# Separation depression?



## Jalissa (Dec 4, 2017)

I recently separated my hedgehog from her babies yesterday (they are all boys) and now she is acting weird. She started biting me when I try to interact with her, it doesn’t look like she has been eating or drinking much, and I haven’t seen any poop in her cage. She seems to be smelling around her cage as if she was searching for her hoglets. Is this normal? Is there anything I can do for her?


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## shinydistraction (Jul 6, 2014)

I can't offer advice as I've never dealt with babies before, but one question I'm sure will be asked is how old were the babies when you took them from mom? Also, is this her first litter?


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

Like all animals, hedgehog moms can feel some stress when the babies are weaned. Count or weigh her food to see just how's much she's eating. Have you given her her wheel back? If so, is she using it? I would give her 24 hours of so to see if she starts eating more and going back to normal.


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## Jalissa (Dec 4, 2017)

We separated the babies after 6 weeks and yes, this is her first litter..


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## Jalissa (Dec 4, 2017)

We have given her her wheel back and she has recently started using it more frequently. But thank you for the advice, we start keeping track of her eating habits.


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

They seem to take a bit longer to adjust after the first litter. Glad to hear she's starting to wheel again.


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## Jalissa (Dec 4, 2017)

She definitely isn’t eating, there is still the same amount of food that I left this morning... she has no problem eating the meal worms that we give her as a treat though... is there anything we can do for her? &#55357;&#56852; We’re not sure how long she hasn’t been eating since she’s been with her babies the whole time and they could’ve been the ones eating the food for the past week or so prior to the separation.


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

You need to start syringe feeding her right away. You can either get some pate style cat food and water it down to go through the syringe or get some Hills A/D from the vet and use that.


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## Jalissa (Dec 4, 2017)

Thank you so much!! I’ll be taking her to the vet tomorrow.


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