# Mistakes You Feel Bad About



## Puffers315 (Apr 19, 2010)

I'm kind of leaving this as a general thread for people to share their own mistakes when it comes to caring for their hogs. I'm sure we've all at one point or another did something that wasn't life threatening, but you always feel really bad about it. I just had my first.

Thankfully I'm up late being that its Friday, though last week I was in bed by midnight. Its been your typical night, tv, computer, listening to the hedgehogs do their thing, Hester was up from 10:30 till Midnight wheeling, Loki from 10:30 to 11. 2am rolls around and I hear Loki get up to really start his night (he's lazy), he wheels for an hour, then almost like shift change he goes to bed and I hear Hester start wheeling, but for only about 15 minutes. Then I hear something I've never heard either do. Two squeaks like I've heard from hoglets in videos. It baffles me, so I get up to inspect, obviously Hester who had just been up and about, thinking maybe she hurt herself. So of course I pull her house out and put it on my lap, flashlight in hand and pop the top. She's inside in her corner, and like she always is, very unhappy about the intrusion. I grab some of her fleece scraps and wrangle her out, as always she goes into the ball form. It takes longer than usual for her to come out, she's obviously very unpleased, more so than her usual self (she'll typically come right out of the ball in a minute or less). I look her over, no blood, her toe nails are kind of long, too long for my taste but we've had difficulties getting them trimmed, but nothing wrong there. So I put her back in her house and cover her up, still getting an ear full. Next Stop, Lokiville, and he's recently taken up the habit of furiously bitting his fleece when awoken, calms down after a moment but tries to show me who is boss. I stop, and realize that it was indeed Hester who was squeaking.

They both live in a Ferret Nation, Hester's got the top half and she's also got a loft area which is nothing but her food and water dish, she's a pig who crunches her kibbles and doesn't care how much falls out of her mouth, she literally eats 20 grams of kibble but at least 10 is left behind in crumbs. But what I notice is that her ramp is up in the air, I raise it when cleaning. She just spent half the night without food or water. I put the ramp down, pull her out of the box and plop her down in the loft area, of course again getting an ear full from her, but cover the cage up and left her be. She is of course now wheeling and eating, so all is well, but it still makes me feel bad. The hog with the attitude of steel, reduced to squeaking like a child because she's hungry. But in the end I guess it was a good thing she did, otherwise I wouldn't have noticed until tommorrow. Of course now sitting here, I did hear the lack of her fatness squeezing up and down that tube but it just never dawned on me.

Poor Hester, truthfully its more the lack of water that makes me feel bad, right now I'm trying to decide if she's getting overweight, she's an avid runner but man is she a huge hog at 620 grams.


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## Jaimie (Sep 27, 2009)

I once forgot to put the food back in after cleaning up Spike's bowl and didn't notice till I woke up in the morning. I felt so guilty that I woke him up and put him in front of the bowl before I left for work so he could eat some food.


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## shaelikestaquitos (Feb 2, 2010)

I think the worst I've ever felt was when I cut Kashi's nail too long and he started to bleed from one of his toes. I felt so horrible, like I was being abusive  But since then, it has never happened.

And Puffers315, you are a good hedgie owner, everyone slips up once in a while ^-^


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## nationofamanda (Jan 19, 2010)

lulabelle has a habit of putting things in her water dish.....toys, food, and her blankets.
once she dipped the corner of her fleece blanket in her dish while i was at work and when i got home her whole house was damp and chilly on the bottom and i found her napping in her wheel.

i was proud of her for being so resourceful, but i felt awful that she could have gotten cold.


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2010)

Just the other day when I was re-filling Rosie's water I accidentally spilled a bit of water from her dish into her food bowl. I thought it was only drop so I didn't think much of it, but then the next day I saw a bowl full of soggy kibble. She didn't touch them at all. I felt bad so I sprinkled some kibble in her house while she was sleeping and heard her crunching away while I was getting ready for work.


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## susanaproenca (Aug 14, 2010)

There are two things I feel horrible about:

- One day Mustard was giving me a very hard time letting me trim her nails and I ended up cutting one too short. It bled a lot and she was very angry!

