# Can a hedgehog have two homes? She keeps getting sick (I thought she was dead)...



## Pickles The Hedgehog (Sep 30, 2014)

This is a difficult one (I think?) so bare with me...

I've had Pickles for nearly a year now, I rescued her directly from a person that wasn't looking after her properly, I'd like to think she loves me, but she's quite grumpy and I had her from 8 months old - either way I love her very much.

I often don't stay at home, because my work is all over the place if I'm going to be working nearer where my boyfriend lives I will stay at his, the longest I ever left Pickles was 3 nights and that was only once, all other times it is 1 or 2 - she always has plenty of food and water, her exercise wheel, the room is kept warm and my Grandad checks in on her (I live with my Grandad and she's in her room).

However, a couple of months ago she started not eating or drinking whenever I wouldn't be there of a night time, I would come back and her food/water wouldn't be touched.

She seems to have stopped doing that, but when I came home yesterday evening, I thought she was dead. </3

I had bought her some presents from the pet shop, more litter, a new house, an expandable tube thingy. I started talking to her and she didn't greet me with the usual hissing/sniffling.

I touched the lump under then fleece that I knew was her and she didn't hiss again, didn't event flinch! Panicking I gave her a bit more of a nudge, still nothing!

I grabbed her out of the cage and peered into the fleece sleeve (her favourite bit that she always sleeps in) and she still wouldn't move. As you can imagine i'm in floods of tears and screaming, I was totally alone in the house, I completely destroy my room in search of the scissors and physically (carefully) cut her out of the sleeve so I can get to her. She is tightly In her hedgehog ball and didn't move at all for what felt like a lifetime...I then saw her little nose twitch. It was ever so slight, but it was something!

I call my mum (still in hysterics) and tell her to meet me at the vets (I needed support).

Pickles is normally very hissy and very twitchy, she was _barely _moving and not making a sound, so something was very very wrong!

The vet saw us straight away and although he was lovely, I'm always very worried that 'the local vet' will know next to nothing about pygmy hedgehogs, although I suppose they wont be dissimilar to other rodents.

It was very difficult to examine her as she wouldn't come out of her ball, she appeared to have a snotty nose and the vet said he suspected lung infection, although I'm not sure how he came to that conclusion. Anyway, whilst there we sprayed her for mites, weighed her (for which she uncurled enough to lay flat on her feet) and he prescribed BAYTRIL ORAL 2.5% and I am to give her 0.1ml twice a day for 10 days. It's an antibiotic. (Anyone had experience with it before?)

My boyfriend came over and low and behold she came out of her funk with him (she loves him, I'm guessing it's just because he's always running hot and his hands are bigger than mine)
She had her medicine (I put it on her lips and she licked it off, this works but I will try and get it more in her mouth), ate some food and a couple of mealworms, she ran on her wheel most of the night as she does and she even drank a decent amount of water! (she doesn't drink loads)

Oh, and she's super duper hissy, she's pretty much back to normal already.
(And before anyone asks, I checked her thermometer, temp didn't drop below 22 degrees - so surely she wouldn't have been trying to hibernate?)

However I am now very worried about leaving her, a slightly similar thing happened a couple of weeks ago where I got her out and she was very cold on her belly, she wasn't curled up at all but she wasn't hissy and she was very slow - again the temp hadn't dropped below 20 degrees (so 2 degrees below the minimum) and this had happened after I hadn't been back for two days.

Needless to say I never, ever, ever want to leave her on her own for even one night now!

So my question is, can hedgehogs become comfortable within 2 homes? I want to give her a setup at my boyfriends place so whenever I am staying there, she can come stay too! It would be smaller than her cage back home (as he doesn't have much space) but it would only ever be for one or 2 days/nights and she would have full set up, food/water/wheel/bedding/heating etc. What do you think? Would it super stress her out moving around all the time? Would she get used to it in the end? Do you think she would be happier as she would never be completely on her own again?

I'm also going on holiday for a week at the end of September, and the bf is going to look after her, so would staying at his be good to get her used to it before I disappear for a week?

Has anyone done this before? I don't know whether she thinks she's been abandoned or gets stressed or what, but I can't go through that again </3

Suggestions welcome!


