# Nutmeg's "Pimple"



## alstewar (Mar 1, 2012)

Before I fillout the standard form provided by Nancy, I am posting because I have noticed, just this morning that Nutmeg has developed a small bump near her mouth that to me looks like a "pimple" but does not look like it is infected. it is a small round bump located next to the right side of her mouth. She has also started biting at objects in the last couple of days and never did before, ie my shirt or pants when I hold her, her hedgie bag, etc.

Any ideas?

- How old is your hedgehog? 3 months
- How long have you owned your hedgehog? 1 month
- Has there been any changes in the 2-3 weeks prior to the symptoms starting, such as, you on vacation, hedgie cared for by someone else, new cage, different cage location etc
We have moved her cage from the main floor to upstairs to help with keeping the temperature constant, we have also changed her wheel from a Silent Spinner to a Carolina Storm Wheel.
- What is the temperature of the hedgehogs cage?
It is at a minimum of 23C
- What is the lighting schedule?
The light is turned on between 7:00 and 7:30am and turned off at 9:00pm

Please add dates that symptoms occurred such as, Aug 11 green poop. August 13 diarrhea plus vomiting
March 12 - ate less than previous nights 
March 13 - only ate 5 grams, very little bit of green poop, noticed bump on face near her mouth


Weight
Do you weigh regularly? 346 grams

Poop
- normal size and texture, however seems not as much as normal
- colour normal for the most part except the little bit that was green it was very green and seemed slimy
- smell normal
- Pooping in bed - NO

Urine
normal

Nose
sneezing - No
Mucous - None
Licking nose? Yes

Breathing
normal, closed mouth

Eating
- less than normal

- How many kibble per day: when I first got her she ate 17-20grams of kibble daily, it has slowly decreased since down to 5 grams today (track it in a day timer), she was at 10grams for the better part of a week. When she was eating more, she was gaining several grams each day i weighed her, that has seemed to plateaued now.

- Any difficulty crunching food? Not that I have noticed

- Has there been a new food or treat recently and if so, how long ago? Was this one time, or given daily? No new food.

- Is the water the same as usual? Water intake is much less the same as normal

Skin
Scratching – Rarely
Dry skin – she did have dry skin with large flakes however her skin seems to be much better since moving upstairs.
Sores – none
Rash – No
Quills - minor quill loss about 5-10 per day or less

Vomiting
None
How frequent is he vomiting? Is it after eating, drinking, activity or random? No vomit

Activity
It seems normal, if not more than normal in the morning

Meds
None


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## Christemo (Oct 5, 2011)

Go to a vet to get it tested for staph and/or tumor, since hedgies are notorious for mouth tumors. Even though he's young, you never know.


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## shawnwk1 (Jul 8, 2011)

One of my boys had something similar a few months ago and it ended up healing itself before a second vet check (took him in once and vet wanted to culture it if it hadn't gone away or more showed up, but we got lucky). 

With him eating less than usual I gotta agree with Christemo that a vet visit is a good idea, it really could be many things. I may have missed it, but has he been losing weight?


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## alstewar (Mar 1, 2012)

Update on Nutmeg

The "pimple" has disappeared and I seems she has gone back to normal. We did go to the vet just to be sure, and all looks good. 

I have determined that she was not acting entirely normal as she was too warm. 

Is it okay that she prefers it slightly cooler than recommended?


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

What temperature does she like?


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