# Please help! What can I do for my hedgehog?



## Lunathehedgehog (Aug 13, 2014)

Okay, so a little backstory is needed here.
I've always wanted pets (especially a hedgehog) but was unable to care for one because of space and money issues. When I finally could, I researched a bunch on hedgehogs, then got Luna. Honestly, It was kind of an impulsive decision.

I got my hedgehog on July 2nd, 2013. For months I took her out every single day, but all she would do is hiss, spike up, _bite, _pee and poo all over, and never sit still when I took her out. I tried every trick I could find on taming hedgehogs. I then decided that maybe she was just a hedgie who preferred to be left alone, and as long as I took care of her otherwise, I didn't need to take her out. Hedgehogs are solitary creatures, after all.

Well, I'm ashamed to admit that as time went on I became a bit lazy. I stopped doing daily poop scoops, only changed her bedding when it got super stinky, the only time she left her cage was so I could clean it, and sometimes didn't give her fresh food or water if she still had enough from yesterday. It got to the point where I saw a bit of _mold _in her cage when I cleaned it. 
*Please understand that I feel absolutely HORRIBLE for all this!*
I finally told myself that it was time to start taking better care of her. I'm moving in a week or so, and right away will be building her new cage. (A 2x2 or 2x3 c&c cage that will be at least double the size of the plastic tub she's in now.) I am back to doing daily poop scoops, fresh food and water, and completely cleaning her cage once a week. 
But I'm worried about her, because she is mostly just sleeping all the time, even in the evenings and at night. Her wheel has not been poopy for a long time. She is eating, but I only give her 2-3 tablespoons of pellets and there's still a lot left. I don't know how much water she's drinking. Her poops are still the same as they've always been, and her pee is normal too. She still hisses like crazy at me.

I know what I did was terrible, and I regret it so much. I was going through a tough time, but that was no excuse for not taking better care of her.

I guess what I'm asking here is, what should I do next? Will she slowly get better health wise or can I do anything? Do you think I could still somehow get her to like me? Or is it too late? I just want her to be happy, I feel so bad for what happened 

Thanks in advance, and please remember that I am so mad at myself for treating her like that, I just really need your help doing what's best for my hedgie.


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## tebbie (May 4, 2014)

So, a lot of people could and may get very angry at you about this but I personally do not feel that this is good for the future of this hedgehog so please bear that in mind people when you're replying.

I appreciate the fact that you want to change and encourage you to do so. If you put your all into your hedgehog, you will reap what you have sewn. Look after her. Take her out every night. Cuddle her. Hold her. Clean her out DAILY. Feed her fresh food and give her fresh water DAILY. Improve her overall quality of life. She will continue to hiss at you, do not let it deter you. Give her time and give her your energy and you will get something back but please, just look after this little hedgie. Give her a good life. 

Now, when you say sleeping all the time... how much? My hedgie sleeps forever and a day if you don't implement a routine with her and she doesn't eat very much either but she's a perfectly healthy, happy hedgehog. It doesn't sound like there's a massive problem here unless she's doing these things to a larger extent than you're making out.


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## Teddi4211 (Apr 30, 2014)

This is really sad, but I am glad that you realize your mistake and are willing to step up to the plate to care for her again.

I think the first thing you need to do is just get the care correct. Start a routine and stick to it. 12-14 hours of daylight each day, artificial or natural lighting. Clean out her cage daily, or the parts that need to be cleaned. Change her water and food each day. Hedgehogs are picky, so they might refuse to eat food that's leftover from the previous day. Do you have any heating setup for her? A CHE lamp is a common one, while I have a personal thermometer in the hedgehog room and just turn that up to the right temperature. Keep in mind that if your house is heated at a certain temperature, it might not be constant throughout the house.

You must start to socialize her again. Even if she huffs and seems to dislike everything you're doing for her, keep working at it. This is the only way to get a friendly hedgehog. Still, any hedgehog, as you know, can turn out to be independent and you as her owner must accept that and still care for her.

Since you left her alone for a long time and didn't handle her or anything I would recommend a vet visit from an experienced exotics vet. You are always supposed to check for any health problems that may occur. She could have had a respiratory infection, tried to hibernate, or many other health problems that you wouldn't know if you didn't bother to handle her. Now that you are making an effort, I would take her to the vet to confirm there aren't problems, or if there are then you can get the necessary treatment. 

I don't know if you have done this, but she most likely needs a good bath and a much needed nail trimming. I nearly have to cut Phoebe's nails every two weeks since they grow so fast. I recommend using Aveeno Baby Shampoo since soap isn't an option. After a bath is generally a good time to clip their nails, but since you described her as huffy you might need the vet to do that.

I am glad to hear you are taking care of her again and I hope everything goes good for her for the rest of her life.


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

You say you're feeding her pellets? what kind? Do you know the temperature in her cage? not just in the room but actually in her cage. How long ago did she stop running on her wheel?


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

First things first, check her amount of light and cage temperature. Take her out and see if she's warm or cool. She needs to be warm, so if she's cool, you'll need to put her against you until she warms up, or on a heating pad set on low (don't leave her unattended on it). Don't give her food or water until she's definitely warm and moving around. While you're checking her temperature, check her out otherwise - do her eyes seem bright or dull? Is she lethargic? Is she sniffling or sneezing, or sound like she has a stuffed up nose? If you can (though you very well may not be able to), check her teeth.

Second thing, after you know she's warm, you need to make sure she's eating. Hedgehogs shouldn't go for long periods without food, as they can have liver issues from it. You'll want to either mix her food with water & mush it well so it'll go through a syringe, get some pate style canned cat food, or get some baby food (chicken or turkey and sweet potato), as well as some syringes. Here's the sticky on syringe-feeding for more info, please read through - http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/foru...yringing-tutorial-syringe-feeding-sticky.html

Echoing Nikki's question, what kind of food are you feeding her? Is the bag an old bag or new one? Make sure you syringe-feed her tonight, but try leaving both some dry pellets and some pellets wet down out for her tonight. Tomorrow, try getting a new bag if the one you have is an old one. Sometimes food gets stale & they won't eat it anymore.

