLY MITES!
> 
> One or two, even considered NORMAL, I find is result of mites/fleas. Ask for Selemectin, its the same pink box for small cats. It works..the other stuff doesnt.
> They say hedgies shed, but I havent seen it unless she has mites or fleas.
> ...


Mites and fleas are not the only reason hedgehogs lose quills. As Nancy said, quill loss can also be stress-related, especially if the hedgehog has just changed owners/homes, or had some other big event. And while it may not be the norm for every hedgehog, it's normal for some hedgies to lose a couple of quills every day or so.

Although I suppose hedgehogs could get fleas from a cat or dog (no personal experience with this), I've read on here that mites tend to be species specific, so it would be unlikely for mites to transfer from a hedgehog to a cat or yourself.


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

Poptart dropped a bunch last week as well. Not 31, but about 15 (I quit counting though). 
The worst part about hers was that in all my years of hedgehog ownership I have finally stepped on one that went deep enough into my toe that I had to pull it out and it bled like mad. I asked her what I did to her for her to booby trap the front door of her cage.

Back on topic... Cooper also dropped several. We had some pretty loud storms prior to that and the weather has changed a lot. I think it may be the culprit. How is Tex doing now?


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## smhufflepuff (Aug 28, 2008)

Tex is doing pretty well. He had 1.5 days of general huffiness that I *think* are related to a little bit of a change in his schedule. We were out late two nights in a row for fireworks and a movie, so I had set up the hedgies' houses for the night (wheels & wheel mats back in, fresh food & water) earlier than usual and without their typical cuddle time. 

As for quill dropping, he appears back to normal. It was rather odd... just all the sudden 31 quills one day; I think it was ~20 the next; 5 the next; and back to normal. An excellent way to worry his hedgiemommy. 

True, the weather's been nutty here. The heat, humidity, tornados with added bonus sirens. Starting yesterday morning, he's in the same room as Satin, so they're both enjoying the portable air conditioning at the same rate. It's a temporary set up as his cage is now atop a bed that one of the non-quilled kids needs to use over the weekend. Hopefully the heat breaks soon, but the forecast suggests we're in for it for awhile.


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## Sela (Apr 10, 2010)

It's been ridiculously hot here in London (Ontario, I'm not a Brit, folks - actually, technically, I'm part because of my dad, but I digress) as well, but I haven't noticed any quill loss in Quillamina or Loki. Our AC works wonders, of course, and I've been keeping my fan on almost twenty-four seven, so maybe that's part of the reason they're not shedding.

Quillamina's pouch, sadly, has been retired for the summer, as has her blanket. I'm using a pillowcase for her to snuggle in because it's a lot thinner and it breathes better. She doesn't like it half as much, but it's what's available, so she'd better learn to deal.


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