- This other time when it was starting to get cool during the nights at the end of Summer, and I forgot the window open. With the window open the space heater wasn't sufficient to warm up the room and she attempted hibernation.


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## EryBee (May 23, 2010)

Twice now I have forgotten to put Phinneus's wheel back for him to use at night. I take it out everyday to scrub and clean it, and then I leave it to dry in the bathroom. Since it is in the bathroom, it is out of my immediate sight, and I forget about it. I swear, I must have the memory of a gnat.

Another thing I feel guilty about is the time I forgot to put Phinneus's water dish back into his cage after taking it out temporarily. I had removed his dishes so that I could shift the whole cage a few feet away from the closet (it had been blocking one side of the sliding closet door) and the water dish was placed on a shelf just so it wouldn't splash everywhere. I forgot about it. The next morning I went to check and couldn't find it anywhere and panicked. I mean, a ceramic dish doesn't just evaporate into thin air! Then I spotted it, replaced it in the cage, and woke Phinneus up so he could get a drink.


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

Several times, after cleaning the wheels, I have put them back in the cage, but didn't make sure they were put back together solidly. Only to find, the next morning, a wheel that's touching the ground & an odometer that read "0". Happens with poor Zoey's wheel much more often (one of Reaper's wheels). I'm thinking of just screwing it to the back of the cage.


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## susanaproenca (Aug 14, 2010)

PJM said:


> Several times, after cleaning the wheels, I have put them back in the cage, but didn't make sure they were put back together solidly. Only to find, the next morning, a wheel that's touching the ground & an odometer that read "0". Happens with poor Zoey's wheel much more often (one of Reaper's wheels). I'm thinking of just screwing it to the back of the cage.


Ooops! That happens to me a few times... I guess there are three things I feel bad about!


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## spastic_jedi (Nov 11, 2009)

I was getting a bath ready for Moose, he is too big and adventurous for the sink so I have to do it in the tub. One day I filled the tub up a little too much but didn't notice and when I placed Moose in he couldn't swim and very briefly panicked and went under. Luckily my hand was still next to him so I scooped him up and let some of the water out. To make it worse he was so squirmy afterwards that when I was bringing him into my room to dry him off he managed to get away from me, luckily I was over the bed at the time so he only fell about a foot onto something soft, but he and I were both super spooked by the fall. That was just one bad bathing experience with Moose all together.


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## Puffers315 (Apr 19, 2010)

Heh, didn't think I'd be adding to this in less than 24 hours.

About a month ago PJM was kind enough to donate Zoey's old CHE setup to me to keep Loki and Hester nice and toasty. Nice system too, 2 domes (8 inch and a 10 inch) with 100 watt CHEs and a Repti-Temp 500R. It ran for a week, I had been living on the edge by only using a single thermostat for two cages, Loki's CHE is right inside the cage in the middle hanging from the ceiling (Ferret Nation setup) and Hester's is mounted on top. It worked for a week and then I woke up to find the cages cold, Loki was at 69'F and his CHE was dead, and Hester's cage was only 70 and her CHE (obviously doing nothing for her cage) was hot. So the system got shut down and I started to use a space heater.

Well, I was screwing with it today, namely because Loki's cage has been cold during the day, 73'F but I wanted it up to at least 75'F, seems to be the daytime is the problem. So I've been playing with the lamps, Hester's lamp I basically killed, tried to remove the bulb which resulted in the CHE breaking off, was going to put it in Loki's lamp since it seems if his cage is heated, her cage pretty much stays as warm as I want it.

Was testing the lamps directly thinking maybe the Repti-Temp might have died, and heard an electrical crackle, unplugged and checked the bulb. Guess what, its not blown, its loose, tightened it back in and now its working. Oy. Well thats good, at least I got one CHE for him, I'll get a new bulb for Hester and get the system back online. So that's two in less than 24 hours, god help me.


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## hercsmom (Jul 6, 2010)

2 nights ago I got distracted after cleaning Herc's wheel. When I came home from work 6 hours later around midnight the wheel was during right beside his cage. I completely forgot to put it back, and it was almost.like a teaser sitting next to the cage. Luckily, I dont think he even woke up to notice yet but I felt terrible. He wheels for hours every night!


