# Paprika Comes Home Tonight! (w/pics)



## firephoenixla (Sep 13, 2010)

Hi everyone! I'm new on the forum, and to hedgehogs too! But even though I haven't been posting these last few weeks I've been on here I have been doing ALOT of research reading through all the posts and getting things ready for my new hedgehog! I've never owned a hedgehog before, but I feel pretty ready to take her on after reading all the different discussions on here! I've named her Paprika and bought her almost every suggested item on this forum for her cage, wheel, supplies, food, and heat lamp. Just about everything I bought her was from links and suggestions on this site, so thank you everyone! I added some pictures of Paprika for you all to enjoy too, I can't wait to go pick her up from her breeder tonight!


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## NoDivision (Aug 29, 2010)

Awww, she is so cute! I'm glad you've been doing so much to get prepared, hooray informed owner! Congratulations.


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## shetland (Sep 2, 2008)

Paprika is just precious! And what a little devil climbing on her sister!! I can't wait to see more pictures of these fun loving little baby!!!


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## I<3Hejji (Aug 29, 2010)

Congrats! Paprika is adorable, she looks so sweet! I just got my first hedgehog a few weeks ago, and this website is how I learned about everything too  Good job doing your research! I can't wait to see more pictures of your beautiful little girl!


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

Congrats on your baby  all those hoglets are adorable! From the pics it looks like Paprika is the most outgoing and the cutest by far  .


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## firephoenixla (Sep 13, 2010)

Thanks everyone! I'll definately post more pictures once she settles in! 

@Larry - I hate to be biased against her sisters, but I think so too! She's the runt of her litter so she's got that cute little face in comparison ;P


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

She is adorable.


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

She is precious! I'm so excited for you! We can't wait to hear about all of your adventures together! And see lots & lots of pictures. Congrats & welcome to HHC!


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## hercsmom (Jul 6, 2010)

LarryT said:


> Congrats on your baby  all those hoglets are adorable! From the pics it looks like Paprika is the most outgoing and the cutest by far  .


I couldn't agree more, the other ones are super cute too but looks like you got the best one. Congratulations, you're going to have so much fun with her!


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## indygo88 (Aug 21, 2010)

I'm also fairly new to the site (& a fairly new hedgie owner) & am on here constantly, reading the forums & links. It's great, isn't it??

Paprika is adorable! And I love the name!!!


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## Sela (Apr 10, 2010)

Oh wow, she's adorable! You lucky so-and-so, I love pintos. She's beautiful, I may have to hedgienap her! (Kidding, I wouldn't do that.)

Welcome to HHC, it's nice to have you. <3


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## tie-dye hedgie (Dec 19, 2009)

Awww, she's adorable!!! Congrats on getting her and welcome to HHC!


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## EryBee (May 23, 2010)

I like the photo were she is kissing her sister  I hope we get to hear cute stories and see wonderful photos!


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## firephoenixla (Sep 13, 2010)

Thanks everyone! I'm glad I'm not the only one who is excited to have her home! 
So far she appears to be liking her new home, but getting the ceramic heater to reach the right temperature to keep the cage warm and then stay at that temperature has been a challenge.. I'm going to have to keep tinkering with the thermostat thing until I can figure it out :/
When I picked her up at the breeder's house she was curious and came out right away to greet me, so I didn't have to go through the process of waiting for her to unball to pick her up.. I had a fleece hedgie bag with me that I had sewed for her last night, so I put that on my lap and let her walk around on and in it. She was the last one of her litter left to be brought home, so I think she was glad to have some company again since she was all alone in her cage last night!
When I brought her home I just put the entire hedgie bag she had traveled home in right into the cage and left her in it there.. when I came back about an hour later I found her wedged under the side of her wodent wobust wheel.. she was trying to jam herself as far under it as possible while ignoring her perfectly good igloo and hedgie bag hide outs she had in the cage with her! So I put out her water dish, water bottle, dry cat food bowl, and a little wet cat food in another bowl so she'd have absolutely everything she could possibly want tonight, I hope she chooses one of her options and eats/drinks tonight!
After a few hours I went back and sat back next to her cage and just put my hand into the middle of the cage without moving it or anything. At first she stayed wedged under the wheel and had her quills pulled over her face and puffed up so she couldn't see anything.. but after a minute or so she got curious, and put her quills down and came over to my hand and started sniffing it and walking on my fingers, it was so cute! Then she went and checked out her igloo and the little stuffed Booda soft bite hedgehog dog toy I had put in her igloo.. when she saw the little stuffed animal I think it made her happy because she crawled up next to it and started making a purring type of sound for a few seconds.. then she ventured back out to check out my hand, and then back into her hedgie bag to hide.. and she's been in the bag ever since!
she hasn't ate or drank yet, but she's still overwhelmed with everything here so I'm not worried yet! she seems very bold and curious (the breeder says she has always been the bold one in her litter) that I have my hopes high that she'll be out in her cage exploring again soon enough! I'm so happy she's my hedgehog and I can't wait for her to get even more comfortable with me! 

