# Very red and dry skin



## Milathehedgehog (Dec 29, 2015)

Our lhedgehog Mila, who is 4 months old has very dry and flakey skin. We bathed her today in aveeno body wash as we've heard this helps with dry skin, but this has caused her to go very red - see photo below. She's been treated for mites, however she's slept in the same bedding since so could have caught them again. We're completely lost on what to do and don't want her to be in pain. Could she be allergic to the aveeno body wash and how can we get rid of her dry skin?


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

What was the temperature of the water?


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## Milathehedgehog (Dec 29, 2015)

A little warmer than lukewarm. It didn't seem too warm for her as she was quite relaxed. The redness is also on her face and the water didn't touch there


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## nuttylover (Jun 5, 2015)

For the dry skin, you can use coconut oil, vitamin E oil, or flaxseed oil - put a few drops in the rinse water. Or what I do is put 2-3 drops of coconut oil on the dry cat food. But I do not do it everyday; more like twice a week only because too much coconut oil can cause diarrhea.

For the redness, what kind of heating set-up do you have? For the bedding do you mean you never changed it even when she was already treated for mites?


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## Milathehedgehog (Dec 29, 2015)

We've tried flaxseed oil but that didn't seem to help. Perhaps we could try the coconut oil on her food - can you get this from a food store?

We used to have her in our bedroom with the heating on so it was around 21.5 degrees. However, we've now bought a lamp and moved her yesterday to the spare bedroom where it is 23.5 degrees. We thought the heating may have been drying her skin out?

Yes we didn't change it as we weren't sure if it was our washing powder that was irritating her, but we've now given her a new blanket and disinfected her whole cage - we did this yesterday before we put her back in after her bath. We just can't understand why she's so red?


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## nuttylover (Jun 5, 2015)

Yes you can buy coconut oil at any food store  Make sure that it is Virgin Coconut Oil. In my country I buy it from the pet store because they have one that is specifically made for pets.

As to the redness, do you have a heating pad or just the heating lamp? If it is a heating pad or mat it might be too hot for her and it is usually known to cause burns. I cannot say if she is infected with mites again because the cage and the liners should have been disinfected when she was already undergoing treatment. So there might be a chance for her to have mites again.

If the water that you used in her bath is hotter than normal, that can also cause redness. Their skins are a bit more sensitive than ours. If you tried testing the water using your wrist (this area is sensitive to temperature) and it is a bit hotter than lukewarm, then it could be the reason that she is red.


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## nuttylover (Jun 5, 2015)

If it were me I'd wait for those with more experience to comment. But for the dry skin you can definitely use coconut oil or vitamin E oil (some prefer vitamin E oil over coconut oil)


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## Milathehedgehog (Dec 29, 2015)

Thanks very much for the advice. We have a CHE above her cage so it can't be burns. She must be allergic to the aveeno oil we think as it was straight after the bath her skin went red. Does anyone else have any advice about mites/dry skin?


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