# She keeps stepping in her poop



## RondackHiker (Jan 21, 2013)

Knarla will poop, and step back, and drag her tail and hind feet through it. 

I didn't want to bath her after her hibernation attempt, so I've been wiping her feet and her tail.

Yesterday, I think I did a foot bath... An inch of warm water and soap in the sink, to get a stubborn bit off her foot.

I cleaned her earlier, and she needs her feet done again already. I don't know if it's because she's blind or what. 

Is there anything I can do to prevent it? I figure this will just be a daiy ritual, which is fine, but I thought I'd check.

How often does everyone do foot baths and full baths?

Oh! And I see posts about dry skin. How can I check her skin? She was on terrible food and bedding so I bet it's not great.


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## SouthernSweet (Jul 25, 2012)

I think it's considered pretty normal for hedgehogs to walk through their poop :lol: I doubt it's because she is blind. Hedgehogs do love their "poop boots."

Some hedgehogs will clean their own feet; others do not care.
You can give foot baths as needed I believe. But I wouldn't bother more than once per day.
A soft toothbrush can help you scrub little feet! Although I prefer to just put soap on feet and let them soak to break it up.
Sometimes you can just peel the poop off.

Full baths are as-needed as well. I give then when my hoggies smell funny.
Clark occasionally gets oatmeal baths for his quilling.

What do you mean by check her skin? If it's dry, it will be dandruffy and flake.


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## Katis228 (Aug 19, 2012)

My Mal gets a footbath every morning that she has poo on her feet. I have a Steralite box that I use for her bath tub. Footbaths for her are less than a half inch of water (just enough to cover her feet), and I will lay either a washcloth or (if you'd rather have disposable) paper towels in the bottom so she doesn't slip. The papertowels also work to get the poo off her feet, although I occasionally have to take a paper towel and help to wipe the poo off. I don't use soap, just warm water. Very rarely has she had to have 2 footbaths in one day. 

Mal is actually very tolerant of the footbaths, and even takes the opportunity to get a drink when I first put her in! :lol: 

It also helps to make the stress of full baths more tolerable. Though she still doesn't like to have water poured on her. Poor thing. Thankfully she only gets a full bath once, maybe twice a month if she anoints with something that looks or smells horrid after a while!


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## Shell (Aug 23, 2012)

I gave Percy foot baths every morning for the first month I had him, until I think he got fed up with them and just started cleaning them himself. I haven't had to do them since as he just grew out of having poopy boots. He hate's his poops so much that when he's in his snuggle sac he'll back his butt out, poop, then go back in. He's one of the cleanest little guys, but I never minded the daily foot baths as it was great bonding time.


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## RondackHiker (Jan 21, 2013)

Thanks! Well, we'll just use it as bonding time. It really doesn't take long, and it's fun. She seems to enjoy it as well.

She doesn't seem to need a full bath yet, which is good. I'll wait till she knows me better, although she has warmed up very quickly. She climbs into my hand when I reach in about half the time.

For dry skin, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. I noticed the skin behind her ears looked a bit red, so I am going to watch that. It wasnt flaky, just a bit reddish.


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## jholstein11 (Dec 13, 2012)

They do that... I think it's mostly that they just don't care. In the wild, they run, they poop...no worries. 

It's a little gross, but we get to use the adorable phrase "poopy boots" so it's not all bad.


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## Shlendie (Feb 26, 2013)

My hedgie almost alwyas has a case of BAD poop boots. I usually give him a quick foot bath every evening before playtime, water is room temperature and very shallow. While he gets very stessed during a full bath (I have only given him 1 in the 2 months I've had him), he doesn't mind the foot baths until tonight. I put him in his usual little bath and for some reason he started freaking out, trying very hard to escape and pooped all over the tub, I took him out to dry him and relax him and he pooped all over the towels and me :s Nothing seemed to calm him down! Put him in his playpen with a blanket to snuggle in but he won't even go near the blanket. Now he's just huddled in the corner looking all sad and helpless. 

Have any of your hediges ever had a sudden intolleration towards foot baths or water in general? If so, How do you clean their poop boots? When I first got him I used to use a wet wash cloth but he was too squirmy for me to get it from under his nails (now i use a soft tooth brush). If I don't clean them for a couple of days they WILL be very poopy and crusty.


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## alexvdl (Dec 19, 2012)

Does your hedgehog not have a hiding spot? Either a pigloo, sleep sack, or what not?

And, Maggie adn I have found that if you put a damp washcloth at the bottom of a long bin, they can roam around and get the poop and dirt of their feet that way. Also, that's where Reginald does his business before activity time. We call it the poopbath.

Like this


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## Shlendie (Feb 26, 2013)

He does but after his footbath while he is drying off (usually snuggled in a blanket after I give him a quick dry down) I clean his cage and wash his sleeping tunnel so at that time he is in the playpen in a blanket. This time he started hissing when I out the blanket around him then ran off to the corner. Very unusual for him. I left him alone for a while after that to calm down while i cleaned his cage and wheel, later when i went to pick him up to see if he was oki he pooped again :s the way he does when he is frightened. 

I did not give him a footbath last night I though to just let him relax a bit and get whatever fear he had out of his system, but i got him out for a bit of playtime and he seemed OK. I know he isn't quilling so he wasn't in any painn, but I read somewhere that they get edgey when they hit puberty and he is 5 months old so he's at that age I suppose. 

I will try your method tonight and see how he reacts to it and hopefully by the time his next full bath comes along he won't be too terrified :/

Your Reginald is adorable BDW


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