# Jumpy hedgehog



## dmarie12

My hedgehog is about a year old now. He has never been mean or jumpy or hissy or anything like that. but the last few days when we take him out he gets all tense and when we pet him he jumps... no hissing thought just jumps and starts sniffing alot. He gets tense some of the times too! Does anyone know why he might be like this...

thanks


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## Christemo

Could be the 1-year quilling.
What temp is his cage at?


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## dmarie12

we have him in a 45 gallon bin away from the windows in our apartment. unfornately we are in the basement of our apartment building but since we are we keep our heat cranked... its always set at the highest the thermosat will go which is 90 degrees but since we are in the basement it tends to get about 75 to 78 degrees if its a warmer day (which wisconsin has had a warm winter) it could get to 80 degrees

every where i have read about quilling they put it in terms of weeks like 6, 8, or 12 weeks. I didnt know that they quilled at a year


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## Kalandra

Have you combed through his quills? If this was a sudden change, I'd look to see if he has a quill that has gotten out of place and is poking him. Look around his ears first, but comb through them all. 

If that doesn't yield anything, I'd also look at his skin closely, and down in his ears. Look for any dry skin, crustiness around the base of the quills, "yuck" in his ears, and new quill growth. All things that could be causing some pain/discomfort.


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## dmarie12

Ok Thanks... At first i was thinking maybe mites but we got him checked for mites in November and he didnt have them! So basically would it be like an ingrow hair to a human? 

and how do i fix that and his skin does seem dry


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## Kalandra

It will depend on what you find as to how to approach the problem. Sometimes you can give an ingrown quill a gentle tug and it will come out. Some need to be removed by a vet. However, I'm more thinking its a quill that is just stuck with the tip in a sensitive area. Which shouldn't be hard to remove with a gentle tug.

I had one once which got ear mites. For her she was fine one night, and the next she was jumpy. She would jump side ways, stomp her feet and huff. I didn't have to be near her either. It was obvious from her actions that something was agitating her. I couldn't find anything that looks wrong, and she went to the vet the next day. We looked in one ear, clear, the other, MITES! Not a lot, but enough to bother her.

Dry skin can cause some discomfort. Try adding a little flaxseed or vitamin e oil to his back. You can get either item at a health food store. I get capsules and poke a hole in it then drop a couple of drops on the back of the hedgehog. Note the vitamin e oil is very sticky. 

How is the humidity in your apartment? Low humidity can cause chronic dry skin.


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## dmarie12

well its winter so its not really that humid in our apartment i will have to look to see if there is any quills that are causing discomfort. 

i think you might be right with the quill discomfort cause its happened before where he has gotten this way but it only lasted like a day.

thanks for all your help!


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## Christemo

Since it's dry, I would suggest a warm mist humidifier.


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## reggiehedgie

How do you heal dry/itchy hedgie skin? I noticed my hedgy has been itching a lot lately and i looked in between his quills and found his skin was flaky and looked really dry. What are some things i can do to help him? He seems jumpy and hisses a lot when he is touched on the head and sometimes back. He doesn't like to be pet very much, is this normal? I've had him since the end of November.


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## shaelikestaquitos

reggiehedgie said:


> How do you heal dry/itchy hedgie skin? I noticed my hedgy has been itching a lot lately and i looked in between his quills and found his skin was flaky and looked really dry. What are some things i can do to help him? He seems jumpy and hisses a lot when he is touched on the head and sometimes back. He doesn't like to be pet very much, is this normal? I've had him since the end of November.


Try to up the humidity in the room he's kept in, and mix flax seed oil into his food, or rub it on his back during a bath. Oatmeal baths can also help. He doesn't like getting petted because he probably doesn't know you well enough yet. Also some hogs just never take to getting petted. You just have to keep getting them habituated.


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## reggiehedgie

he's really chilled out since we've had him, he was really jumpy and tense when i took him home to my parents house (we have dogs there and not where he lives most of the time so maybe that was why he acted up there?) now he is mostly chill except for a few flares, but thanks for the advice on flax seed oil. I'll try to find some and start giving it to him. I probably need a humidifier as well.


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