# Our New Girl is Home!!



## hlsiefken (Jan 23, 2014)

Say hi to Petunia..


She is VERY FAT! It's funny but we will get her back down to a healthy weight! I weighed her at 890g! :-o

Silly girl went right for the food, but only at a bite..


Checking out her new digs:


Her skin underneath looks pretty red and she has some KNARLY nails! Is tonight too soon to bathe her and attempt to trim her nails? I haven't even trimmed Bingley's yet.. I've been meaning to, but she has at least two that have GOT to be trimmed. I'm afraid they're so long there's no way to avoid quicking them! 



Above you can kind of see her red skin.. and below is cropped photo of her poor nails!



She sure is cute and curious, though! The breeder said that she needed work on her temperament but so far she just balls up a little.. my little Bingley is supposed to have a better temperament rating and he huffs and pops, lol! 


She will be 3 this summer and only had one surviving baby despite different breeding attempts, and has only been this overweight for 4-5 months. I am so happy to add to our little zoo and give this lady a nice place to live out her days!


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## abbys (Oct 13, 2012)

Aww, beautiful little chunker!  I don't think tonight would be too soon for a nail trim. Have some corn starch or flour on hand to stop the bleeding if you cut the quick. I'm surprised a breeder would let them get so long like that!


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## hlsiefken (Jan 23, 2014)

I had planned on the cornstarch being near. I think she may have a skin condition. I see yellow crustiness and it looks really dry! I'm going to give her a bath tonight and trim her nails..


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## Aether (Nov 18, 2013)

What a sweet looking hedgie! Her poor nails though...yikes!! Glad you are giving her an awesome home! I look forward to hearing how she's doing and seeing more adorable pics. =]


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## hlsiefken (Jan 23, 2014)

So I got her bathed and when I got her wet she reeked of urine! Poor thing! I got her nails trimmed, I'm not sure if I got everything as short as I should have but I may bathe her again in a few days because she still didn't smell all that good! I did quick one nail and accidently nicked a teeny spot on her pad but I got cornstarch on them right away! She was super squirmy! I had to wait until she was mostly dry after bath because all she did during the bath was ball up.. I couldn't get to her feet! Also put some olive oil on her as she has some flakiness and crustiness. After all that she still decided to come out and sit on me. She is just so sweet and adorable!

This morning I came to check in her bin, which of course was all rearranged, but there was the wheel on the floor! After closer inspection, it completely came off the stand! Argh! It's a Comfort Wheel from PetsMart, it was the only one left the other night and it didn't even have the label on it! I am taking it back today and getting another one, even if I have to go to another store to find one. Poor girl must have hopped on and tried to wheel and it fell off! You can put it back on the stand, but as soon as you pick it up by the wheel, it comes apart again. gah!


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## Aether (Nov 18, 2013)

That's too bad about the wheel! It might also be more difficult for her to run on a Comfort wheel due to how heavy she is, as I find Comfort wheels not to be all that sturdy honestly. If you still have problems with the new one, I would suggest getting her a more sturdy wheel from Carolina Storm Hedgehogs or Volcano View on Etsy. The bases are much more stable and the wheels can tilt to suit the weight of the hedgie. You might already know all that but I thought I'd throw it out there. =]


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## JimmayAnne (Feb 9, 2012)

Such a cutie! Glad she's a happy camper


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## TheSmellyHedgie (Sep 26, 2013)

She is a very cute chubby girl, but I bet she would look even more gorgeous if she slimmed down a bit! Good thing that you got her, to take better care of her. People saving animals restores my faith in humanity


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## PricklePrincess (Feb 13, 2014)

She is precious! congrats! Seeing all these sweet new hedgies makes me want another


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## The_Senator (Dec 31, 2013)

She is beautiful! It also sounds like she has an owner willing to give her the care she needs to get in tip-top shape, and that's wonderful


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## hlsiefken (Jan 23, 2014)

Thanks everyone! We have several other animals, but I am a stay at home mom. We do have busy days sometimes, but the hedgies always get the care they need. Most of our other animals are okay if things get delayed, lol. I love it, though. It's so fun spending time throughout the day tending to different animals!

I know it's small, but she's already down 5 grams from yesterday and I haven't seen much poop yet! And that is with that crazy defective wheel.. which I did find a replacement, but we had to go to the other store around here. It worked out though, because, as an off topic aside here, our female Betta fish just up and disappeared! I went out of town to go back home to visit family with my boys, hubby was on critter duty while I was away.. she was no where to be found.. We do have a cat but he's surprisingly never shown much interest in her.. and the opening to her tank is tiny. I can only assume maybe she jumped out and my cat found her? Anyways, she was my 4yo's fish so he was really disappointed that she was gone, so we got a new Betta,and the other store had a huge selection compared to the 3 fish at my store! Haha! We came home with a moss ball and a male Half Moon Betta. My 4yo was maybe more excited about the moss ball! Lol!


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## Aether (Nov 18, 2013)

I love bettas! I had a beautiful deep red male in college named Leviathan. He kept me company when I lived with my first roommate, who was a total nightmare. Then when I moved in with my second roommate, she loved him so much she got her own and named him Confucius. I don't blame your son for being fascinated with those moss balls -- they are pretty neat! They can almost be a pet by themselves, lol.


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## Altearithe (Jan 13, 2014)

It's awesome she lost a few grams!  

Sad about the betta though. ;o; My girl's never jumped until yesterday when I think she had a nightmare or something. Freaked me out to no end 'cause she got the corner of the lid.  

Also, marimo moss balls are freaking awesome. XD I have way too many, but they really can be their own pet and I'm only just learning about algae husbandry.
By the way, if you have your betta's tank/bowl/enclosure heated, marimo don't do well in the heat. I'm still getting rid of the brown algae and fixing my water's parameters a month after removing them.


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## hlsiefken (Jan 23, 2014)

Altearithe said:


> It's awesome she lost a few grams!
> 
> Sad about the betta though. ;o; My girl's never jumped until yesterday when I think she had a nightmare or something. Freaked me out to no end 'cause she got the corner of the lid.
> 
> ...


I know, so sad about the girl Betta.. I'm gonna post a new thread with our guy in a little bit!

I don't have a heater in the tank because it's less than 5 gallons and it is warm enough in our house for the Betta. That's good to know, though!


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## hlsiefken (Jan 23, 2014)

And here's one more pic, yesterday morning:



Her skin already looks a lot better, but is still pretty flaky!


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## Latrine (Mar 4, 2014)

That picture is adorable.. I had to go show my fiancé cause he still isn't so sure I'm not just crazy when I talk about HedgeHogs
I'm so glad you got her, look how cute and chubby!
I know it's not good for her to be overweight and your going to help her lose it but my god, she's just an adorable little chunk !!

Moss balls really are cool.. I'm going to get another brackish tank going sometime soon with some shrimp and crabs.. It's fun to watch them feeding in , cleaning and just being cool in moss balls ! 
Good luck with your new fish and Hedgehog !!

- Sarah


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