# Extremely worried new hedgie owner



## Raven (Jan 30, 2011)

I got my first hedgie yesterday, Pomme. She's an 8 week old albino female who was described by the breeder as very energetic and tame.

I'm worried because when I woke her last night (around 8pm) she hobbled as she moved, shaking. I looked it up and there wasn't much around to say what could be the problem other than WHS and thought she might be cold or nervous. So let her snooze some more, turned the radiator up that her bed corner of her cage is next to and let her get used to her new surroundings. 

Today she's still hobbling/wobbling as she moves. If I put my hand down, she heads straight for it, climbs onto my hand and falls asleep. Shes on my lap/left hand as I'm typing this and gets upset if I put her down, so I'm letting her stay there and get used to my smell.

She has been clicking and 'sneezing' when I've initially picked her up, but according to the care packet/this forum that's normal, as they're a little huffy.

She is definitely drinking and has a dish and bottle readily available (she was raised on a bottle), but I haven't seen her eat (her food was provided by the breeder and is what she's been raised with too).

Please could someone shed some light on this?


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

She's cold and trying to hibernate. What temperature is her cage? You need to warm it up at least a couple of degrees. Where in the room is her cage located? If near a window, or floor level, it should be moved.


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

Hi! And congrats!!!

Don't waste any energy worrying yet, k?

Firstly, she could be wobbly from just having woken up and she's a youngster, so it could be just walking half in her sleep.

How warm is her home? Not the room air - her area.

She's fine sleeping on you as long as she's warm enough and you're not trying to keep her awake.

More experienced people will chime in...


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## susanaproenca (Aug 14, 2010)

Welcome and congratulations on Pomme!  

Do you have a thermometer in her cage? A thermometer is necessary as you have to maintain the temperature steady within he range of 73-78F. 

She might be wobbly because she is too cold.

Another thing, water bottles are not recommended because usually hedgies won't drink enough water from it. There were cases of hedgies becoming extremely dehydrated because they had water bottles instead of dishes. I suggest you switch to a water dish asap.

It's normal for hedgies at a new home to have little or no appetite, but you shouldn't let her go without food for more than 2 days. Count all the kibble you put in her cage, then count again in the morning to see if she ate something.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Healthy 8 week olds do not wobble, regardless if they've just woken up.


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

MissC said:


> More experienced people will chime in...


Hard to get more exp. than Nancy has.


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

LarryT said:


> MissC said:
> 
> 
> > More experienced people will chime in...
> ...


Yup...I said whew! when I saw she had been posting while I was typing mine!!!


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## Raven (Jan 30, 2011)

Well I've found out she likes crawling up my dressing gown at least. She's very awake now, but still not completely steady and likes to click  but I guess it's cause it's all a bit new to her.

Also with the bottle thing, she had a full bottle yesterday and there was half left this morning, so unless it's leaking she's been drinking fine, but I've put a dish out too


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

Another thing about bottles is the drinking postion is not natural and there is always the chance of chipping a little hedgie tooth.


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

Do you have a thermometer in or near her cage?


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## Raven (Jan 30, 2011)

No I must admit I wasn't informed by the breeder about this, but I'm getting one sorted and making sure she's warm enough.

I noticed she has very sore looking front legs though today... yesterday they seemed fine but today they looked scabby and posibly bleeding. I gave her a _very_ gentle foot bathe with luke warm water and olive oil to clean them so they didn't get infected. Could this be from balling up?

Here are some pics anyway:

This one is a bit blurry, but you can kind of see the sore spots on her front paws (http://i.imgur.com/Iyfl9.jpg)

This is her having a drink out of her bowl and her cage setup, the bed corner is next to a very warm radiator, but I will get a small animal heater/heat pad and a thermometer to ensure she's kept at the right temperature. (http://i.imgur.com/d5pwt.jpg)

And this one is her after waking up and climbing up my sleeve! I had to manouvre myself out of it as she sped up it, but she seems fine and full of energy at this point... (http://i.imgur.com/koCaj.jpg)

I've placed 15 quality cat biscuits and 6 meal worms in her dish... (just making a note her for the record!)


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

I will let people with more expertise comment of legs, feet, wobbling, etc...

Before you buy a heating system, you may want to take a look at this post, as it compares the various systems:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4579

There are lots of 'Stickies' under each topic that are very helpful regarding new ownership, cages, etc...


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## Raven (Jan 30, 2011)

MissC said:


> I will let people with more expertise comment of legs, feet, wobbling, etc...
> 
> Before you buy a heating system, you may want to take a look at this post, as it compares the various systems:
> 
> ...


