# HELP! red bump!



## Lussy (Feb 3, 2012)

Ciao everybody...
hereby I enclose some snapshots that we have just taken of our beloved quill-ball Unariccia!
at the end of November she'll turn 1 and we adopted her when she was only 2 months old  
she's always been fine, apart from a little problem with mites when we got her from the pet shop that we/she fought back very quickly!
her skin looks good, we often drop some baby oil diluted in water to smooth her flaky skin (how it appeared at least in the first days we had her) and usually we fed her with boild chicken, boiled courgette and a bit of scrambled eggs all bathed in a few drops of flaxseed oil: a meal she usually wolfes down during her nocturnal activities  
and of course we also give her crunchy cat kibble that she also likes a lot.
well, to get to the point, recently we noticed a incresing loss of quills, let's say 10-15 a day that we recover in the morning in her cage or playpen or when we play/handle her and right 2 days ago we saw a small reddish swelling on the visor area on the left, right on the edge where the quill area starts and her soft thin white fur covers her sweet muzzle (see pictures)
what do you think it is? an ingrown quill (that yesterday I shoukd have plucked out)? would you suggest us to apply a few drops of the commonly used disinfectant via a cotton stick (since I'm not confortable with real drops being the swelling very close to her left eye)??
thnx a lot in advance for any help/suggestion/tip!!!
ciao ciao


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

It looks a bit like an ingrown quill or something like that. If you can, you can see if pulling gently will pull the quill out, but don't yank it. If the quill doesn't want to come out, you could try putting some antibiotic ointment or disinfectant on it, I think, depending on what it is - the ones I know about that are considered safe are regular Neosporin/Polysporin, chlorhexidine disinfectant, and I think betadine has been said to be safe for hedgehogs. If the quill doesn't come out and the bump still doesn't go away or if it gets bigger, do you have a vet you can take her to? It may need to be lanced or something, and have her put on antibiotics to avoid it getting infected while healing.

With the quill loss, what kind of bedding do you use? If you use a wood bedding, she may have gotten mites from it and need medication. Do you see her scratching a lot more in addition to the quill loss? To treat for mites, you'll want to get kitten/cat Revolution. I know in the US, you have to get a prescription from a vet, so I'm not sure what the best way to get it in the Netherlands would be.


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

Not sure about the Netherlands but in the UK revolution is called Stronghold or that's what they use at least.


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## Lussy (Feb 3, 2012)

yep, actually yesterday I tried to gently pull a quill protruding from that swelling and it 
came off very easily...no need to yank it!! the disinfectant we have it's based indeed on 
chlorhexidine and later we'll put a few drops on it.
tnx a lot! and sure it's not mites...we know those little bastards coz she had them the 
very first days she was adopted (most probavly deriving from the unhealthy place at the 
pet store where we bought her) but actually browsing different forum on this website I 
found out that 1 of the major periods fpr quill loss is around 1 year of age, isn't it???
I'll keep u posted on that swelling development!
ciao


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Oh, glad to hear it came out easily! Yeah, some hedgehogs do have another quilling time around one year, it just depends on the hedgehog.

And thanks, Larry, I'll have to try and remember that!


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