# My hedgie isn't drinking much? Or eating?



## Alex (Dec 7, 2012)

Hi guys..sorry, I didn't know whether to put this in health or diet/nutrition. But...

I've had Hannibell five weeks now and she's been absolutely amazing, but in the past few days I've started to get kind of worried about her. Normally she runs like crazy on her wheel, and she drinks enough to the point where I have to set an alarm to refill her waterbowl during the night, and she usually eats a good amount of the bowl I put out for her. In the past few days however, I've noticed she hasn't been drinking as much at all. For experiments sake I left her water alone and it took three days for me to need to refill it, and there's hardly any food gone from her bowl at all as well. She runs on her wheel a bit, but not a whole lot. 

Everything has stayed the same; her enclosure is kept at a stable 76-78 degrees and she's got a pretty stable light schedule. The only thing that's changed is that during the day when I handle her for a little while, I supplement her diet with a little bit of baby food, so she eats while I'm handling her, but that's not a very long time, nowhere near long enough to take away her appetite during the night. I have noticed however that she's losing a few more quills than normal now; is it possible that this would be a side effect of quilling? Does anyone else have any ideas as to what might be wrong with her? I'm really worried, especially about her not drinking much.


----------



## Alex (Dec 7, 2012)

Also, a couple days ago (actually probably about the time I noticed her lack of appetite and water), she had a little bit of diarrhea that only lasted about 10 minutes or so, and it was just one night, so I associated that with the babyfood, but now I'm wondering if it might have been something different? I'm not sure..


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

If she's been down on eating/drinking for a few days, I think personally I'd go ahead and schedule a vet appointment, just in case, especially with the decrease in activity too. How old is she? Have you checked to see if there's anything that's changed at night in her room, like a light shining through a window or something like that? Perhaps there's something disturbing her at night and causing her to stay in her bed more instead of being active. If you really can't find anything, I think it's time for a vet visit to be safe.


----------



## Alex (Dec 7, 2012)

She's 17 weeks, so a little over 4 months. There's curtains over the window, so I don't think it would be anything like that, the only thing I could think of would be that there's a parrot on the other side of the room that might have made some noise at night? Last night she did better on drinking, but not eating, and I Found her sleeping under her wheel instead of her house, so I don't know what that's about. I'm going to go ahead and schedule a vet appointment though, I don't want her going much longer like this.


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

That sounds like a good idea. Some other things you could check before you go to the appointment - check how long you've had the food, as they can start eating less if the food is stale, and that may have sparked the other decreases as well. If you want to check for possible mouth issues, try offering her a variety of choices - bowl of normal food, bowl of crushed, bowl of dampened food, and maybe some baby food or wet cat food. See if she eats more with having more choices, and which ones she tries. If she goes for the softer choices, she might have a tooth or mouth issue that needs to be checked out. If she still doesn't eat much of anything, it might be harder to figure out what's going on. Good luck and I hope you guys get it figured out! Please keep us updated, too. I would say that perhaps she's just starting to slow down in her consumption, with getting a bit older, but the decrease in activity makes me worry it might be something else instead.


----------



## Alex (Dec 7, 2012)

Thank you so much for all the info...really, it was very helpful. I did what you said and checked how long her food had been out; it'd had been a couple days so I tossed it and put in new food, and she went right to it, so she might just be a picky little girl and I'll have to go through food a little faster, that's no problem. Her drinking also increased though, without my checking much more than that, so that was fine.

I think what it was is that it might have been too warm for her as well; the thermometer on the side of her cage read about 78-80, so I turned the heat down to about a 75 and she's been out and running on her wheel and drinking and eating like normal. So the heat may have been a factor in her lowered activity.

That said, everything is back to normal and my baby is fine :] Thank you again!


