# New Owner. Simple Questions.



## NedThe Hedgehog (Aug 11, 2011)

Hello, I just got a little 11 week old male hedgie. He seems to be sleeping A LOT. Like, 95% of the time, even at night. Is he alright or could there be a problem? I got him from some random lady off a local internet site. I don't believe she is a professional breeder. 
He has a very large Marchioro Luna Spa cage. (http://www.petanim.com/3358/Seher/marchioro-luna-spa-small-animal-cage/)
I'm using Aspen wood shavings for bedding. 
He is eating Friskies Indoor Delights cat food. (I have two cats and that's what I feed them)

Any suggestions for a new owner?


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## Guest (Aug 11, 2011)

As long as his belly is warm a baby sleeps quiet a lot until full grown it could also be that your hedgehog won't come out much if there is an abundance of light or even a little they may not be as responsive to being active.

Do you have a good sold wheel for your hedgehog?
Is your hedgehog for the most part left alone to sleep during day time hours and a consistent 12 to 14 hours of light around their cage?
Is the temperature of the cage above 75 degrees but below 80?


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## NedThe Hedgehog (Aug 11, 2011)

Yes, yes and yes. I leave my curtains open during the day. 

Also, I noticed his ears were dry so I put a small amount of pure vitamin E oil on them and they seem to be doing much better, but he has tons of dry flakey skin beneath his quills, what can I do for that?


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## Guest (Aug 11, 2011)

NedThe Hedgehog said:


> Yes, yes and yes. I leave my curtains open during the day.
> 
> Also, I noticed his ears were dry so I put a small amount of pure vitamin E oil on them and they seem to be doinguch better, but he has tons of dry flakey skin beneath his quills, what can I do for that?


Flax Seed Oil on his skin and dropped onto his food can help a lot of people also recommend Harrison Birds Booster or Sunshine Factor applied to their food to help dry skin.

I would let your hedgehog be as long as he seems healthy although one of my girls is very much if there's a place to hide and sleep she will but if I take her out to her play area with her wheel and a few toys without her igloo she will explore and run more.


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## NedThe Hedgehog (Aug 11, 2011)

Awesome. Thank you so much for your help.


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## ShutUpAndSmile (Mar 7, 2011)

NedThe Hedgehog said:


> Yes, yes and yes. I leave my curtains open during the day.


Do you have something more constant then daylight? Because when winter comes then the days get much shorter and thats no good. As well as some days are just cloudy. You can get a cheap little light and timer and probably spend no more the $30. 12 hours of light each day is important.

Edit: Also I'm looking at the cage. Is the floor wire? I can't tell from the small picture but if it is then thats not good for their little feet.
Also the ramp to the 2nd level as well as the 2nd level looks a little unsafe all those need to be inclosed. Hedgehogs don't really have good depth perception and can easily fall and hurt themselves. A broken leg would not be a happy vet visit. 
Lastly instead of the water bottle lot of people recommend using a bowl because of not only sanitary reasons hedgehogs can chip their teeth on water bottles.
As far as the aspen goes aspen is fine to use. But you may find fleece is just over all easier and cheaper in the long run. Plus it doesn't get thrown everywhere lol.


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

My recommendation would be to get him off the Friskies food. It doesn't cost very much considering how little a hedgehog eats to put him on a better quality food.

There are lots of threads in the diet section talking about what bad ingredients are and what foods are ideal, but if you want to look at the ingredients yourself here's the Friskies (the food is almost entirely corn):

http://www.friskies.com/Cat-Food/dry-ca ... r-delights

And here's a sample decent food:

http://www.bluebuffalo.com/cat-food/bc- ... th-chicken


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## laraguarisco1234 (Aug 14, 2019)

so just to be clear... indoor delights is bad for the hedgie?


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## Emc (Nov 18, 2018)

laraguarisco1234 said:


> so just to be clear... indoor delights is bad for the hedgie?


This thread is from 2011 haha.

But i highly suggest reading the topics I linked you in your existing thread, and if there's anything you're confused about, feel free to ask and I'm sure many folk will be willing to help you out.

But yes, friskies is a bad food choice for hedgehogs. It contains several unfavourable ingredients like corn, animal by-products, unspecified meals, etc. Here's the ingredients list;
*Ground yellow corn, corn gluten meal, chicken by-product meal, meat and bone meal,* *soybean meal*, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols, powdered cellulose, *animal liver flavour, soybean hulls*. phosphoric acid, salmon meal, calcium carbonate, salt, natural flavour, potassium chloride, choline chloride, *dried cheese powder*, parsley flakes, *added colour*

^ all the bolded ingredients are ingredients that you do not want to see in your hedgehogs food. and as you can see, its pretty much the entire ingredients list bolded. Corn is a filler, and offers little to no nutritional value; its simply there to bulk up the food and make it cheap to produce.

Chicken-by-product is whats left of the chicken after all edible meat is removed; essentially, the remainder of the animal that humans wont eat and/or has been deemed unfit for human consumption. Its stuff like intestines, brains, lungs, etc and can also include offal that hasn't been appropriately handled at slaughter (and so humans cant eat it; but they'll shove it in your pets food), already dead animals (that died from god knows what), etc. Essentially; its 'scrap' that would otherwise go in the bin. Meat and bone meal has the same incredibly low standard; a standard of quality that is so low, one could argue that a standard for quality here doesn't exist at all.

Soy isnt an 'avoid at all costs, always and forever' ingredient _but_ it is one to be cautious of nonetheless. It's high in protein - but because of this, petfood manufactures often use it when the animal protein is lacking. Hedgehogs need a diet that is high in animal protein; so foods that rely on protein from soy... eh, not so great. There are also other concerns some folks may have with soy, a couple being that its like, an upwards of 90% of the time genetically modified, its high in anti-nutrients, and there have been health concerns linked to soy in both dogs and cats.

Dried cheese; hedgehogs are lactose intolerant, and should not have any dairy products in their diet.

The addition of flavours and colours is also incredibly concerning. Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 (all included in friskies) are all known to be possible carcinogens.

^ thats just a quick run down. The threads I linked you to in your other post have some really great suggestions for higher quality foods, in addition to what to look for when choosing a high quality food for your hog, and i'd highly suggest checking them out.


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