*update* HA! I put the little cup of wet cat food into her hedgie bag next to her and loe-and-behold, a few minutes later I can see the little bag moving up and down and hear plenty of eating sounds! yes she's eating! but who could resist some chicken soup for the cat lover's soul light chicken flavored wet cat food??? yum!


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

Yay! I'm happy she's home! Her fleece is adorable! Can't wait to see more pictures.


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## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

firephoenixla said:


> when she saw the little stuffed animal I think it made her happy because she crawled up next to it and started making a purring type of sound for a few seconds..


awe!

glad to have you hear.


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## firephoenixla (Sep 13, 2010)

Hey everyone! Well I've had Paprika for about a week now so I figured I'd post an update to let everyone know that she's still alive and well, despite my hedgehog inexperience ;P
When I brought her home last week I was encouraged by her friendliness and curiosity, so I took her out the next day for about an hour and sat on the bed with her taking pictures and it was a peaceful good experience. The next day I took her out again and my sister's twin 4 year old boys got into my room and were jumping around and yelling and being 4 year old boys, so I got them to leave the room but poor Paprika had had about enough at that point.. she was pretty upset about it so I put her back in her cage.. the next day I went to get her out and she was being huffier then ever and pretty unhappy about it, but I took her out and spent time with her.. and she continued to be that was for the next few days after that twin encounter, but tonight I took her out and she seemed much friendlier... I really hope I didn't scar her for life with the twins!
Other than that she's been doing great, she runs alot, poos alot, pees alot, and eats alot.. especially after the lights go out at night! Its funny, I'll shut off the overhead light and about 2-3 minutes later I hear her exiting her wheel.. then the 'pitter-patter' of little feet as she makes her way over to her food bowls.. then I hear her 'crunch-crunch-crunch.. sneeze.. lick-lick.. crunch-crunch-crunch' as she eats her dinner.. then it's back to the wheel again for another full night of running! I think she's adjusting to life here, she spends less time hiding in her wheel and more time with her head stuck out the door watching me go about my business in the room now.. I'm glad she's starting to adjust to the noise and the activity in the room!
Unfortunately, after several days of stinky difficult clean ups with the wodent wheel I ordered the CSwheel tonight, I know my little Pappsie will miss her wodent wheel, but I can't stand leeky pee anymore and I think the CSwheel/litter box combo will really help with that problem and the smell!
So Paprika and I will keep working on getting to know eachother better and hopefully she'll get over her twin encounter trauma soon and she'll get friendlier again! I'll keep working with her until she's back to her old self again!


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## firephoenixla (Sep 13, 2010)

...just a few more


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

She's super-cute. Good call on the Woodent Wheel. I mistakenly bought one from the breeder when we got Cholla. What a pain to clean! You're going to LOVE the CSW.
Keep those pictures comming!


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## schmelderz (Jul 7, 2010)

I had similar experiences when I first had Prickles. Cute pictures! What a darling~ Post some more soon


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## firephoenixla (Sep 13, 2010)

Paprika and I spend alot of time together at the end of the night.. she loves being able to sleep ontop of my elbow in the crook of my arm under her fleece... I'd say we spend about 2-3 hours a night with her sleeping on me while I do my readings and such.. here are some of her favorite sleeping positions! 

p.s. tomorrow is her first vet visit! fingers crossed that everything checks out just fine!


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## shetland (Sep 2, 2008)

She is just adorable! How did the vet visit go?


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

She is precious. Gotta love the splat.
Hope the vet visit went well.


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## firephoenixla (Sep 13, 2010)

The vet went well today I guess! The vet came recommended and she is one of the only exotic animal vets nearby to my house, so I was glad to be able to get in and see her today. Of course it was an hour of waiting for a 10 minute appointment! But she weighed her, and Paprika has gained 30 grams in the past week! I think that's a good thing because at 7 weeks old she's still only a baby, but I was still surprised she put on so many grams in such a short period of time! Paprika was the runt of her litter, so she's probably happy to have the food bowls all to herself now! Then she looked at her ears to see if the mites she had when she was little were all cleared up.. and she said it looked like they were and that I needed to clean her ears more often to keep them from getting dandruffy on the edges.. so I guess that's something I can start doing more often! We also talked about her nails because they are getting long, she told me to put some sandpaper down and encourage her to walk around on it to file her names down that way, or use an emery board when she's relaxing to file them down if I can.. we'll see about that because I don't think she'll be a happy camper to have her nails filed down! Other than that she said everything was fine with her and she's looking healthy and well! 90% of the visit she spent curled up in a ball, but when the vet was able to take a look at her uncurled she said she looked good, so I'm glad about that!