Awesome thanks for this. I have a zoozone cage so I'm not sure the ceramic heaters would be the best option? I'm not really sure. I guess it's only between the heating lamp and a ceramic heater.


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

Raven said:


> Awesome thanks for this. I have a zoozone cage so I'm not sure the ceramic heaters would be the best option? I'm not really sure. I guess it's only between the heating lamp and a ceramic heater.


Sorry...I have a home-made cage so don't know anything about zoozone...someone else will chime in...

Snarf's cage is 2'x3' (wood/arborite - no lid). I use a 100w CHE (Ceramic Heat Emitter) in a 10" Lamp, plugged into a ZooMed Reptitempo 550R thermomstat. I have a digital thermometer ($10 special from Radio Shack) at the opposite corner of the cage so I know where it is the coldest. Snarf's hedgie bag is in the same corner as the CHE. I also have an ordinary light that's on a timer - on from 9am-10pm.

Hope this helps...


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## susanaproenca (Aug 14, 2010)

She's a cutie, I love albinos!  

I couldn't really see the sores on her legs, are they on her legs or her feet? Does she have a wheel and if so what kind?

Olive oil can be used but flaxseed oil is more recommended because it rinses off more easily. Make sure you get the one that comes in capsules as the one in a bottle goes bad really fast. 

Just curious, what cat biscuit are you feeding her?

I've looked at the Zoozone cage and I think it would be fine to place a CHE on top of the wire lid. It looks like that lid is similar to the material in the My Super Pet cage which is safe to use with CHEs.


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## Raven (Jan 30, 2011)

susanaproenca said:


> She's a cutie, I love albinos!
> 
> I couldn't really see the sores on her legs, are they on her legs or her feet? Does she have a wheel and if so what kind?
> 
> ...


She didn't eat any of her food last night, I have the specific name at home but it is a quality cat biscuit that she has been brought up on. I think the loss of appetite is from the stress of the move, she is drinking her water just fine (and definitely prefers her water bowl to the bottle). I'm tempted to get some quality cat food, as in the meaty stuff, to try her on and see if she eats that. Apparently she has never tried meal worms, so I'm not surprised she hasn't tried those...

The sores were on her legs, not her feet.

And yea I think I will definitely be getting a CHE and lamp over a ceramic heater.


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## Ophelia (Dec 10, 2010)

> And yea I think I will definitely be getting a CHE and lamp over a ceramic heater.


CHE stands for Ceramic heat emitter. So those things are one in the same.


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## Raven (Jan 30, 2011)

Haha I meant one of those stand alone electric/petrol guzzling things. The cage I have is plastic though, I'm a bit worried about a lamp potentially melting it...


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## Sky Halcyon (Sep 18, 2010)

I don't think you have to worry about it melting. With full plastic cages made out of bins it's a bit of a worry, since the plastic is often very close to the heat source, but with the kind of cage you have, if the CHE is plugged into a thermostat to keep it at the right temperature, I don't think the plastic would get hot enough to melt.


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## ThePliny (Jun 3, 2010)

Are you located in the UK? I don't think we have zoozone cages in North America, but I have seen other UK owners use them.
I wouldn't worry about the CHE melting the plastic - so long as the lamp is not resting directly on the cage, you should be fine.
How is your little girl doing? Perking up at all? Perhaps you should take her to a vet for a check up. Pretty good idea to have a wellness check up once a year.
Are her legs scabby? I am wondering if it might be mites or some sort of skin infection causing the irritation? Perhaps it is an allergic reaction to something?


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## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

I think I see the area in the picture that looks red, how is her back nails? The reason I ask is the area almost looks like its in a position where the back nails would be scratching if she went to come out of the ball. Am I seeing the right spot, looks like the underside portion of the front legs? 

Hope the little one is doing better and that you have recovered from the scare


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## nibletsmom (Dec 20, 2010)

I know I am chiming in somewhat late here but I am going to give you my scenario on the wobbliness... [I can't help with the sores because I can't get the pictures to open...]

When we first got Niblet...we had done a LOT of research but at the time, I had not yet discovered this amazing forum. So we failed to learn about different types of heating available for our little guy. Now keep in mind, we were planning to heat him just by the heat in our house. My fiance and I are very cold natured people and we have a thermometer in our room [its on our solar alarm clocks]...our room alone stays around 77-80 degrees at all times. This is mainly because we have a HUGE fish aquarium in our room that contributes to the additional heat. So we thought our little guy would stay warm enough. We were not informed by our breeder either about additional heat. Our breeder also told us that wood chips and the corn cob bedding would be just fine!! [OMG...hind sight is 20/20] So when we got our little guy home, we set him up in his new home and he was doing just fine. The next morning when we went to check on him, he was sleeping "soundly". We both knew this wasn't right. We checked the thermometer in his cage and his cage temp was 76 degrees. We still felt that something wasn't right. We picked him up and cuddled with him and when he unrolled and was warmer, we sat him down and he was so wobbly that he could barely walk without falling over!!

