# Acting Different



## tokihog (Jan 28, 2011)

Toki has been acting different lately and it makes me worry about him.

First of all he has been much more grumpy when I wake him. Usually I would take his house off of him and he would hiss and ball up but when I put my hand next to him he unballs and smells me then its ok for me to pick him up with just a few little huffs. Now when I take his house off of him he pops and hisses and jumps (lots of jumping). When I put my hand by him he wont unball and smell me he just tries to stab me with his visor quills and will go back into a ball and have a big hissy fit.

Once I actually scoop him up (I use my hands) he looses most of his attitude. But when I handle him he goes for the webbing of my fingers. He doesn't bite me but he licks hard and attacks me with his nose like he doesn't want my hand by him. He has been doing this for about a week now and he doesn't do it to my boyfriend. We have been using the same soap and I have switched to an unsented lotion.

Last night I took him out to cuddle and he wouldn't have any of it (not typical Toki behavior). He ran all over the place. When outside of his cage he is usually quite chill. He may walk around and look for a new place to sleep but I have never seen him run when not on his wheel. 

Lastly, he has been losing maybe 1 quill every 2-3 days. He's 4 months old. Is he quilling? He scratches at night when the lights are off but he has done that since day 1. I have never seen him scratch during the day so I just assumed that he is grooming himself.

He is eating the same amount as usual but last night my boyfriend said he drank a lot. 

Is Toki just being a hedgie? Is he quilling? 

p.s. I took his old shoe box house and replaced it with a bigger box that has a different shape...could he be angry that I took away his deeply loved shoe box?


----------



## tokihog (Jan 28, 2011)

Ok so he is scratching during the day and is leaving behind a lot of white flakes. I also found 2 more quills in his bed.

Here is a pic of him scratching and all the white left behind.










Is this dry skin?


----------



## pooka dotted (Jan 5, 2011)

He could have very dry skin and that could be causing him some pain. How old is he? Also, the possibility of mites is there when you have a lot of white flaking. Next time he scratches take look at all the white and if you have a magnifying glass I would take a look and see if you can spot any. If you don't that doesn't mean they aren't there, but if you do then you know for sure.


----------



## Nebular (Dec 28, 2010)

Norman was like the for the first 3- 7 days after I got him. My apartment is extremely dry and his skin was flaky. He was also losing a fair number of quills each day. So between his baby quilling phase and just being so dry, his skin was dry and flaking. I found that giving him a bath in baby soap helped relieve the problem rather quickly and putting flax seed oil in his food once a week has seemingly stopped it from drying out again.

That's not to say it can't be mites - I'd certainly follow pooka's advice and take a look at the flakes he's leaving behind and make sure none of them move or hop. But if it looks like it's just really dry skin, the bath and flax seed oil bit should help him out.


----------



## tokihog (Jan 28, 2011)

It doesn't look like there are any mites in his skin flakes. If it is dry skin should I give him a bath with flaxseed oil? Should I not give him a bath at all?

He has a new liner in his cage and we used fabric softener on it accidentally. Could that have something to do with it? That is when this all started.


----------



## tokihog (Jan 28, 2011)

Thank you both! This will be his first full bath. Im going to get the house all nice and warm and then give a bath a go. Any recommendations on washing a hog in pain?


----------



## susanaproenca (Aug 14, 2010)

I'd just rinse him with an oatmeal soak, then give a final rinse with warm water and flaxseed oil. Any kind of shampoo would dry his skin even more.


----------



## tokihog (Jan 28, 2011)

Thanks everyone! Toki probably says thanks too!


----------



## tokihog (Jan 28, 2011)

So I got jobnsons vinilla oatmeal baby wash because CVS doesn't have deal to choose from. Will that be ok for him.


----------