As also said above, start looking around for a vet that sees hedgehogs as well. Sounds like she could definitely use a visit as she's either sick, or could at least use a check up to see how everything is.

Let us know how she's doing and what you find when you examine her. Once we know more, we can help further from there.


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## maligator (Aug 24, 2010)

I'm glad you're looking to change. I think it's a lot easier to slack off on smaller animals that aren't as persistent as, say, a dog. That doesn't mean they need less care, and I'm so glad you're making improvements and trying to do what's right.

Thom is a love bug and will even snuggle with strangers, but Guy was very anti-social when I first got him. He had been attacked by the previous owner's dog and lost a leg. He was very fearful.

My advice is to have patience. It took what felt like FOREVER to even get Guy to recognize my scent, and would take up to 20 minutes to get him to unroll in his cage so I could take him out at night. It's extremely discouraging, but eventually he came to enjoy hanging out near you, though he was never to keen on being petted.

Good luck to you, I hope she just needs a little TLC!


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## TikkiLink (Dec 4, 2013)

I would bet your hedgie stopped running because she's in desperate need of a nail trimming. My girl's nails grow fast and she needs it every week. It took me a while to discover that my hedgie also gets bored if I don't rearrange her cage EVERY NIGHT, and she'll stop running if I don't, so maybe your hedgie has gotten bored with the scenery in her little world. Her new cage might help that.

I get the lack of motivation thing. I have a bearded dragon who, as he's aged, no longer wants to eat and hardly ever moves. On top of that, he would rather be in his cage now than out with me, probably because he's not feeling great. It's sometimes hard to feel motivated to care for an animal who fights it or seems indifferent. But at the same time, we have to remember that they are living things that we are keeping contained under the promise that we will care for them. They don't have the freedom to fend for themselves and find a clean space to sleep; they fully depend on us. Even though your hedgie may not be happy with you yet, she will for sure be happier when her needs are met.


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## rerun (Jul 25, 2014)

You made the right first step in comming here. Glad to see your getting back on track with your little one. Best of luck!


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## Lunathehedgehog (Aug 13, 2014)

I tried to check her over today, and I think she's mostly okay (not lethargic, breathing sounds normal, she wouldn't let me check her teeth though) but her skin looks a bit dry and I think she might've lost some quills. Not a lot, just enough that when she goes into a ball I can see a bit of the skin between her quills. I don't know if that's normal?

Anyways, I am planning on taking her to the vet, to make sure she's okay and to clip her nails, because she won't let me do it. Her nails are a bit too long, but luckily they're not too bad. Maybe she just has slow growing nails.

The pellets I'm feeding her are these ones: http://www.vitakraftsunseed.com/product/hedgehog/vitaExoticsHedgehog.html
It is a new bag, and I know she's eating it, just not as much as I would think she would.

As for the temperature, I get cold easily so my room is usually quite warm, on the thermometerbeside her cage it says it's around 75-80°F (25°C). I do have a heating pad for her, but does she still need it if it's this warm in my room? I leave my curtains open so it's bright in my room all day, and close them in the evening so it's dark all night. Is this okay or should I be doing something else?

Thank you for the help!


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

I know you just bought a new bag if food but vitakraft hedgehog food is terrible. It's has bad ingredients and not nutritionally sound. I would switch her slowly onto a high quality cat food. Look for a protein percentage under 35% and over 28% and a fat content under 15%. First ingredient should be a named meat, chicken, turkey, beef etc. or meal. 

As for lighting. Using natural light in the summer is okay but make sure she gets at least 12 hours of sunlight in the winter time.


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## Teddi4211 (Apr 30, 2014)

It's normal to see a bit of skin when they ball up. I see some with my two girls as well.

As said above, hedgehogs food has about as much nutrition for them as cardboard. A high quality cat food is your best bet.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Glad you're planning to take her in to the vet. 

Sounds like you're probably set for heating & light (though as said, I would supplement with light at least for fall, winter, & spring, and personally I'd also do so in the summer, just to be safe).

And sounds like she's generally in okay shape! I completely agree with the comments on the food though - Vitakraft is one of the worst hedgehog foods out there. There's a few stickies in the Nutrition forum that you can look at for ideas on cat foods to check out. Most of the time, it's best to do a slow switch over 2-4 weeks to a new food. It seems to be pretty common, however, for hedgehogs that are on the poorer-quality hedgehog foods to switch themselves straight to the cat food by eating only the new food & ignoring their old food completely. So if she does that, just go ahead & give her the cat food. She'll have some green poop from the disruption to her digestive system, but that will pass after a few days. Hopefully she'll start eating more again with a new food!

Let us know how the vet visit goes and how she does with a new food.


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## Echo of November (Aug 16, 2014)

Kudos to you for deciding to make a change, and especially for owning up to your mistakes! That is very courageous. Best of luck to you and Luna, and please keep us updated on her progress!


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## Lunathehedgehog (Aug 13, 2014)

It's been a while but I just wanted to update you guys on how she's doing. 

She's all settled in to her new (bigger and better) cage, and she's now eating a mix of natural balance green pea and duck cat food and purina healthy life cat chow. She didn't even touch her old food when she got this, so it must be a lot better!
The first night of the new food and new cage she was running on her wheel all evening and into the night! I've seen/heard her running at least a little bit each day since.
I haven't gotten her in to see a vet yet, but I have contacted two to decide which would be better, and then will book an appointment right away.


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