Also, my Carolina Storm Wheel came today! So I rearranged my cage to see if I could fit it in.. It's much bigger than the wodent wheel, which surprises me because I thought the wobust wheel was big but this is bigger! I also modified the litter pan underneath so the lip wasn't so tall because I knew that would throw Paprika off.. because I don't have the space for a hedgie bag anymore in there Paprika has to use her pigloo now to sleep in, which doesn't bother me too much and hopefully she's fine with too! So today was a pretty stressful day for her and now she has a new cage set up too! Let's hope she adjusts to all the new changes!


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## firephoenixla (Sep 13, 2010)

Hey everyone! So it's been 2 weeks now with Paprika home, and she turned 2 months old yesterday so she's getting old! 
In the past week we had some milestones, her Carolina Storm Wheel came and she's happy with it! At first when she ran on it she would make it bounce up and down slightly and the wheel made a rattling helicopter taking off sound that was driving me nuts.. but I took it apart and tightened up the bolts in the back some and now it is much quieter.. she's also using the litter box that came with the wheel more consistently which makes me happy.. she's continuing to gain weight, she likes to eat bananas, she had her first bath in the sink, and her first toe nail clipping. Overall she's been a huffy hedgehog this past week or so, I think its because she's quilling like crazy and you can see about a dozen new quills growing in amongst her more adult quills and I think it's been driving her pretty crazy.. but other than that we've been a happy pair! I can't wait for her to finish quilling so she'll calm down and be a less huffy hedgehog.. I'm beginning to think that I should have named her "Diva" because she thinks she's a princess, but Paprika works too I guess 
I took her out this evening and took some pictures for October, enjoy!


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## firephoenixla (Sep 13, 2010)

A few more October pics


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

Very nice pictures! I loved the balled up one & the pumpkin sniffin.  
She is adorable. Thanks for sharing!


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## tie-dye hedgie (Dec 19, 2009)

Adorable pictures! Pumpkin sniffin' is so cute!


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

Great pics  I love the pumkin ones!


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## TribbleTrouble (Jul 21, 2010)

Oh man, those pumpkin ones are _insanely_ cute!


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

firephoenixla said:


> We also talked about her nails because they are getting long, she told me to put some sandpaper down and encourage her to walk around on it to file her names down that way, or use an emery board when she's relaxing to file them down if I can.. we'll see about that because I don't think she'll be a happy camper to have her nails filed down!


Just noticed this & wanted to let you know that sandpaper isn't a good idea. They walk on the pads of their feet, so sandpaper would just tear their feet up & you could end up with a bloody mess.


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## firephoenixla (Sep 13, 2010)

True, I'm starting to notice that too.. I tried it the first night after I got her back home from the vet but it didn't really seem to be shortening her nails.. only if I picked up her butt end and forced her to hold on with her claws while I dragged her back slowly did her nails make contact with the sandpaper, but I just found the process to be confusing for her and not very effective so I let it go after a few minutes.. that night I was able to get at her toe nails to trim them with the clippers I have, and that went better, I got all of her toe nails in one sitting! her front feet are a different story though, everytime I try to trim those with the clippers she balls up and makes it impossible.. back feet are so much easier...but I'll keep at it until I get them all!
..another thing I've been noticing, she's been quilling alot.. probably because she just turned 8 weeks old.. but every time I handle her at night she loses between 15-30 quills.. when I look at her skin I see tons of new quills growing in so I'm not so concerned.. but she's also shedding her belly fur like crazy.. it was all over the blanket I was holding her in on my lap and when she crawled up onto my shoulder she left furs all over my sweater too! I haven't noticed any bald patches or anything like that on her stomach, but it seems like she's loosing alot of belly fur, but maybe I just never noticed before tonight :/
She had mites before I met her back when she was a few weeks old and she had 2 rounds of Revolution to fix that.. and when I brought her to the vet last weekend the vet said she didn't think it was mites, though she didn't do a skin scrape or anything all she did is look at her when she wasn't all balled up for a few minutes.. so I don't think it's mites.. maybe it's dry skin? I went over to CVS tonight and bought flax seed oil pills, I'm going to poke one open tonight and put it on her dry food.. hopefully this will help her feel better.. I also rubbed some baby vaseline on her ears tonight, which was a miserable process of her huffing and trying to attack my hand for 20 minutes.. and then I held her for awhile on my lap before putting her back in her cage, and now that she's back in her cage she's just laying in her pigloo under her blankets huffing with anger still.. I don't know how soon I'll be doing THAT again :/


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