# my hedgehog wobbles?



## lover_of_the_spiked1 (May 21, 2010)

My problem : my hedgehog (lil fuzz) wobbles and falls down he didnt always do this he just all a sudden when hes walking he falls on his right side

vet: after two weeks of this and i realised it was a problem i took him to the vet to see what they could do or tell me, problem with this is out of 15 vets only one would take him and they have only seen 4 since they been open... anyways vet said he wasnt consistant with witch side he would fall down on sometimes it would be the right side sometimes the left he gave me some liquid meds for lil fuzz and told me to try it for two weeks once a day and come back in for a checkup and look for a consistancy of witch side hes falling on.

2 weeks : went back to the vet and told him it was his right side and that the meds was not working and he had gotten worse. the doctor than did aultra sound to make sure it was nothing inside of him and there wasnt anything it was clear. than he put us on another liquid medication that he said was suppose to be for his nervs and insteed of just giving him one med he told me to give him both meds twice a day.. im sorry i do not know what the meds are called... 

2:weeks more: given him both meds seam to compair to givng my little babe a **** red bull it hipes him up and he runs around falling gets back up runs and falls over and over again! SO I STOPT giving him the meds.. bc he was cracked out.. i wanted to go back to the \vet but i didnt have the money and thats why i been researching online to see whats common and whats not.

what i have found out: he may be hibernating, i do keep my apartment really cold so i cut down on my air A LOT i gave that a week b/c his belly was cold everytime i picked him up and that was suppose to be a symtom of hibernation. so gave it a week and put hay in his cage and than a week later i check on his walking and its still the same, i read that this could also be from having long toenails so i climpt them and waited three days and hes still the same


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## lover_of_the_spiked1 (May 21, 2010)

i had more to write but the forum wouldnt let me so heres the rest lol
i also found a thing called wobbly heagehog syndrom that causes them to become paralized i hoping this isnt what he has b/c that is a very sad issue i watched videos on it and they are really pathetic and i dont think i could go threw something like that, it like watching something you love die and theres no cure.. any help would be really great! thanks for reading sorry if i sound stupid in the way im trying to explain things..

jodie


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## rainbowcookie (Dec 21, 2009)

If a hedgehog has a cold belly, that means they are trying to hibernate. That is likely the reason your hedgehog is wobbling when he walks. You might need to get a heating pad or another way to warm your hedgehog in its cage.

I don't know of anyone who uses hay for bedding for their hedgehogs. You should try out the fleece that most of us on here use. It seems like it would be warmer so your hedgehog would be more comfortable.

If you hedgehog has a cold belly, the best thing to do is hold her and share your body heat. This will warm him up safely. My Pepper tried to hibernate and was cold and wobbly when she started living here at my house, and I'd hold her and put a blanket over both of us. We got some snuggle time and she got warmed up!


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## lover_of_the_spiked1 (May 21, 2010)

lindsey thank you for your post i did try the body heat for two hours before i finally terned down my air for a week thats the day we started and thats how we started it off, i also have shaffins in his cage and he acts like he is not cold he use to bury under everything and sleep curled up now he dosnt want to sleep in anything its almost like now insteed of being cold he hot... so idk what to do but i really hope thats all it is.. its been going on for 5 weeks now. and im a little worried


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## nessariel (Mar 3, 2010)

Do you have a thermometer in your cage? What's the temperature at? Most hedgehogs need to be kept around 75-76 F to be comfortable and to keep them from hibernating.


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## lover_of_the_spiked1 (May 21, 2010)

nessariel i havent the slightest idea! but when i made it to where it wasnt no where near as cold he acted like he was than to hot so i usually have it on i think 70 at night but during the day its on 80


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## Puffers315 (Apr 19, 2010)

Totally sounds like a hibernation attempt, they get wobbly and such afterwards, the cold belly is a pure sign of an attempt as said above. Get yourself some sort of thermometer right away so you can monitor his cage, I use an indoor/outdoor style one, I have the outdoor probe in the middle rear part of the cage and the other part mounted at the top, so indoor = top cage temp and outdoor = bottom cage. If you don't have a heating and light system, you need one. You need at least a 12 hour light cycle using any type of lamp, be it the room light or one right on his cage or bin, you can get a cheap 5 dollar timer if needed from Walmart. As for heat, you want a lamp with a CHE bulb and a ZooMed ReptiTemp 500R which will regular the temp of the cage.


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## nessariel (Mar 3, 2010)

One thing that absolutely every hedgehog owner needs is a digital thermometer for in the hedgie's cage. It's really important that the cage be at least 75 at all times. This posting covers the different ways to heat your hedgie's cage:
http://hedgehogcentral.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4579&start=0
I hope that helps!  Your little hedgie will be a lot safer, and hopefully healthier, once you've got his cage at a steady temperature. If it was a hibernation attempt, you need to really watch and be sure he doesn't try again. I'm rooting for you and your little guy!


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## lover_of_the_spiked1 (May 21, 2010)

thank you ness and puff i will try a lamp but you said only 12 hours a day and how close to have the lamp? and i will look for a thermomiter im unsure whitch kind to get?


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## nessariel (Mar 3, 2010)

You'll need 2 lamps, one for light (which will be on 12 hours a day) and one for heat (which should be hooked up to a thermostat that will turn it on as needed) For light, just a regular desk lamp will be fine. For heat, you'll need a ceramic heat emitter - they can usually be found in the reptile section of pet stores. The link in my post above explains how to set it up. 

As for a thermometer, basically anything digital will work fine (I say digital because it gives you a more precise reading). I got mine at a hardware store for about $6.


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## lover_of_the_spiked1 (May 21, 2010)

thank you ness and yes i just got done reading your post and i like that you gave pics lol and thank you for letting me know whitch light is heat and witch is just light lol thats what i was woundering! does no one go in the chatroom on here?


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## nessariel (Mar 3, 2010)

I think the chatroom only has people on it during the scheduled times. Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions! The stickied posts in the various topics have a lot of good info, too.


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## rainbowcookie (Dec 21, 2009)

I forgot to mention that hedgehogs are more likely to have another hibernation attempt if they have done it before. I've never had another hedgehog try to hibernate, and the one girl who did (Pepper) was in the same big house as 4 other girls (all TX rescies from USGE) and they've never had cold bellies or wobbling. I checked Pepper a few times a day even when the temp was fine after she tried to hibernate and I'd but her in a special bin with a fleece blanket and her own heating pad.

Oh, and I don't have an air conditioner or a fan in the hedgehog room because it might cause drafts. Is there any way his cage might be in a draft you didn't notice?


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

All hedgehogs are different and will hibernate under different circumstances.

I had one that would hibernate if the room was not bright enough during the day. Leaving on the center light cured that problem.

Some will attempt hibernation if there's a sudden drop in temperature and it often doesn't matter in the least if it doesn't drop low, just that it drops. This was summer dropping from 85 during the day to 80 at night.

Drafts, even a warm draft can affect some.

It doesn't matter in the least the size or body shape of the hedgehog. Slim runners body shapes are not any more likely to be temperature sensitive than the rounder, plumper ones.

Air conditioned air feels cooler than heated air of the same temperature. For instance a 70F house is comfortable to us in the winter but 70F coming from air conditioning in the summer feels cold. It's the same for the hedgehogs. When using air conditioning, keep the temperature a few degrees above their normal temperature.

There often are people in the chat room in the evenings but with warm/hot nice weather, I guess most people prefer to be out doing things. Chat is more active in the winter and on it's regularly scheduled days.


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