# Baths? (+too hot water)



## Hedgie_Love (Dec 25, 2012)

Hi everyone! My hedgie is 3 years old, named Dobby. Recently (about five or six months ago) I started giving Dobby a bath every night. I wanted to know if this was okay. I usually use warmish water and aveeno oatmeal soap.. the purpose of this is so that she poops/pees in the sink so I can play with her without worrying about an accident, as well as eliminating the huge hassle of cleaning her wheel every night. She seems to tolerate the baths pretty well and I rub bio oil thru her quills and on her skin every night so she stays moisturized and doesn't suffer dry skin. Is this okay/safe?

Also just now I gave her a bath and after she had been swimming in it for about 30 seconds i realized it was quite a bit hotter than I usually keep it. She seemed okay but I don't know how a hedgehog would express pain while in the bath? I immediately picked her up and flushed the bath with cold water so it became lukewarm and she seems fine. Her feet were not blistered or even red and her tummy as its usual shade of light pink. I then bathed her with cooler water and dried her off and she was running around fine when I set her on the ground.. do you think she's okay? I feel awful.

Thanks!


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

A full bath every night? They only need a bath when they need it, not every night. A foot bath is ok but a nightly bath is washing away any oils that are protecting her skin. That is totally unnecessary. 
She might go in the foot bath or you deal with the accident when it happens during play time. Don't worry about it, deal with it. The hassle of wheel cleaning, that's part of owning a hedgehog. Some wheels are easier to clean so you don't have as much of a hassle, but none the less it's a daily chore.


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

A full bath would be fine without the soap. The water isn't going to harm her skin or remove oils. However, with the soap, you are stripping oils and protection and probably making the skin really sensitive and dry. Even humans shouldn't wash their skin everyday. I only even allowed a hedgehog to swim everyday when one of my girls would not use her wheel. She was lazy and needed to lose weight.


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

Also you NEED to check the water temperature before you put her in. If it was too warm after her being in it for 30 minutes it certainly was too warm when you put her in there.


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## Hedgie_Love (Dec 25, 2012)

Thank you to the second poster. Those were my thoughts exactly and I actually barely use the soap. I use it once a month to actually clean her. But every night it's literally just water. So that's awesome I will continue with what I'm doing. And twobytwo pets... I don't know if you're trying to be an abrasive know it all but thats definitely how it's coming across. My hedgehog was in the water for 30 SECONDS not minutes and a week later is totally fine.


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

Ok, I apologize for mis-reading your original post. I remember thinking "gosh, after 30 minutes in the bath I am changing it because it's too cool for me" so clearly I had misread the time, for that I apologize. However my advice stays the same, check the water temperature before sticking them in, I'm sure after your experience you do that.


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