# Different Types of Quills?



## sebian (Aug 29, 2008)

Ivan, our rescue, has finally stopped popping at every movement anyone/thing makes (yay!  ) He's also eating very well (finally). Right now, we're still combating dry skin-- I'm thinking it'll be time for a humidifier in the near future for him. We're also working (very diligently) on calming him down more. While he hasn't popped in a good week, he still is very unstable and very hissy at _any_ movement. Because he's still very high strung, on top of the dry skin issue, he loses one or two quills every other day. I've noticed that the quills he loses are either the normal looking thick(ish) kind and the other are very very thin and look almost exactly like his belly hair. If it wasn't for the bulb at the base of the quill, I would have just assumed it was a hair. He's not scratching and we've quadruple checked for mites in all of our boys and everyone is fine. I've been giving a drop or two of flax seed oil on his food every few days and have been letting him soak (up to his belly) in the warm water for a few minutes after his footbaths (like.. every other day :roll: ).

I was just wondering what the difference in the quills was? Are the underdeveloped ones just that and they just fell out early? Are they unhealthy (I've noticed that a few of the quills he's shedding bend/break very easily when I pick them up)? Do hedgies just naturally have different sized/textured quills? Do I need to be worried more other than trying to kick this dry skin?


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## smhufflepuff (Aug 28, 2008)

Based on knowledge of one hedgie, I know there are different quills. Satin has banded ones and white ones. The white ones are thicker and longer than the banded ones. Within type, they appear uniform across most of her body. Along the line between quills and belly fur grow a few shorter thinner ones that seem to be a cross between quill and hair. Some other folks at HedgeHog World have noticed the same quill/hairs on their hedgies along the fur-line too. Then, at the fur-line near her tail, she has one shorter, thinner quill that curves - it grows out, then turns back in toward her tail. This one fell out before and was quickly replaced by the same type of curvy quill. 

Unlike how you've described yours bending and breaking rather easily, the few of them that my girl has shed are not easily bendable.


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## sebian (Aug 29, 2008)

verrrrrry interesting! I knew they had different quills color-wise, but I didn't realize different colors were different textures. I'll be sure to do a comparison next time!



smhufflepuff said:


> Unlike how you've described yours bending and breaking rather easily, the few of them that my girl has shed are not easily bendable.


He does shed some that don't break at all, but more often than not, they break/bend when I pick them out of the various materials he leaves his little presents in (i.e. my foot :shock: ).

I don't see any bald spots (at least, not any more than what I saw when we originally got him), so I'm not particularly worried.



smhufflepuff said:


> Along the line between quills and belly fur grow a few shorter thinner ones that seem to be a cross between quill and hair.


That makes a TON of sense! Thank you!!


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

I can't say much other than at the hairline, there are often smaller, more flexible hairlike quills that are kind of in-between. Don't know how to explain it more than that! :lol:


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