# Cupcakes unusual behaviour



## Sunflowerseeds (Mar 3, 2011)

I've had my albino female hedgehog, Cupcake, for less than two months now, and she's only my second one. The first, Rolo, is shy and quite but allows me to hold her while not being too adventerous. Which is why Cupcakes recent behaviour is worrying to me. When I put her in the playpen, she runs around constantly for over an hour each evening. Then, when I put her in her pen, she runs in tight circles as if upset, dives into her den, and "throws" it up into the air several times before settling down. She also hasn't been eating as much as she used to, no where close to it.

She was 8 weeks old when I got her and had an upper respitory infection which I treated with medications given to me by my vet. Yet when she was sick she ate so much more and now it's greatly decreased as to how much is missing from her dish every morning.

Is her behaviour normal, is she just acting out when I put her back away for the night? Also, while she's running around the playpen often she'll go backwards in circles while she plays. She's just so different from my other one that it peaks curiosity and concern.

Thank you in advance for any advice or suggestions.


----------



## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

I won't be of much help (I sure have been saying that a lot today), she's too young for me to comment...and she's really confusing me...

How does she normally act when she's in her cage?

What is her playpen, exactly? (fenced off space on carpet? wading pool?) 

Does she do this every day?

Have you changed anything - ANYthing - detergents, people soap, any different smells, new pets? 

I am at a loss...but will help bump this...smarter folk will follow...


----------



## Sunflowerseeds (Mar 3, 2011)

Usually when she's in her cage, she just burrows herself away into her igloo and stays quite. At night I can hear her running in her wheel though although not as much as her sister.

Her playpen is a fenced off area on the floor, it's roughly a 5'x3'. I put her wheel in there with her, and cardboard tubes that are big enough for her to go through easily. I put her igloo in there with her once to see if maybe she was looking for a place to hide, but she just pushed it over to the edge and flipped it over...

Yes, she didn't use to, she used to just explore slowly for the first month and a half, then the past two weeks she's been super hyper during playpen time and acts up when it's bedtime and I put her back into her cage.

No, nothing has changed that I can think of, same old people and pets and handsoaps.

Thanks for the response, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one confused.


----------



## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

Could she be quilling?


----------



## Sunflowerseeds (Mar 3, 2011)

Roughly a week after I got her, she started quilling and lost quite a few then, now she still loses one or two here and there but I think she's through that phase for now. She does itch a bit so I give her baths once a week with baby shampoo with oatmeal and put a drop of vitamin E oil on her afterwards which does seem to make her feel better and puts the itching at bay. I've done that since I had her too, so that's not new either.


----------



## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

I'm bumping so someone who knows about baby-hedgie-habits can offer some advice.


----------



## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

How much is she eating currently? It is normal for the amount they eat to decrease when they age. At 6 weeks my baby ate a ton but it slowed down a lot after 12-16 weeks. It is important that she is still eating though so if it seems as if she isn't getting enough you could try putting some in her bed too to see if maybe she's just been shy to come out. 

The running around like that sounds normal to me but I'm not an expert and am basing it off my experience with my 2. My hedgie does the running around like that the majority of the time after cage cleanings, from observing them its like they get a little freaked because their scent is gone from everything. I see it a lot if I take them out to play too though because their scent isn't there. If you think this might be the case what I have done to help them out with it is to take something from their cage like a blanket or hedgie bag and put it in the play area because they always run back to it for their safe spot. 

A few other things I can think of off hand that have caused that hyper activity is if they have just gotten a bath and I'm drying them off (they always calm down after all the water is dried off) or if they get an oil rinse cause its like they are freaked by the sensation that something is on them.


----------



## Sunflowerseeds (Mar 3, 2011)

Thank you for the bump.

Also, thank you Hedgieonboard, it seems as though compared to your hedgehogs, her behaviour is quite normal. *Sigh of relief* She is still eating, and it did decrease down to right now about 1/8th to a 1/4th of a cup from about 1/3rd up to 1/2 of a cup when I first got her. She does seem more shy when she's in her cage, but I know she comes out because of her poopy wheel every morning and some missing food. 

I wish she would calm down some, I need to trim her nails but this sudden burst of energy the past couple of weeks make that nearly impossible and I only get one or two nails clipped a day. I will start putting a hedgie bag in her cage for her then start moving it to the playpen for play time. When I moved her igloo to there, she just flipped it over and tried to run in it like it was a wheel...

I do feel much better though, she just seems SO hyper, and if I touch her while she's exploring, she starts running even faster and losses control of her little legs and falls while making a turn.

I was worried, but I feel much better now and will continue to monitor her so I can ensure she just doesn't hurt herself in her craziness. When I put Rolo in the play pen, she just sits there in a corner and looks around, so it was very new to me to see such a difference in Cupcake.


----------



## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

Sunflowerseeds said:


> I need to trim her nails but this sudden burst of energy the past couple of weeks make that nearly impossible and I only get one or two nails clipped a day.


I know how you feel: I am going to be SO embarrassed tomorrow when the vet sees those last two nails I never got trimmed. That goofy Snarf let me do one nail in the bath...then caught on, so never again...he let me do another nail when he fell asleep...then caught on, so never again...etc etc etc...I have one foot left and all my ideas are gone. :roll:


----------



## I<3Hejji (Aug 29, 2010)

I have only had one hedgehog (got him at 10 weeks and he is 9 months now)
All I can think of is has she been wheeling? If you have a odometer on your wheel has she been running the same distance or has it decreased? Is the wheel working normally (not off balance or anything?)? It sounds like she has a lot of energy. You mentioned you have been needing to trim her nails - its possible that the long nails make it uncomfortable to run on her wheel. Or maybe she is just more comfortable with you and likes to play  I wish Hejji would play more at play time, he usually runs around with a tube on for a few minutes then burrows and takes a nap.



> Also, while she's running around the playpen often she'll go backwards in circles while she plays


Do you mean she runs backwards or turns around and runs in different directions? Because if she is running backwards I vote for a video! I have never seen that and it sounds hilarious!


----------



## Sunflowerseeds (Mar 3, 2011)

@ MissC - She's impossible to get to stay still long enough anymore to clip her nails, as soon as I have the clippers in just the right place and am about to squeeze...she moves and I don't want to risk cutting the quick and her never trusting me again. Rolo is so much easier, she'll hold my finger with a paw and it's easy to do her nails. There's such a difference between the two of them.

@ I<3Hejji - I don't have an odometer on her wheel, although after reading about them on this site I am going as soon as I can to get one hooked up. I know she's been running in her cage at night because of her dirty wheel every morning, and she also runs in the wheel that's in her playpen. The only time she naps is when she's in her cage during the day, when it's playpen time, she's non stop.
Yes, she runs in backwards circles, and I'll try tonight during play time to get a video of it.


----------

