# My Hedgehog Fell. Please Help!!!!!!!



## hedgehog6578 (Jun 18, 2012)

Oh my gosh...... I am a terrible person!!!!!! I don't even deserve a hedgehog!  Well, here's what happened. I have all of my hedgehogs on a small shelf I built. Lucy is on the third level. Its like three feet high. So I pulled her cage out a little bit to put her wheel in. Then, I turned around and walked to my bed to get my other hedgie 's wheel. I left Lucy's cage pulled out. So in just a few seconds I hear this super loud crash!!! My heart just dropped...... Her whole cage had fallen off the shelf. :shock: I rushed over and picked her up immediately. She was still in her cage. Nothing landed on her, I'm sure. And she landed on her feet. I was so scared!!! I let her walk around a little bit and she seemed fine. I cleaned up her cage and replaced her food and water. Then, I put her back in her cage. She went into her little house and came back out and ate a little food and drank some water. I really want her to be okay. Its all my fault!!!!! The worst part of this,though is that she's pregnant. I'm.pretty sure she is. I finished her beeding process four days ago. I feel sooo bad!!!! Please help me!!!!! Im such a bad hedgie owner!!!


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## hedgehog6578 (Jun 18, 2012)

UPDATE........
She ie eating, drinking, and running on her wheel. I checked her legs and belly for bruising. I didn't see anything wrong. I'm going to check again in the morning.......


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

You're not a terrible owner! Accidents happen to the best of us, and I can only imagine hearing that crash and having your heart stop. It's good that she looks okay right now, but personally I'd try and get her in to the vet tomorrow, especially with the pregnancy. Sometimes there's internal injuries with no external signs, and I'm always part of the "better safe than sorry" camp. I'm sure others will comment with their opinions and suggestions as well. I hope she continues to show no ill signs from the fall!


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## hedgehog6578 (Jun 18, 2012)

UPDATE 2..........
Okay, so this morning at 6:30 I checked on Lucy. She was running on her wheel and when I turned on the light she froze. There was blood all over her feet and there were bloody footprints on her fleece liner. There was also some blood in her house. She was acting normal. There was nothing different about her except the blood........
I didn't get to pick her up and examine her because I was running late. I wont be home until 6:30 tonight. Im really hoping that the bloods from a torn nail or from running too much, not internal bleeding. I'm going to put a white sheet down in her cage to see if there was any blood in her urine. I really hope shell be okay!!!!


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

Let me get this straight. Your hedgie falls, there's blood in the morning, and without checking if she's ok, you're leaving her for 12 hours and she could possibly be bleeding out. Even though you were in such a hurry, if it was me I would have packed her up with me, take to work(I'm assuming that's what you were late for), then at 8am step out quickly and drop her off at the local vets and leave her there while you're at work. 

Sure hedgies hurt their feet all the time and end up with a bloody cage, but considering what had happened, it should have warranted a good thorough check. 

I sure hope she only hurt her feet and isn't slowly bleeding out at home. Hedgehogs are small and there's only so much blood in their bodies.


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## hedgehog6578 (Jun 18, 2012)

Immortalia said:


> Let me get this straight. Your hedgie falls, there's blood in the morning, and without checking if she's ok, you're leaving her for 12 hours and she could possibly be bleeding out. Even though you were in such a hurry, if it was me I would have packed her up with me, take to work(I'm assuming that's what you were late for), then at 8am step out quickly and drop her off at the local vets and leave her there while you're at work.
> 
> Sure hedgies hurt their feet all the time and end up with a bloody cage, but considering what had happened, it should have warranted a good thorough check.
> 
> I sure hope she only hurt her feet and isn't slowly bleeding out at home. Hedgehogs are small and there's only so much blood in their bodies.


Ive been beating myself up about this all day!!! Trust me. I feel so bad. I could jump off a cliff right now I feel so bad. I would've taken her with me if it had been possible. But I'm attending school right now and it would've been practically impossible. I don't have my own car at the moment, and I'm depending on someone to pick me up and drop me off. I know this is no excuse, and that I should not have been so careless.
My hedgehogs are my life. They mean so much to me, and I cant tell you how bad I feel about this. I have someone checking on her for me though.


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## Christemo (Oct 5, 2011)

This should have been a vet visit ASAP. Hedgehogs are VERY sensitive and can get hurt very easily. Without a vet visit, you have no idea if there is internal bleeding or if she would even be alive by the time you come home.


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## SquiggyTheHedgie (Jul 26, 2011)

Just get her to a vet as soon as you can. If you want to save her, get it done some way or another.


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## hedgehog6578 (Jun 18, 2012)

I know. I'm trying to get an appointment as soon as they can fit me in. But my vet doesn't know very much about hedgehogs, so I don't know what all he could do for her.


