# Hedgehog loss of energy and appetite!



## Hillypie (Dec 7, 2012)

When I first brought Marceline (My albino hedgie) home she was much more curious and energetic than my other hedgehog and I immediately fell in love with her. Marceline used to climb the walls of her cage and for her safety I put up a liner in the corner she would climb in, she simply found other places to climb. While I hated her falling she was at least extremely energetic. These past few days though the climbing has stopped and I haven't seen her eating or drinking at all. I have tried three different foods for her. She'll take a piece of food into her mouth and simply let it fall back out! This morning she crawled out of her home where she was happily curled up with her partner and simply laid out flat near the food! Is there any ways to soften the food for her perhaps or urge her to eating!?


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## velooyuotn (Apr 10, 2013)

You should put some plastic sidings so it prevents her from climbing, because when they fall they can really injure themselves and are very good at hiding their pain. You can add water to soften her food, but if she doesn't get better I think a vet visit is the best solution, just to be on the safe side.


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## Hazesti (Jan 19, 2010)

1. You mention her climbing the walls a lot. Does she have a wheel?

2. You mention a partner. If she is sharing her cage, is that partner female? Do they have two of everything, food and water dishes, wheels?

3. What is the temperature in the cage?


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

If she hasn't eaten in a few days she needs to be syringe fed. You can grind up some kibble and mix it with water and syringe feed her that or get some chicken baby food and use that but she needs to get some food into her.


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## Hillypie (Dec 7, 2012)

I have plastic up on the walls so that she can't climb them and she had a wheel but absolutely refuses to use it. She share's her cage with a boy hedgehog and there are two of everything. She's eating just not enough to get her weight up. She was thin when I got her and I just added a bit of water to her food in hopes of softening it but I do think I'll have to try the syringe feeding tonight and for a few more days in hopes of getting her energy up.


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## velooyuotn (Apr 10, 2013)

She shouldn't be in a cage with a boy. They will mate and it is stressful for a female hedgehog... I am sure someone else will comment and give more detail about this. 
Sometimes when in a cage with another hedgehog, the other hedgehog will eat more of the food then the other so she might not be eating at all and the other hedgehog is eating all of the food.


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## Gruff (Oct 23, 2012)

Hedgehogs are solitary, they don't seek company and it's possible she's frantic to leave a space where she's probably being harassed by a male that's only interested in one thing.


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## Hazesti (Jan 19, 2010)

Yes you need to separate them immediately. It will probably fix most of her issues, the climbing, the stress and the appetite. You'll have to syringe her some baby food. Then you'll need to prepare for a pregnancy. :/


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

If she's been with the male for awhile its very possible she's been having repeated pregnancies and either she or the male has cannabilized the babies each time. This would explain why she's so run down and not doing well. Hedgehogs are what is called "induced ovulators". This means that being with a male causes her to come into heat and get pregnant. As soon as she has babies they are killing and eating them, you wouldn't even know she had them. Then because she's still with the male she will come into heat immediately and will get pregnant again. This keeps repeating over and over again. For the sake of her life you need to seperate them immediately, even if it means putting her into temperary type cage. He could also be preventing her from eating by bullying her at night. 

Once she's in a seperate you need to count the kibble you give her at night and then count it again in the morning to see how much she's actually eating. If she isn't eating or isn't eating enough then you need to syringe feed her till she feels better. You also have to be prepared for the fact she's probably pregnant and treat her like she is.


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## Hillypie (Dec 7, 2012)

She has been in her own cage for the day, I was told by the pet shop I got her from that it'd be best to keep her with a male and not a female, this shop also had 10 hedgehogs in one cage. Gunther (my male) is very solitary and I've never seen him bully her and he repeatedly shares his food with her. I didn't know however about the ovulation and constant pregnancies. I did go ahead and count her kibbles in her new cage for the night and will do so again in the morning and presumably start her syringe feeding tomorrow.


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## velooyuotn (Apr 10, 2013)

Regardless of how nice your male may seem, it is not good to keep them together, the pet store owner doesn't know what they are talking about. 
I am glad that you finally separated them. I hope all goes well with your female.


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## Gruff (Oct 23, 2012)

I can't believe how ignorant some of these pet store owners are. If they don't know, a simple Google search would have disproved their theory that a female would be best with another male. I'm glad you found out the truth. Thank you for taking the initiative. If you're ever in that pet shop tell them they're giving out wildly inappropriate advice. I'm sure they don't care since they have 10 together but couldn't hurt, I suppose. I get that they're all about money but I always think giving a healthy, happy pet will make repeat customers and a good word of mouth. I would never step foot again in a place that had ten of ANYTHING other than feeders in a cage together. Sorry for the rant.

Hope your female returns to her energetic self and you stay on the forum because you can learn a lot here.


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