# Stange behavior - not wheeling



## hanhan27 (May 12, 2011)

Milly normally wheels for 3 or 4 hours a night. Her weight has gone from 425 to 520 grams in the last 5 months and she's 2 years old now, so I figured she's just starting to slow down. But now she hasn't wheeled for 4 nights in a row...

After the 2nd night of no poop on her wheel, I checked her feet over and they look fine. Her nails were a tiny bit long so I clipped them and gave her a foot bath in case she had poop lodged in between her toes or something. Her gait is normal, personality is normal, she's eating and drinking normally, had a big poop in the foot bath and has had poop in her cage every morning. Poop is normal, medium brown and formed. I looked her over and everything about her looks normal except for the weight gain. 

Am I missing something?


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## jkwan (Apr 23, 2012)

Is it a CSW or CSBW? I noticed that when I take my CSBW out for it's weekly scrubdown (not just the wipedown I give it everyday), I have to make sure I've adjusted the tilt enough when I put it back together. If the bottom of the wheel rubs the floor even the slightest when he gets on, he runs much less during the night. Granted, the CSBW is getting a bit small for him, I'm thinking of upgrading to a CSW soonish.


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## hanhan27 (May 12, 2011)

It's a CSBW. It hasn't changed a bit. I take the wheel part off the base when I clean it and it gets put on the exact same way each time. I did double check everything with the wheel though, so thanks for the reminder to mention that


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## hanhan27 (May 12, 2011)

Anyone?


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I'm sorry, I'm not sure...! It seems like if that's the only "off" thing, maybe she's just being lazy for a bit or slowing down. But 4 days in a row does seem like a lot. I forget, is she ever one to run around and explore when out for cuddle time? Does she seem more reluctant to move around then, or does she act normal when out for cuddles too? Only thing I can think of is maybe something that makes it slightly more uncomfortable or painful to run on the wheel. I'm sorry I can't offer more help! Hopefully Millie goes back to normal soon and stops worrying you!


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## hanhan27 (May 12, 2011)

Thanks for posting, Kelsey.

Yes, she loves to explore and is just as curious as goofy as ever, running back and forth between one hidey hole and another when I let her out in my bedroom. I took her out tonight and had her on the kitchen counter so she could wander and I got a video of her walking and after watching it 30 times, I still think her gait is perfectly normal. I don't know what to think. I'm going to cut back the amount of the higher fat kibble in her food mix and try to get her weight back down a bit. 100 grams gain in 5 months is excessive and I'm going to try to get that under control.

I just don't know what to think. :? I feel like I'm being paranoid and it would be silly to pay the $50 to take her in for an exam with her vet (even though I like her vet a lot!).


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## hanhan27 (May 12, 2011)

Still no wheeling. And in addition to that, I caught her sleeping out in the open in her cage last night which is definitely out of the ordinary. Cage temp is 76-78 degrees and she's not showing any signs of attempting hibernation. Part of me wondered if maybe she was wheeling, just not pooping on the wheel so I put a small sticker on the outside of her bucket wheel and it was in the exact same spot the next morning. I also put 2 pieces of kibble on the wheel and they were both still there, so I'm thinking she's not even getting in her wheel at night.

I'm getting seriously concerned now.


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## abbys (Oct 13, 2012)

Are you able to set up a night-cam to record what she's doing? Has the wheel warped somehow or is the balance off? That's the only thing I can think of... :?


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Although not wheeling is a concern, there can be reasons other than illness that they stop, but not wheeling plus sleeping out in the open is a big concern. I'd take her to the vet. She may have been slowing up on wheeling for a while now which caused the weight gain. I'd also start counting her kibble and have food and a syringe on hand in case she stops eating.


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## hanhan27 (May 12, 2011)

Nancy, Milly gets a set number of kibbles a night. I make up little baggies with a set amount of kibbles in them (painstaking and silly, but effective) and she gets one baggie of kibble a day. She's given 70 kibbles a day and eats 62-67 kibbles in a 24 hour period. This hasn't changed, she's eating normally. I forgot to mention that. I know lowered food intake can be a sign of illness so that's the first thing I started looking out for when she hadn't wheeled in a couple days.

I know this may sound crass, but could the explanation be that she's simply gotten fat and lazy in her oldish age? I literally can't think of a single thing that could be causing this. I did call the vet today and he said that it is strange and I'm not being silly to be concerned, but if that's the only 'symptom', he doesn't think he can do anything for me other than x-rays and since she's walking normally, he thinks x-rays would be overkill. *sigh*

abbys, the wheel is fine. I recently set up a new CSBW that I had set aside for a potential second hog for Milly because her other one was pretty poopy and gross. I took it apart, cleaned it really well, put it back together, spun it, spun it with a softball in it, etc, and I really don't think it's the wheel.

I could get a night cam, but I have absolutely no clue how to set one up! I did think of that and if this continues, I might look into it... I just don't think it will give me any answers. I intentionally stayed up late last night reading in bed with a book light, and I heard her tromping around her cage, eating, pushing her toys around and all that jazz but I never once heard the pitter patter of her feet on the wheel.


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## hanhan27 (May 12, 2011)

She wheeled on Friday night. Totally poop covered wheel. And now nothing since.

I'm assuming since she wheeled, I don't really need to be concerned about an injury at this point, right? Or am I jumping to conclusions? Argh, being a hedgie mama can be so frustrating.


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## hanhan27 (May 12, 2011)

So. Milly wheeled 3 or 4 times in the last month. She continued to gain weight. She used to get 40 kibbles of Blue Buffalo Adult Indoor Health and 30 kibbles of Blue Buffalo kitten food. I weaned her down to 65 adult indoor health and 5 kitten a night. She continued to gain weight. I completely took her off the kitten food... no change.

Backstory - Every 3 weeks I make up baggies of her kibbles so I have them pre-counted and ready to go in the morning when I feed her. Well, I keep the two types of food that I dole out into the baggies in glass storage containers with lids and I put labels on the lids so I can tell the two types of kibble apart. A few days ago, my mom and I were making up her bags of food and... I realized that at some point in the last 6 months or so, I switched the lids. Which means I switched the labels. Which means I've been feeding Milly 65-70 kibbles of kitten food with 25% fat for I don't even know how long. After a few tears and hours of feeling like a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad hedgie mama, I calmed down enough to recognize how grateful I was to have figured out what the heck was going on.

So, mystery solved. Milly's bad mama was basically feeding her cake for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for who knows how long. And after over a month of her barely wheeling at all, she wheeled tonight already and the last two nights. *Sigh of relief*


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

I'm glad it turned out to be just a silly mistake.  Sounds like it could have happened to anyone. Hopefully now she goes back to normal.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Oh jeeze...I'm glad it was something simple though, and that you figured it out! I'm sure things will go back to normal now...and you're a fantastic hedgiemama, so no more feeling guilty!  Sounds like it was an easy mistake to make. Glad to hear Miss Milly is back to running up a storm, too.


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