# Hedgehog randomly started to "plop"



## sheepishlywolf (Apr 24, 2013)

I've had Stannis for a week and two days now. He has already seen the vet for mites and has been given medicine. That was Wednesday and it is now early Monday morning. I haven't noticed anything weird about him after the medicine, other than him hating me the next day. He seems to bounce back from everything fairly quickly. 

Weird Plopping:
Yesterday I brought home a new Igloo for him, he didn't seem to mind it at all. He crawled right inside after smelling it a bit. Today, I did my routine cage cleaning. I had my boyfriend hold him while I cleaned the cage. Stannis just slept the entire time in his little pouch and poked his head out every so often. I then held him while he slept for a little while as well. When I put him back in his cage he just kind of smelled stuff and then plopped down. I tried to give him a treat while in the cage and he didn't even care. I picked him up again and he ate it. Is that normal? Was he just mad that I had cleaned the cage AGAIN? Usually it doesn't bother him to have his cage cleaned. 

I felt his belly and it was warm. I shook his food bowl so I could watch him walk and there was no wobbling, just the normal hedgie shuffle. He ate a bit, took a long drink, and then plopped in the end of one of the PVC pipes. I've never seen him sleep anywhere other than his huts or under the liner. Was he maybe too hot? He did quill up and click when in the cage so I think maybe the excitement of a different person, being out for a long time, a new cage with a new Igloo, and then ME WATCHING HIM CONSTANTLY was getting to him. I checked on him about once every couple of hours and he was still laying there sleeping.

When I got him out again at around midnight, he was laying on top of all of his fleece strips and my shirt in a tear drop shape with his legs tucked. When I picked him up, he didn't even raise his quills until I moved in front of his face. He was very, very laid back which isn't that normal. He's friendly, but I usually get some quills and a little bit of tucking into a ball. Nothing. He did start moving around and running around on me and then he retreated under the blanket and continued to lay sprawled out on me. He even let me pull the covers off of him without hissing, popping, or lifting quills. 

Is he just getting used to me now? ALREADY? It hasn't even been two weeks! Or is something wrong? I'm definitely a paranoid mom after reading all of the things that can go wrong. I researched for two months before I had him and I read every single day and night about hedgehogs. 

Grainy/Stinky Poops:
Later on, I did notice he had been on his wheel. There was poop on it and in the litter box. I DID notice that his poop looked a little grainy. I gave him mealworms for the first time and I don't think his little belly can handle them.  He loved them! Has that happened to anyone else with the mealworms?? I read that it happened with Wellness food but doesn't eat Wellness. I also read that hedgehogs can GET worms. 

Warm Nose: 
I did notice that his nose wasn't wet today and he sneezed a couple of times. I did only feel his nose AFTER he has been burrowing and rubbing it against a blanket against my leg. That might have dried it out. 

I'M JUST SO PARANOID. My boyfriend things I'm going crazy and I think I am too. hahaha.


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