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Glad you got it figured out and it was nothing serious!  Most people change the food every night - a good way to limit food waste is to put out a couple tablespoons' worth, see if she finishes it or not, and adjust the amount accordingly so that there's a bit (maybe half a tablespoon or so) left in the morning, in case she has an extra-hungry night one night. That way you can monitor how much is normal for her to eat more easily as well. The heat sounds likely as well - some hedgehogs are more sensitive to warm temperatures than others, just like with cooler temps. Good thing to know about her before summer!


----------



## Alex (Dec 7, 2012)

That sounds like a great idea, I'll start doing that right away. I had noticed people talking about measuring the amount of food they give their hedgies, but I guess I never realized the point of that until now. I'll start that tonight :] Thanks again, I was really worried about her til now. 

Another question about food though; I was looking at the Blue Buffalo (Blue Wilderness? I don't remember) cat food because others on the site had said it was good for their hedgies, I just wonder, since the pieces are so big and harder than the sunseed food I'm currently giving her, should I crush the pieces up a bit before giving them to her? I worry about her hurting her teeth trying to chew on something that hard, and big (I worry about everything haha)


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Blue Buffalo would be a great food to add to the Sunseed. Sunseed isn't one of the worse hedgehog foods, but it's still better to have in a mix with some good cat foods. And yeah, crushing the food up wouldn't hurt - I know others are starting to do that more often now, to help hedgehogs chew it more easily. I think a couple people, like LizardGirl, even have a little food mill or something that they use for crushing all of their food up.


----------



## Alex (Dec 7, 2012)

I'd heard that much about Sunseed, but not until after I had already bought it..Blue Buffalo will be the first thing I buy as soon as I get paid again; I'm not sure about a food mill, but I know I've got a little cup/grinder thing that should do the job. I had tried giving her larger pieces of kitten food earlier and she had a hard time biting into it, so I think grinding it is a good idea. :] Thanks! Again, haha


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

No problem!  I love being on here and responding to posts and helping when I can. At least Sunseed isn't too bad...Could've been Pretty Pets or Vitakraft (Vitacrap)! Sounds like grinding is definitely a good idea then...I plan to try it out when I have hedgehogs again & see how much better they do with chewing. But then...I also want to try a lot more in the way of insects & natural/homemade diets when I have hedgies again, so we'll see! I can't wait to have animals to make food for again. :lol: Good luck with introducing her to Blue Buffalo & I hope grinding the food helps her out!


----------



## Alex (Dec 7, 2012)

I'm glad you do, you've definitely helped me with a lot! You sound like you're really looking forward to getting hedgies again...I can't wait for you to as well, I know they'll be well taken care of and spoiled :]

On the topic of bugs! I'm just going to keep bombarding you with questions until you hate me hahaha. I've tried giving Hannibell mealworms, but she doesn't like them; I tried giving them to her by hand and she wouldn't take it, and when I mixed one in with her food she spat it all out and I swear she glared at me haha. Once they dislike a certain worm are they apt to dislike the rest, or is each worm different?


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Thanks! And they'll certainly eat well if nothing else! :lol: Trust me, I won't hate you...you're giving me an excuse to ramble on about hedgehogs, one of my favorite things to do!  

Some hedgehogs are weird and just do not like mealworms...Make sure they're definitely live (not freeze-dried or anything), and you could always try gutloading them with some veggies to see if it changes the taste. Have you found any veggies that she likes? Try feeding the mealworms different veggies, or maybe try apple or something, and then try giving her one...who knows, it might help. Lily always hated carrots and I tried feeding her crickets that had been chowing down on carrots and had a bellyful...guess who ended up with chewed up crickets spat out on her? :roll: 

It won't hurt her if she flat-out refuses though, there's been other hedgies on here who hate mealworms no matter what. You could always try some different insects, like crickets or roaches. I also found a website yesterday (Exotic Nutrition, advertised on this site sometimes in the banner ads) that sells canned snails and got unreasonably excited. :lol: I'm sure they'd be disgusting, but I wonder how hedgies would feel about them! We had at least one member on here that fed her hedgies snails regularly.


