# Dry skin?



## laixand (Apr 12, 2010)

Sorry, If my english is bad.
I have bought one female hedgehog, age around 2 month, let's call 'baba'. 
Skin on the baba's face is very dry and now exfoliate. And I'm worry.
I ever asked the seller when I bought baba, he said that from the hedgie born, until now, the seller said that baba never had a chance to bathing.
My Question :
1. Is it okay for hedgie from born until around 2 month didn't take a bath?
2. Sometimes baba scratch her self, is it because of mites?
3. What medicine can i give to her?
Thank you.

N.b the temperature of the room is between 24-25C


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## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

1. Its ok that the hedgie hasn't had a bath yet because 8 weeks is still young. Once she is settled into your house you can give her an oatmeal bath. If you don't have Aveeno there you can put oatmeal in a sock and let it soak. Since you won't know if the hedgie is scared of water it might be best to just gentally pour warm water over her so she won't be too stressed. Or you can fill the water up just alittle bit so it comes to her ankles. 

2. The scratching could be from mites but it may be from quilling also. If it is quilling the bath will sooth her skin and should make her feel better. You'll want to make sure that even if she's loosing quills that there is still new ones growing in and no balding spots. 

3. If it is mites Revolution for Kittens is usually given and gets applied onto the skin. The vet can write a prescription for it. It's possible though that the itching is just from quilling so you might know more when you see how she acts after the bath. 

I think 25C is around 77F which would be a good temperature.

Congrats on your new hedgie and welcome to HHC


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## laixand (Apr 12, 2010)

thank you for your help. 
Can you give me a detail about oatmeal bath? Is it oatmeal that we eat like quacker oat? or something else? 
You said put it on a sock and let it soak, after that what must I do? apply it into the baba's body or put it in the water?
I just get some picture from baba :
is it normal?
(you can click the image to see the actual size)





Sorry, i'm just worry about my baby 
Thank you very much


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Looks to me like he has mites.


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## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

Thats not normal and you'll want to get him checked. The crustiness on the face is probably due to mites.


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## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

Im not sure if they are supposed to have a bath before seeing the vet if its mites or another bacteria/fungal skin issue. When you are able to give one though the oatmeal is just like the kind you use to cook oatmeal to eat. You can just pour the dry oatmeal into the soak and let it soak in the water. It will change the water cloudy and just the hedgie being washed and rinsed with the water usually cleans him up nice. It absorbs a lot of stuff too because I notice my hedgies fur almost has a shine to it after getting out. 

I'd wait for some responses to find out if you are supposed to give a bath if there is a skin issue like that present. You'll definately want to bring her to the vet though. If its mites the vet should prescribe Revolution.

Hope your hedgie feels better.


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## laixand (Apr 12, 2010)

I think that I will go to pet shop to get Revolution in this afternoon. Because some of my friend also suggest that, I also read in the forum, that I must give her Revolution.
What I am afraid of? If there's no revolution, can i give her front line? Because some of my friend also give front line instead revolution, and their hedgie become healtier and now in good condition. or is there any medicine that can replace revolution?
Thank you for your kindness


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

I think you can order revolution on-line but I'm not sure where. You should probably take your hedgehog to a vet not just try to get the medicine at the pet shop.


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## laixand (Apr 12, 2010)

(sorry if i'm mistaken in english ^^)
It's hard to find animal doctor in my area, so I search in the internet and ask them who usually handle hedgehog. I also asked my friend. They said give her front line. so I didn't use revolution. I gave her front line. And now she become healtier The scratch in her face is disappear now. Last week I took her a bath, and she liked it and the crust in her body also disappear.
Now, her eyes become big, round and fresh and not like the previous day when her eyes seems sleepy.
My concern now, her fur in the head/face/body is too little, like bald.
is it side effect of the medicine? 
I gave her 3 drop of 0,5 ml frontline(medicine for mite/flea, etc for kitty who has weight under/max 5kg) (not in one day, one drop on wednesday, two drop after she take a bath on sunday). Is it too much? Or is it because she in the recovery phase?
Yesterday I also found her quill drop. I'm sure that it's not because of flea, mites, etc. Because there's round shape in the edge of her quill. is she quilling?
Thank you very much


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

I don't know what to suggest. I've heard that Frontline was not safe for hedgies.


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## hedgieMate (Aug 28, 2008)

Laixand, your English is fine. I often see native English-speakers writing poor English with numerous typos and grammatical errors. Don’t worry about making mistakes. 

I noticed that you use wood-shaving for bedding Wooden products can both track in and harbour mites. Looking at your photos, it’s quite likely that Baba had mites and that explains why Frontline eased her symptoms (by the way, I’ve also heard Frontline being risky for hedgehogs but haven’t done enough research to say that’s true or not).

One thing you should know is that when you have had a mite problem, you MUST disinfect everything that your hedgie has touched including the cage, cage accessories, bedding, and even your clothes. Use a hedgie-safe disinfectant such as white vinegar. If you're using a wooden cage, it's safer to replace it since mites might have already laid eggs in the wood. If you don't clean everything thoroughly, the mites may come back.

As for Baba having thin hair and dropping quills, she may well be quilling. Or it could be an after-effect of the mite infestation or an side-effect of Frontline. It’s difficult to tell at present. If the cause is related to the mite problem, it’ll take a while for her to shed damaged quills and have new quills grow in. Keep a close eye on her and make sure she eats well and stays active. If she shows any sign of ailing health, take her to a veterinarian. Good luck!


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## laixand (Apr 12, 2010)

Yes, I used local wood shaving. But now I am using wood-shaving from vitakraft, although it's more expensive than local one, but I hope it's better than local wood shaving .
I also clean my cage using white vinegar mix with water (1:1) as you said and clean everything in the cage. I also remove the hiding place because it's made from wood and now I use plastic material.
I think that baba was quilling, because yesterday and today, she seem happy and playing as usual


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