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## shawnwk1 (Jul 8, 2011)

accidents happen, but criticizing the op won't help the hedgie at all. we're all here to help. that being said...

pregnancy with blood period isn't a good thing usually especially after a fall. she could have internal injuries or even miscarried the babies. she needs to see a vet to make sure no dead babies are in her and to make sure there aren't any other internal injuries or otherwise. personally i would have skipped school to rush her to the vet, but it is what it is. if the vet isn't open anymore she needs to go to an emergency vet (they can at least do xrays and an ultrasound if needed).

there is no fitting her in....this is an emergency. they always leave space open for emergencies and will move other appointments if necessary. don't let them tell you that


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## Malteaser19 (Jun 27, 2012)

Once this incident is over, please please please find an exotic vet with loads of hedgehog experience. The lack of experience in a general vet could mean death for a hedgehog. I really hope your little one is okay, but i agree with the others, this should have been an "omg drop everything i need to see the vet". Our little ones depend on us for their lifes, they cant control when they see a vet, they have to rely on us to do it for them, that means taking responsibility and knowing when they need to see a vet.


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

Not to beat a dead horse, but for anyone breeding hedgehogs, a hedgehog-familiar vet and emergency vet are a must-have. Hopefully this is something very minor, and not pregnancy related or even caused by the fall. But, it shows that emergencies don't happen during normal business hours or days off. They happen at 3am, in the of a blizzard, on Christmas Day when even vets are closed. If you don't have access to appropriate vets, or there are other things (like school) that have to take priority, please consider those things before breeding again. I know that even breeders have other responsibilities, but when you choose to breed you are responsible for the lives of the mother and babies. If that can't come first, consider holding off on breeding until it can.

I'm in my last semester of college. My fiancé has a job in addition to our business. But if there's an emergency, one of us is there no matter if it means me skipping class or him missing work. And if there are babies that need to be hand-raised, and that happens before I graduate, I will put school on hold and even repeat the semester later in order to keep the necessary feeding schedule. That's just the way it is.

I'm not trying to make you feel worse, and I really really hope everything turns out okay. Please just consider these things if you choose to breed again.


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## hedgehog6578 (Jun 18, 2012)

I took all these things into mind before breeding her. I have a reliable mentor I can call if I have any questions whatsoever. My vet doesn't know much about hedgehogs, but he is very willing to see them. He would be willing to do an ultra sound,xray, skin scrape, or anything else that needs to be done. He has prescribed my hedgies medicine before. No matter what the problem is, we will work through it. I also put a lot of time and effort into researching things before I bred Lucy. I hope things turn out ok for her and her babies.


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## Tabi (Jun 24, 2012)

hedgehog6578 said:


> I took all these things into mind before breeding her. I have a reliable mentor I can call if I have any questions whatsoever. My vet doesn't know much about hedgehogs, but he is very willing to see them. He would be willing to do an ultra sound,xray, skin scrape, or anything else that needs to be done. He has prescribed my hedgies medicine before. No matter what the problem is, we will work through it. I also put a lot of time and effort into researching things before I bred Lucy. I hope things turn out ok for her and her babies.


of course he's very willing to see them. He wants your money. You need to research a hedgehog/exotic veterinarian in your area.


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## PixiesExoticHedgies (Sep 4, 2008)

Were you able to get her to the vet this evening? 
How was she when you got home from work/school?


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## hedgehog6578 (Jun 18, 2012)

Well, I fully examined her. She seems perfectly fine. The blood on her feet....turned out to be poop,not blood at all. The lighting in my room made it look like blood. I was so relieved,but I'm not relaxing just yet. I'm going to get her checked out by my vet, and I put a whit liner in the bottom of her cage to see if there is any blood in her urine. Wish me the best.


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## Quinn (Apr 24, 2011)

Keep us updated. Still get her to a vet asap and please look into finding another vet. I wish the best for her.


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## Tabi (Jun 24, 2012)

hedgehog6578 said:


> Well, I fully examined her. She seems perfectly fine. The blood on her feet....turned out to be poop,not blood at all. The lighting in my room made it look like blood. I was so relieved,but I'm not relaxing just yet. I'm going to get her checked out by my vet, and I put a whit liner in the bottom of her cage to see if there is any blood in her urine. Wish me the best.


I'd just get her an ultra sound to see if her babies are okay from the fall, and if SHE'S okay from the fall  It'd be terrible if her babies got hurt.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Ultrasound might tell whether she's okay, but I doubt it show anything about the babies. If I remember right, one reason it's so hard to verify 100% if hedgehogs are pregnant is because the babies are so small that they don't really show up on an ultrasound until a couple of weeks before delivery.


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## Tabi (Jun 24, 2012)

Lilysmommy said:


> Ultrasound might tell whether she's okay, but I doubt it show anything about the babies. If I remember right, one reason it's so hard to verify 100% if hedgehogs are pregnant is because the babies are so small that they don't really show up on an ultrasound until a couple of weeks before delivery.


The only way I could tell my mommy was prego was from an ultra sound :? Otherwise it's very hard to tell besides their nipples and sometimes not even that


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

It's easiest to just assume girls are pregnant after they've been in with a boy for a few days. Most of the time they are - occasionally they don't take. It's cool that an ultrasound can work, but I would assume that it's not fully accurate. It seems like it could easily show you nothing when the girl is, in fact, pregnant. In this instance, based on how recently the female was bred, I highly doubt an ultrasound would give any useful information.


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