----------



## Alex (Dec 7, 2012)

Haha, I'm glad to hear that! Now I don't have to feel so awkward about asking so many questions! :]

The ones I tried feeding her were definitely live...they were in the fridge a bit, so I let one warm up til it 'came back to life' and tried to give it to her, but she wanted nothing to do with it. I'm not sure about vegetables yet (she's a really picky eater), but I know she likes different kinds of meats, especially chicken. Maybe I could try gutloading them with that? And how do I go about that, do I just leave a piece of it in the container with them?

I'm really not too worried about it, because I supplement her diet with other forms of protein (high-protein baby food, mostly, as well as protein and vitamin packed treats), so I know she's getting what she needs. I just thought it was odd that an animal that's supposed to be an insectivore wouldn't touch them haha. I could definitely try crickets or roaches; is there any concern about them possibly biting my hedgie back? I know there's some worry about that with the larger mealworms, but I'm not sure about crickets. Even so, I could buy the baby ones.......Sorry, thinking out loud haha.

Oh wow, that sounds really...interesting? A mix of interesting and disgusting, lol! I wonder how good those would be for hedgies..How did the hedgies of that particular owner react to them? I'm assuming they enjoyed them? Haha


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I'm not sure if mealworms would eat meat or not, but I suppose you could try? Just be careful about how long the meat is out with them, so it doesn't spoil. It might still be better to just try a veggie or apple or something and see if it makes any difference. Given how quickly Lily always inhaled her crickets, I don't think there's any worry of them biting back. :lol: Just offer them head-first, and make sure they're not the really large, full-grown ones. I always went for the medium-sized ones for Lily. I also only fed them live to her a few times, and then started freezing them so I could hide them in her cage. She absolutely loved it! I never tried roaches with her, but if you go for around the same size as with crickets, I doubt there'd be much biting risk from them either. And as far as I remember, those hedgies liked the snails! Bleh. :lol:


----------



## Alex (Dec 7, 2012)

Oh, I wouldn't be just leaving the meat in her cage; when I give her stuff like that I only do it during the times when I'm holding her. I'm not sure about giving her roaches (bleagh!), but I might try giving her some crickets..Seeing as she's on the smaller side, I might actually try just getting the baby-sized crickets...I'll probably get a mix of the two sizes and see which she prefers. Now that I'm putting in a second 'room' for her, I'm thinking of giving her a digging box too..any chance you could tell me how to set one of those up so I could hide her crickets in there? Haha


----------



## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

Easiest way to do a dig box is to get a shoebox-sized sterilite container, cut a "door" in one end, and fill it with bits of fleece, shredded tissue/paper towel, or some sort of substrate bedding. I like fleece because you can wash it - use one of those mesh bags that are used for putting delicates in the laundry. If you use substrate like carefresh or shavings, I suggest freezing the bag overnight to kill any mites that it might have in it. You can leave the lid on or have it off, whichever you prefer.


----------



## Alex (Dec 7, 2012)

Hey! I'm sorry, I forgot to come back and say thanks for the help, Moxie :]

Do you have any suggestions as to what treats would be healthy for her, by chance? I've tried just about everything..various form of insects, the yogurt chips that are sold for them, and she won't eat any of it. I'd like to give her something to dig for, but I'm out of ideas haha.


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

You could try putting plain cooked pieces of meat in there - wouldn't get too messy, I don't think. A lot of hedgehogs also adore watermelon, but that might get a bit messier. :lol: That's also more of a "sometime" treat, since it's mostly water and can cause diarrhea if they eat too much. Here's a thread with a list of other safe foods for treats, that might give you some more ideas - viewtopic.php?f=6&t=19408


----------



## Sugargliderlove (May 27, 2012)

When I get the money to I will be sending Alex a small bag of the kibble I have Sonic on to help hannibell on a better diet.


----------



## Alex (Dec 7, 2012)

Thanks, lilysmommy! I'll go ahead and check out that forum, and in the meantime the cooked meat should be great for her, I know she likes that already haha. Thanks again for the help!


----------

