# Please help, baby hedgehog abandoned by mother. Urgent.



## gaby1221 (Feb 3, 2013)

My mother has a hedgehog named Madonna. She gave birth to 3 healthy babies 2 and a half weeks ago. They're pudgy and adorable and she'd been nursing them just fine up until 2 days ago. We first noticed one little guy wasn't getting nursed as much as the others, he would always be curled up alone in the igloo when the other two were nursing. He also squeaked a lot and rocked back and forth often. We didn't think much of it until today when his mommy started physically trying to move him out of her nest and violently budging him out with her nose. We helped him back into the nest, hoping she would nurse him, and instead she just started attacking him again. We removed him from the cage and placed him in a shoebox, half of which is over a heating pad on low. We filled it with shredded paper and some fleece. He curls up in the corner where the heat is. He won't stop squeaking and rocking back and forth.
I'm babysitting my 3 little siblings while my mom is at work (I'm 17). But I sent my bestfriend's brother to Petsmart for Kitten Milk Replacement. I told him to get goat milk but he didn't know where that's sold so he got the KMR that I've used in the past to save wild baby bunnies and chipmunks that the neighbor's cat had gotten to. I mixed 1 part KMR, 1.5 parts water, and a little eye dropper of Simethicone to help prevent bloat. 
I really don't know what to do though. He's not taking it well with the eyedropper or the tiny kitten bottle I got. He'll lick a little bit off my finger though. I'm so scared I'm giving him too much or too little. I keep rubbing his tummy with a wet Q-tip but he won't poop. I'm looking for the breeder's phone number that my mom got her male hedgehog from. She has many hedgies and usually has babies so I'm thinking maybe she will have a lactating female that can nurse him? 
Please help me. I don't know how much to feed him or how often. He's 2 and a half weeks old. Any advice is appreciated. I just really want the little guy to be ok. Thank you!


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## RondackHiker (Jan 21, 2013)

Read the "help my male hedgehog just had babies!" Thread. There's a lot of advice about hand rearing.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Here's the thread - viewtopic.php?f=25&t=21700&st=0&sk=t&sd=a I don't want to be a buzzkill, but keep in mind that if the mom was specifically attacking him, it could be there's something wrong with him that we can't detect and he may die anyway...So just be prepared. Also keep in mind that he'll need to be fed every 2 hours or so round the clock, for several weeks if he does make it, so make sure you're prepared for that if you're going to tackle this. I do hope it goes well though, and good luck.

Side note: Not sure the circumstances behind the babies, but just want to mention that if you're planning on breeding again, etc. that both of the parents have their pedigrees and that you've checked both of their backgrounds to make sure there's no WHS or other genetic diseases in their backgrounds. Breeding should be done with the health of the babies in mind and we're pretty (very) vocal about that around here!


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## shmurciakova (Sep 7, 2008)

How is the little one doing? Were you able to find a surrogate (is that the right word) Mom? Please let us know. :|


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

At 2.5 weeks he'll need to be fed about every 3 hours, though they can last for 4 between feedings if necessary. I was just hand feeding a litter of 4 for two days until we were able to foster two and get the mother to accept the other two back. Go by the stomach capacity explanation I gave in that other thread. For me the babies were in the range of 60-80g, so it was 3cc per feeding for the smaller ones and 4cc per feeding for the larger ones. The idea is to get that much into them as often as possible, give them time to digest, and get more in them.

I agree with Lilysmommy - if the mother is doing fine with the others but specifically was getting rid of this baby, there's almost definitely a reason why. Mother's intuition, so to speak.


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