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

Well, as some of you know, I work a job that takes me away from home for 4 days at a time, then I'm home for 4 days. (I work 4 24 hour shifts, so I stay at work for the full time). I'm lucky to have a husband that is wonderful with my hedgies and is more than willing to care for them when I'm at work. Well I had cleaned wheels and cages the day before going back to work and had left some out to dry before putting them back in their cages. That night I go in to the hedgie room and put the wheels back, double check to make sure none are still in the rack drying, feed, water and check everyone. Off goes the light and that's it for the night.

Next morning I peek in at everyone before heading to work. That night I get a call from my husband " How come Auby doesn't have a wheel, did something happen to him?" Me: "He has a wheel". Hubby: "No he doesn't, its sitting in an empty cage...." 

Well while I put the wheels back the night before going to work , I had put his into an empty cage for a minute because my hands were full of wheels and I needed to open one of the other cages.... And I forgot it there...Poor Auby had been without his wheel for 24 hours. How I missed it when feeding and checking I have no idea.

Auby got back at me for it by making the biggest mess of his wheel in on night that I have ever seen LOL


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

I have forgotten to put a wheel back, or given someone the wrong wheel. I sure get told about that. I've given one two dishes of food and another two dishes of water. :roll: 

I've left cage doors open and I've done that more often than I care to think about. It's always because the phone has rang while I'm cleaning and I've gotten distracted. I've had a couple of escapee's when the door was left open but most of the time it's like they don't even notice the open door. 

I've given a bag to a confirmed igloo dweller and an igloo to a bag hedgie. Those bag ladies and gentlemen sure do get ticked when their bag is missing. :lol: 

I've given fresh food and water to an empty cage and realized it when I went to get the occupant out for a cuddle. This happens when I loose someone and can't bring myself to clean out their bedding yet. 

I've put girls in the wrong cage but this only happens when I have a bunch of girls out for playtime so it's a girl going in another girls cage. When this happens, it's also after I've done a cage rearranging and they are in different locations.


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## FiaSpice (Jan 16, 2009)

Once I was sure I fed and gave water to the hog but didn't. :| 

Like Nancy I left the door opens couple time, but Litchi isn't able to climb anyway.

And the top most "mistake" is how I still have a Silent Spinner. I meant to get a Carolina Storm wheel earlier but beeing without incom didn't help. For sure, a new wheel's gonna be a christmas gift for the hedgies.


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## shaelikestaquitos (Feb 2, 2010)

I just thought of another one.

I actually hadn't gotten everything I needed before I got my hedgie, so when Kashi came home this summer, I did not have a heater for him, figuring that it wouldn't get cold enough for him to go into hibernation. I bought a small reptile tank heater (the kind that sticks on) for one side of the tank a week after that. It was stuck to the side so that he could move away from it if he wished.

Sure enough, we had one night where it dropped below 73, and I noticed it was a bit too cold for Kashi. I checked his cage, and he was not hibernating, but he was huddled up against the heater for warmth  I felt so horrible. I put several hot water bottles in the cage and put a fleece blanket over the cage to keep the heat in.

I think that was the worst thing I have ever done to my hog 

I did in fact end up getting a CHE a month or two later, though, so thank god for that...


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## lmg_319 (Oct 4, 2010)

Well I just had one tonight too.
I had Holden out and I gave him eggs and mealies (his favourite treats). I was holding him in my arms after he finished eating and my roomate startled him. He balled up and rolled out of my arms It wasn't a far drop as I was sitting on the ground but I still felt horrible. He balled up tight and finally came around to more prompting from eggs. Poor guy


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## schmelderz (Jul 7, 2010)

I left Prickles' cage open not once, but twice. Luckily the little beast was found splatting in near a pile of dustbunnies in the deepest darkest corner of the room.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

My biggest mistakes: 

After I first got Lily, I was spending the night at a friend's house and woke up at 3 am out of a deep sleep, suddenly realizing I hadn't changed her food and water. She was just fine, and finished what food she'd had left, but I felt horrible.

I've also forgotten to refill her water bowl after putting it back in her cage several times. >< Those moments always make me feel awful, because of how thirsty I know she must be. I always wake her up in the morning after I've done this and put her next to the bowl to get a drink.

