# 1 yr old hedgehog shedding quills



## delilah09 (May 6, 2010)

my hedgehog, Delilah, is just over a year old. She has been shedding her quills. I have been told that if there is no follicle at the end (the little clear ball) that they will not grow back. She has been shedding a lot of quills but they all have the follicle at the end. I can see some very small quills coming in , but i am not sure that they are in the same spot of the ones that are falling out. Is there something wrong with her? should i take her to the vet?


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## Free2Dream (Aug 10, 2009)

Does she appear to be itching excessively/have a lot of dry skin? When Annabelle had mites last summer, she lost a lot of quills and they all still had the follicle at the end, so I'm not sure if that's a fool-proof way to determine whether the shedding is "healthy" or not. 

I also seem to remember hearing about how hedgies can sometimes go through a second quilling, but I might have imagined that, lol. It's been known to happen. Sorry I can't be more helpful. Sending good vibes your and Delilah's way.


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## SnufflePuff (Apr 16, 2009)

Hedgehogs can go through a quilling at around a year (a third quilling I believe?) so that could be it.

The little follicle/bulb thing on the end of the quills means nothing. Not sure who started that rumor :roll: but no it definitely does NOT mean it's not mites.

What you want to look for is this:

Are new quills growing in to replace the old quills (you should see tips of quills poking through the skin)?
Are there any bald spots?
Does your hedgehogs skin appear exessively flakey (white flakes)?
Do these "flakes" move around (ie are alive) when you brush some of them onto a black towel/shirt/piece of paper and look at them under a magnifying glass?
Is your hedgehog scracthing/itching excessively?


As long as there are new quills growing in, no major bald spots, and no moving white flakes when you shake them onto a black surface, your hedgehog is most likely going through their final quilling.

Scratching and flakey skin can indicate mites or dry skin, you could always bath in aveeno oatmal shampoo + rinse with flax seed oil (this will help the pain of quilling too). One capsule of flax seed oil can be broken over their food per week too. If the itching + flakey skin goes away you know its dry skin. If not - it's probably mites.

However if you're worried about mites you could always pick up some revolution. Don't bother getting a skin scraping done IMO they are useless. You should be able to pick up revolution as a preventative treatment. 

Kitten/Cat Revolution (the kitten bottle is smaller and less wasteful) treat with 0.01ml/cc per 400g, repeat every 3 weeks for a total of 3 treatments.


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