# Broken Quills?



## FamilyOfExotics (May 19, 2012)

So I was at my local pet store today seeing if my Reptitemp 500R was in yet.. Sadly it was not. I noticed however, that they had more hedgies for sale again!* I will never purchase a hedgehog from a pet store again*, but I like to go and see how they are doing. I picked up one hedgie and noticed that some of his quills were broken off. I won't be getting my baby for a couple more months yet, but I am just curious what might cause this? Is it a lack of nutrients, or a medical problem? He didn't seem to have any mites or anything.

I did do a search on the forum but didn't really find any information. I am trying to gather as much information I possibly can (on every topic hedgie related!) and smooshing it into binders for future reference! I'm pretty OCD when it comes to knowledge and organization.. :lol:


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

It could be caused by a variety of things. For a few possibilities: poor nutrition could be causing the quills to be weak and to break easily. A prior illness could even cause quills to become more fragile. I've even seen some that were blamed on a wooden hut that the quills were constantly rubbing against.


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## FamilyOfExotics (May 19, 2012)

Okay, that makes sense! So then my last question: Is there any way to remedy this? Is it possible to help make the remaining quills stronger? I'm assuming a good mix of high quality foods would help, but is there anything else that would help also? And thanks for the reply  My question is pretty random and so it has no priority, but i appreciate the information!


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

My experience has been that if it is a nutritional problem, once on a good diet they eventually will go through a quilling and shed the bad quills and grow in new. I've never really paid attention to see if the remaining quills were brittle feeling and then were not later.


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