I started researching wobbly hedgehogs and came across WHS and immediately started crying because I was afraid he was sick. It ended up that we went and purchased him a heating pad [one of the ones from the pet store] and placed it under his cage in the side where he sleeps. We changed his bedding to fleece and within a day or so, he was much much better. His cage stays around 78-80 degrees. Our little guy is very sensitive to cold and he needed the extra heat.

I would take the advice of the previous posts and get your little one to a vet just for a check out. That can never hurt.


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## Raven (Jan 30, 2011)

ThePliny said:


> Are you located in the UK? I don't think we have zoozone cages in North America, but I have seen other UK owners use them.
> I wouldn't worry about the CHE melting the plastic - so long as the lamp is not resting directly on the cage, you should be fine.
> How is your little girl doing? Perking up at all? Perhaps you should take her to a vet for a check up. Pretty good idea to have a wellness check up once a year.
> Are her legs scabby? I am wondering if it might be mites or some sort of skin infection causing the irritation? Perhaps it is an allergic reaction to something?


Yes I'm in the UK. Pomme has perked up a lot and I did end up taking her to the vet for her scabs/general checkup. He was so surprised at how friendly and tame she was (as she un-rolled pretty quickly). We got some gel and antibiotics and they have healed up a lot after a week. I'm still worried she could potentially have mites as she scratches a bit at night and her skin looks a little dry. However, she is extremely lively now and has her appetite back and is looking plump.

She isn't wobbling any more I think she might have been stressed from the new environment! But she's very easy to handle, though she sneezes and huffs a lot!!! It's hard to tell if she's annoyed or frightened as she makes a whole host of noises.

We believe the scabs were from her balling up too tightly (the trip to the vets made her prickle her own face too). He offered a blood test but I didn't go for it as I agreed it looked like she had just scraped herself and they had scabbed over. The areas affected were all places in the 'self-spiking' region :lol: i.e. her chin/mouth and fronts of her front legs (from the picture).


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## Raven (Jan 30, 2011)

nibletsmom said:


> I know I am chiming in somewhat late here but I am going to give you my scenario on the wobbliness... [I can't help with the sores because I can't get the pictures to open...]
> 
> When we first got Niblet...we had done a LOT of research but at the time, I had not yet discovered this amazing forum. So we failed to learn about different types of heating available for our little guy. Now keep in mind, we were planning to heat him just by the heat in our house. My fiance and I are very cold natured people and we have a thermometer in our room [its on our solar alarm clocks]...our room alone stays around 77-80 degrees at all times. This is mainly because we have a HUGE fish aquarium in our room that contributes to the additional heat. So we thought our little guy would stay warm enough. We were not informed by our breeder either about additional heat. Our breeder also told us that wood chips and the corn cob bedding would be just fine!! [OMG...hind sight is 20/20] So when we got our little guy home, we set him up in his new home and he was doing just fine. The next morning when we went to check on him, he was sleeping "soundly". We both knew this wasn't right. We checked the thermometer in his cage and his cage temp was 76 degrees. We still felt that something wasn't right. We picked him up and cuddled with him and when he unrolled and was warmer, we sat him down and he was so wobbly that he could barely walk without falling over!!
> 
> ...


Also thanks for this ^_^ The day I posted I bought her a heat pad. Her cage is at a constant 25 Celsius and she seems happy! I have a house made from an old ice cream tub that she tends to sleep in, which I put a few strips of fleece into. she also has a larger piece of fleece and a snuggle pouch on top of the heat pad in case she gets cold!!! She is sooo spoilt :lol:

She isn't wobbling any more thankfully and doesn't like to sit still, unless it's early evening and she's just woken up! :roll:


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

Thanks for the update! Glad to hear she's doing better.


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## ThePliny (Jun 3, 2010)

yay! Glad to hear little Pomme is back to normal. She must have been balling herself up pretty tight to prick herself! Goofy girl.
The noises are funny - half the time I think Pliny is huffing just because he feels he is supposed to, meanwhile his quills are completely flat and he is splatted out. :roll:


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

Snarf often walks goofy when he first gets up...stiffness? And I noticed on YouTube videos that some little guys seem to be a bit off balance when they first wake up, this is what I was hoping it was for you two but am glad you double-checked with the vet!!! 

Glad to hear all is well.


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## Raven (Jan 30, 2011)

Thanks all, your support means a lot!


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