# New Mommie of a blind hedgie.



## Gweebles (Nov 22, 2009)

Hi. I just recently received a blind hedgehog from the petstore (his cagemates quills poked out his eyes, poor baby). His eyes are healing up but he is completely blind now. He is very active, sweet natured, and you can't really tell he cannot see, that nose finds everything. I am just happy that they have boards now for hedgie care. In college, I received a 2 legged hedgehog (mutant at birth) who didn't live long. I know in part it was because I didn't know what to do with it. I fed it cat food, cheap stuff, and an occasional mealworm. That is all we knew. She died of a bacterial infection in her intestines. I felt so bad. I normally raise hermit crabs for a hobby, but my daughter wanted a hedgehog and the people at the petstore said he needed a good loving home...so here he is. 

I have purchased him a wheel which he LOVES and we are making him a bigger cage, he is currently in my old guinea pig cage which he can climb and I worry about him falling. Tomorrow, my dad and I are getting the new cage built with strong nylon screens on the sides and plenty of room and safety from my nosey cats.

I want to learn as much as I can because I do want to offer refuge and foster care to hurt or disabled hedgies in my area, I hope to be a contributing person to this group.


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## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

Congratulations on your new hedgie  I think its great that you want to offer homes to hedgehogs in need.


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## iZim (Nov 12, 2009)

Congrats on your new hedgie! :mrgreen: 

And it is a good thing he is a hedgehog!

Hedgies naturally have bad eyesight, and where having your eyes out may hurt, they can get by with their incredible sense of smell. 

He may act a little different forom regular hedgies, but with his sense of smell, he is sure to live a happy and healthy life.


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

God Bless You for taking this hedgie in . 
You should join the Hedgehog Welfare Society(HWS),i'm a member along with alot of other hedgie lovers it's very easy to join


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## shetland (Sep 2, 2008)

How wonderful that you and this little baby found each other!!! On another forum a woman with signature name charlie (name April) had a blind hedgie named Hector. He recently passed away, but she did wonderful things for little Hector. She would be a great source of information. Also, I think Nancy on here, who knows April, could also give you valuable information. Sorry Nancy. I just keep passing your name on!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## mel2626 (Sep 28, 2009)

What an terrific thing you are doing!! I too have a soft spot for those animals that are just a bit different from the rest. 

I wish you many years of love and happiness with your little one...Wait, what is his name? 

BTW- this site has been sooo helpful with all of the questions I've had and I'm sure will help you time and time again1


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## smhufflepuff (Aug 28, 2008)

There have been several members with blind hedgies. What I'm recalling is that the hedgies did just fine overall. A few tips that they mentioned are: 
- once you have his cage arranged in a certain way, keep it that way so hedgie can find his stuff easily
- when you clean his cage, don't clean absolutely everything at the same time so that there's always something that smells like "home" to him


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

shetland said:


> How wonderful that you and this little baby found each other!!! On another forum a woman with signature name charlie (name April) had a blind hedgie named Hector. He recently passed away, but she did wonderful things for little Hector. She would be a great source of information. Also, I think Nancy on here, who knows April, could also give you valuable information. Sorry Nancy. I just keep passing your name on!!!!!!!!!!!!


heehee That's okay shetland. I think at one time April was a member here. She is on Welfare.
I have a blind hedgie too, KeiLei is blind but it took a vet visit to confirm it because she acts perfectly normal. She runs around just like she can see. I try to put her cage back the same as she leaves it because her idea of wheel, dish and bed position is not always the same as mine. :lol:


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## shetland (Sep 2, 2008)

Nancy thats right!!!!!!!!! It slipped my "elderly" mind about your beautiful little KeiLei!


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

That's okay shetland, I know all about elderly minds even though you and I are not elderly.... yet! :lol: It slips my mind all the time too because she does not act blind. I'm betting Phil and Jess who are their caregivers right now don't even remember she's blind. :lol:


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## Gweebles (Nov 22, 2009)

Thanks for the warm welcome. I am on the HWF page as well. So many people just buy these poor little animals and lose interest. That's how I got started on hermit crabs too. 

Squeebie is his name. One eye has healed completely, but then the other eye got damaged. It is still healing and looks kind of gross. The vet just told me to use antibacterial ointment and try to stop him scratching on it, (yeah right!) 

I have been making sure his favorite blankie or a piece of bedding stays the same smell when I clean out the cage. I also don't scrub his wheel too well so it has his smell. He never had a wheel before and he took to it very happily. My 11 year old daughter just loves him and is like me when it comes to hurt animals. We even have a sight-impared deer in our back yard. I love living in the country!!


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

I had a blind girl, Mirabelle, that i took in as a rescue. If i didn't know when I got her that she was blind it would have been almost imposible to tell. She behaved completely normally, except she came out more during the day than my other hedgies. Mirabelle came to me through April.


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## Gweebles (Nov 22, 2009)

Was she blind when you got her? My baby's eye is still healing and it looks bad sometimes. He digs at it and it bleeds. I treat him, which he hates, but he has learned if he puts up with me washing it off and putting medicine on it, he gets 2 mealworms. Tonight I put him down after wrestling the medicine on him (he wasn't in the mood to hold still and now my arms are pricked, lol) and he was sitting with his nose going crazy waiting for his worms.


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

Mirabelle was blind when she came to live with me. She had been suffering from severe malnutrition when April rescued her. She had lost most of her quills, had eye damage, and a heart murmer. She also had ingrown nails in her feet. Luckily April has a good vet that did wonders for her. He found that Mirabelle had no teeth left and that was why she was suffering from malnutrition, she had to be on soft food the rest of her life. She had the sweetest personalily and was very very loving.


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## spritecann (Nov 21, 2009)

Great Job Queebles and to the others with hurt hedgies, most people dont want to help them..im also new to this site my hedgie Tweasal is 10weeks old and has puffy front feet its a condition but i really cant tell the difference he's full of energy at night and a bit stubborn at times lol im currently trying to build him a C&C cage right now he's in a medium cage which is good for now =]


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## shetland (Sep 2, 2008)

I remember the beautiful Miss Mirabelle-you and April gave her a wonderful life!. You even got quills to grow back!!!


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

Thanks Shetland, she was a very special girl, we still miss her alot even though its been almost a year that she's been gone. We lost her Christmas morning last year.


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## Gweebles (Nov 22, 2009)

hey mel2626 my hedgie's name is Squeeball


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