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

22C is a little on the cold side, some hedgehogs prefer it warmer - try bumping it up to at least 25C. Some hedgehogs get more temperature sensitive when they get older and 20C is really pushing it, even 22C is for some. 

It sounds like a hibernation attempt to me, at least that's most likely esp given what sound as a recent attempt. Just wondering, does your room get colder when you are not there (if the main heater is turned off for example). What kind of heat source do you have for her?

Some hedgehogs get really stressed from changes in their environment, others don't care that much about it so it would really depend on the hedgehog if it would mind changing homes.


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

Another contributing factor to attempting to hibernate is the light schedule. They need around 14 hours of daylight or their brain may get signals that winter is coming and it's time to hibernate.


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

I agree that is sounds more like a hibernation attempt than anything else. 22C is only 71.6F and the normal temperature for a hedgehog cage is 74-76*F. You need to get a proper heat set up with a thermostat to keep the temp constant.


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## Pickles The Hedgehog (Sep 30, 2014)

Thanks for the suggestions guys! Thinking about it, it definitely seems like a hybernation attampt - I have a proper heat lamp for her but I ended up disconnecting it as my room was always the right temperature - or so I thought! After these replies i'm guessing my facts must be wrong? From the research I did I thought she needed to be kept at 21-23°! And I can still find sites saying this, needless to say her heat lamp is set back up again and set to 27° (I had set it to 25° but my digital thermometer was telling me that the temperature was actually only reaching a maximum of 23° - it's now around the 25° mark)
The heat lamp is set up pointing down at one corner of the cage with all her bedding, she also has a wooden house on the other side, so if she gets too hot she can move out of the heat.
Now that winter is drawing in I will get a timed light thingy for whenever I'm not going to be there.

On that note - if it was just a hybernation attempt and not an infection - should I keep giving her the antibiotic? Or do I risk harming her by doing so if she doesn't really need it?

Thanks guys xxx


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## shinydistraction (Jul 6, 2014)

Infections like a URI is not uncommon after a hibernation attempt. I would go ahead and finish the prescribed medication.


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

What type of heat lamp do you have? CHE's are best for hedgehogs as they don't give off any light at all just heat. You should have the lamp centered so it heats the whole cage evenly. If there are warm areas and cooler areas in the cage that can trigger a hibernation attempt as well.


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## Pickles The Hedgehog (Sep 30, 2014)

nikki said:


> What type of heat lamp do you have? CHE's are best for hedgehogs as they don't give off any light at all just heat. You should have the lamp centered so it heats the whole cage evenly. If there are warm areas and cooler areas in the cage that can trigger a hibernation attempt as well.


I have a CHE lamp 

That's so strange! I always read to have the heat on one side/where the bedding is so that if hedgy does get too hot She can pop out of the heat :/

The other side of her cage will never be cold as it's my bedroom and I keep it heated (I get cold) My room temp stays at around 20-22 degrees and her heated area stay at around 25-26 degrees now. But if you think I really should put the lamp in the centre I can do that Xx


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## Pickles The Hedgehog (Sep 30, 2014)

*It's also a large lamp Xx


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

You don't want more than a 1 or 2 degree difference in temperature throughout the entire cage so just adjust the CHE to where it keeps the cage within that temperature range.


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## shinydistraction (Jul 6, 2014)

There are some animals that need warm and cool zones in their homes, but hedgehogs aren't one of them. You want an even, consistent temperature throughout their cage. So, definitely center the lamp. In fact, if your cage is on the larger size, you may even need 2 lamps to heat it properly.


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

Pickles The Hedgehog said:


> I have a CHE lamp
> 
> That's so strange! I always read to have the heat on one side/where the bedding is so that if hedgy does get too hot She can pop out of the heat :/
> 
> The other side of her cage will never be cold as it's my bedroom and I keep it heated (I get cold) My room temp stays at around 20-22 degrees and her heated area stay at around 25-26 degrees now. But if you think I really should put the lamp in the centre I can do that Xx


Hedgehogs are mammals, they do not require different zones for heating because they do not depend as much on outer factors as, eg. reptiles. They do best in a more consistently heated environment. Big changes (several degrees) within one cage can cause the hedgehog to stick to the comfortably warmer part, and could possibly trigger hibernation.


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