# Hunger Strike (How Long?)



## knlght (Oct 12, 2014)

How long a hedgehog can go to a hunger strike ?

Its been 2days since my hedgehog touch her food (Princess Cat food). But she drinks a lot. 

Before the hunger strike I made a major re-arrangement of her cage.
-- from a small and covered bin with holes and now to a Huge Tub
-- added also a Wheel which she uses most of the time when she's awake 

But when I pick her up and gave her daily treats such as "super worms" or "beetles", she ate them and asking for more.

Do I need to worry ? (She's still very active and uses her wheel)
Do I need to stop giving her treats on a daily basis ? (I only gave her about 1-2pcs worms every night)

Thanks.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Yes, at two days, that's getting to be a definite concern that she's not eating. Is the food a new bag? Or is it maybe an older bag that could be getting stale or going bad? Does she go over to her food bowl and check it out before wheeling, or does she just go straight to wheeling? Maybe you could try removing the wheel to see if she's choosing to do that over eating. Monitor carefully if you do that though, some hedgehogs get up to more trouble without a wheel than they do with one. 

It could also be a mouth problem causing her to not want to eat hard food. I would try offering her food while you have her out for bonding time tonight. If she still refuses to eat that on her own, syringe-feed her before you put her away for the night. You can grind her kibble down to dust & mix it with water to syringe. You can also use canned cat food (pate style) or baby food (chicken or turkey mixed with sweet potato work well), depending on what you have available to you. For her food tonight, if she doesn't eat while out with you, give her a bowl of her normal dry food, then also add a bowl of kibble soaked with water. You could also add a bowl of canned food or baby food if you get one of those for syringe-feeding. If she goes for one of the soft options, that's a sign to head to the vet to get her mouth checked out.


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

I would start to syringe feed her now. It is very dangerous for a hedgehog to go longer than a day without eating. Grab a syringe from the baby aisle in walmart or corner store. It is normally used to dose medicine. I use a 10ml one but they are also make 1 ml ones. You can grab some wet cat food and mix it with a little warm water and suck it up in the syringe and make her eat it. She probably won't want it for the first couple of feeding but it should stimulate her appetite after a while. Depending on her age she needs 16 ml (for a baby) to 24 ml a day. She won't eat all that at once. If you feed her 4 ml in a sitting then she needs to be fed again 4 hours and so on. 

After you get food in her and keep offering her, her normal food, if she doesn't eat it's time to see the vet. When my little girl wasn't eating they ran a fecal (at the first vet) and looked at her teeth (at the second vet) the fecal can show any bacteria or parasites that could be present in her system. My girl has an abscessed tooth that they treated with antibiotics. She has been eating on her own since. 

Good luck


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## knlght (Oct 12, 2014)

Lilysmommy said:


> Yes, at two days, that's getting to be a definite concern that she's not eating. Is the food a new bag? Or is it maybe an older bag that could be getting stale or going bad? Does she go over to her food bowl and check it out before wheeling, or does she just go straight to wheeling? Maybe you could try removing the wheel to see if she's choosing to do that over eating. Monitor carefully if you do that though, some hedgehogs get up to more trouble without a wheel than they do with one.
> 
> It could also be a mouth problem causing her to not want to eat hard food. I would try offering her food while you have her out for bonding time tonight. If she still refuses to eat that on her own, syringe-feed her before you put her away for the night. You can grind her kibble down to dust & mix it with water to syringe. You can also use canned cat food (pate style) or baby food (chicken or turkey mixed with sweet potato work well), depending on what you have available to you. For her food tonight, if she doesn't eat while out with you, give her a bowl of her normal dry food, then also add a bowl of kibble soaked with water. You could also add a bowl of canned food or baby food if you get one of those for syringe-feeding. If she goes for one of the soft options, that's a sign to head to the vet to get her mouth checked out.


 Already replaced uneaten food with a new one this morning.

This hunger strike 1st happen when I really introduces a wheel on her cage.

But for the past two days she's not eating, I offered her beetles and she ate it.


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## knlght (Oct 12, 2014)

Just an update.......my female heggie is now eating on her own and back to her normal eating behavior. Thanks God 

Before this I found some green poops and maybe she has stomach ache (don't know why).

I did not do anything and just crossed my finger that she'll starts eating again and it worked.


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