# Weird quills?



## Ophelia (Dec 10, 2010)

So Nitzy is pretty comfortable with me poking and prodding her. The other night I was doing a thorough check over her back so see if her flakey skin is everywhere or not, turns out to not really be near her backside, mostly by her upper torso and head. I noticed she has quills growing in all stages (brand new quills trying to poke through and quills already half out), but some of the quills are a bit odd. First, you know how each quill basically moves in its own direction? Well, she was one quill where if you move it, several seem "attached" and move with it. And what's the deal with "flat" quills? She has a couple full grown ones that are flat, and a couple coming in that are flat. Annnnd, she has a quill that curves so it's almost poking her, it's full size and skinny. I don't think it bothers her, I'm just unsure if this is normal and okay? I wish Google images wasn't filled with so many cute looking hedgehogs so I could see what certain things look like.  Like, is the only telling tale of fungus "fingers"? Or what other things tell you it's fungus? I know she at least doesn't have mites because I did the black cloth test. I hope I'm just too paranoid, haha. 

Also, I am going to eventually try oatmeal baths with her, just not yet. I'm trying to get her more used to the water, started out with foot baths, and I've only given her a proper bath once. I don't want it to become an experience that she associates with fear or what not. 



Andandand, my boyfriend went and bought stuff for her (So of course he got stuff I wasn't exactly keen on getting her. ), in particular he got Carefresh Natural. Is this stuff okay to use?


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## Puffers315 (Apr 19, 2010)

I'm not a health expert but I do believe problem quills like that are usually a sign of lack of nutrients in her diet, what is she eating from her previous owners (and what is she on now if you've switched her diet)? But let someone else confirm that it is lack of nutrients.

Some people use Carefresh, its not too bad but just make sure she doesn't attempt to eat it, seems to the biggest concern with it, a few hogs have gotten the idea it might taste good, which of course leads to bad things. So just watch her when you first introduce it, most will probably ignore it (but there's always gotta be a few who think it might be food, hehe).


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## Ophelia (Dec 10, 2010)

Yeah, not enough nutrition was roaming around in my head too. My boyfriend bought Nutrience kitten growth because he said that's what they were feeding the ones at the store. It has a higher percentage of fat and protein than what's recommended, I think. And Purina was on sale so I decided to get some in case she won't eat the other stuff (please tell me if this isn't adequate either). I'm not sure what she was eating before. Though, it looked like Whiskas maybe? It had those square treat bits in it...(the food was in a tin when she gave it to me, and I forgot to ask, d'oh!) I've saved what I think is enough of her original stuff to wean her off it bit by bit. And the mealworms should help. :3 Bought a couple fruits and veggies for her too. See how she feels about them.


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

I sent you some Yesterday's News, too...there should be enough for you to try with her.  

I found Carefresh really messy and the little bits got on everything in the laundry. Some ppl complain it's dusty, too. Just so ya know...


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## Hedgehog Grove (Jul 21, 2010)

Do you know how old she is?

If you are seeing new quills going through and there are many of them she might be quilling. 

Also the bent/curly ones can be from lack of nutrition. The Nutrience Kitten is perfectly fine for her. 

As for the Purina, a lot of breeders use the Purina cat food though I personally don't. It is full of fillers and animal by products which a hedgehog doesn't need. It is basically a junk food which almost all hedgehogs will eat lol.


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

FOOD:
The breeder I got Hejji from had Purina One Indoor Cat food as the base in her mix, after weaning Hejji off of her food and onto new stuff I kept the Purina in the mix as the "junk food" part as a treat. However, he now doesn't eat it - only the healthier stuff  It is ok to use, not the best but certainly not as bad as some foods out there (i.e. Spikes Delight!). This list was really helpful for me to figure out which dry cat foods to use when I created my own mix for Hejji:
http://hedgehogcentral.com/CatFoodChart6.html

BEDDING:
I started off with Carefresh as the bedding and I have since switched to fleece. Here are my pro's con's:

Pro's
-Very absorbant and hid urine odor 
-Easy to spot clean (I had Carefresh Ultra which is white, so I just had to look for the yellow parts, grab that clump out and toss in some new carefresh, and do a total bedding change once a week)
-Hejji seemed to enjoy digging and burrowing in it

Con's
-Very messy. It gets everywhere, really hard to vacuum it up, if it is stuck to a towel/clothes it is hard to get off
-Dusty. It irritated my eyes/throat a bit and I imagine Hejji didn't like that either when he burrowed in it
-It can get stuck in hedgehog private parts - Hejji is a male and one day I found he had a piece stuck in his penis - I was able to get it out but it could have caused significant damage

And what ultimately made me get rid of it all together (in combination with the penis scare)
-It can harbor mites! Ew! Some recommend freezing it before using to kill any mites - but I don't have that big of a freezer 

QUILLS:
-I don't have much input here, other than if Nitzy's quills are growing in kinda funky be on the lookout for ingrown quills - I haven't seen one in person but I imagine they are similar to ingrown hair in adults - probably red/inflamed looking and can get infected.

Hope this was helpful, sorry about the length!


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## Ophelia (Dec 10, 2010)

Great, food is all good. And yes, I forgot about Yesterday's News.  So we'll be trying that as well. And as for things harboring mites, this might sound like a dumb question but the way everyone talks about things.. Haha.. It can only get mites if she gets them first, right? Soo.. if she's not in contact with another hedgehog or what not, is it safe to say she won't get mites? Or how exactly does one get mites?


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

Wood can harbour mites...so if you're using, say, a little wooden house for him to sleep in it may be infested. I don't know of any other way, tho'.


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

> Soo.. if she's not in contact with another hedgehog or what not, is it safe to say she won't get mites? Or how exactly does one get mites?


Not dumb  At least not to me since I had this question too, it is confusing! I too thought hedgehogs would only get the mites from another hedgehog. Like MissC mentioned, those little wooden huts made for small pets can harbor mites - so the wood itself can have a mite infestation so if you buy it and bring it home the mites can get on your hedgehog. I didn't know the carefresh could harbor mites until I got a bag that looked great in the store but when I opened it it didn't seem right. I bought the white color but it had a weird stain to it that looked like mold or kind of rusty. It probably was just "contaminated" with other colors of carefresh at the factory but I freaked out and started researching carefresh online to find out if this was normal. Thats when I discoverd that carefresh can also have mites in it when you buy it at the store! Gross! I guess freezing it for at least 24 hours prior to using it can kill off the mites, but at that point I was too grossed out and the other issues I had with it made me decide to stop using it.

Now I use fleece liners. The cost upfront can be steep (however fleece often goes on sale for 50-60% off making it pretty affordable), but after the initial purchase the only cost is washing it at home. Before I was spending $30+ a month on carefresh, but I got all my fleece (way more than I needed) for about $80. All I do is buy adorable fleece, cut it to fit the cage, lay some paper towels under it to absorb urine/water spills and for Hejji to burrow in, throw the fleece on top and I am done. I switch the liner out every 2 or 3 days or so and replace it with a clean one. I wash the liners once a week. It does take more time each night to clean the cage, but I think that is because I am OCD about cleaning. I recommend fleece liners, but I can understand if you want to stick with carefresh - part of me misses it, but I just feel more comfortable now with the fleece.


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## Ophelia (Dec 10, 2010)

Yeah, I'm wanting to do the fleece thing too. Haha. She's about a year old. no idea how exactly how old. I haven't set up her new cage yet, so I'll freeze the stuff now. and I just found out my friend is out of cat food, so I'm giving him my bag of Purina.


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