The last thing is her temperature. I've had her space heater not turn on before, or forgotten to turn my room light on (before I got her a lamp for her cage), and she's had a couple of hibernation attempts from both. I always feel like a bad mommy when she has one. :/


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## hedgieguide (Nov 20, 2010)

I'm so embarrassed/ashamed of this one, but... it was a huge mistake, and I totally regret it, so...

One night after work I took one of my hedgehogs out for a personal 1 on 1 playtime, you know. We were laying on my bed, and I was kind of/sort of watching Dancing with the Stars, and the next thing I know I was dozing off. But, my hedgehog was inside the fleece bag on my stomach that I didn't think anything would happen -- until I fell asleep. 

20 minutes later, I "realized" in my sleep I had fallen asleep, I jumped up, and my hedgehog wasn't where I had him!!!!! My comforter was half on the floor, so he had hidden the magical comforter, and was by the leg/underneath the overhanging lip of the small table of my nightstand. I was lucky he didn't get too far.


A different hedgehog, and I don't really regret it, but, its funny... 

I had built a cage entirely out of those storage cubes; but I didn't have anything solid for the bottom yet (we were in the process of moving, and my parents had extra linoleum that they used in the kitchen or whatever), so we had to use cardboard. thank god hes litter trained. Well, he was on the level lowest to the ground, and had managed to during the middle of the night scratch a hole through the cardboard, and jump down through the bar space. Okay, you guys... he was SOOOOOOOOOOOO freaking excited he had managed to escape.. that he didn't go anywhere, but was running around under his cage, squeaking and squealing doing circles. He even woke me up, which lead to his capture. ;p But I watched him for a minute, because I thought he was injured. ;.; But nope, his nose was in the air, and he was doing 360s, while squealing in joy. I probably almost died then, in pure joy. 

Needless to say, we now use sterilte tubs. xD but those storage cubes did come in handy after all on the lids, because we cut out a square, and duct taped one of the panels to cover the space. =)


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## nessariel (Mar 3, 2010)

I got really sick one day, went to bed really early (8pm) and totally forgot to feed Winston. When I got up the next morning I felt SO bad! I gave him food and woke him up to come eat. He stood there munching for a solid five minutes.

One time, I hadn't done a load of Winston laundry in a while, so I only had one clean hedgiebag left, and it was a very small one from when he was a baby. Well, I guess he objected to the size of it, because when I went to check on him the next morning the bag was pushed out of his igloo, dumped into his water bowl, and he was sleeping in his tube. He sure made it clear how he felt about that bag! I didn't feel TOO bad about this, but it was definitely amusing.


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## hercsmom (Jul 6, 2010)

hedgieguide said:


> I'm so embarrassed/ashamed of this one, but... it was a huge mistake, and I totally regret it, so...
> 
> One night after work I took one of my hedgehogs out for a personal 1 on 1 playtime, you know. We were laying on my bed, and I was kind of/sort of watching Dancing with the Stars, and the next thing I know I was dozing off. But, my hedgehog was inside the fleece bag on my stomach that I didn't think anything would happen -- until I fell asleep.
> 
> 20 minutes later, I "realized" in my sleep I had fallen asleep, I jumped up, and my hedgehog wasn't where I had him!!!!! My comforter was half on the floor, so he had hidden the magical comforter, and was by the leg/underneath the overhanging lip of the small table of my nightstand. I was lucky he didn't get too far.


Ok, this reminds me of a totally funny, similiar story.

A few weeks ago I had a really bad head cold. I work 2 jobs and go to school, so it was around midnight when I got home. I took some cold medicine and took Herc out for a cuddle. I was in bed, watching tv with Herc sleeping in his blankie on my chest. Next thing I knew, I was being woken up by this scared squeaking noise and horrible growling. As it turns out, the horrible growling was my snoring (I woke up mid snore just in time to catch the end of a super loud one), and the squeaking was Hercules on my chest terrified because I was "growling" at him! :lol: I don't know why he didn't run away, I was dead to the world and wouldn't have noticed. When I put my hand on his back, his spines were straight up!

Needless to say, if I get the slightest bit sleepy now, Herc goes either to his daddy for a cuddle or back in his cage.


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## Julie Stuhr (Mar 21, 2010)

Today I cutted Bodils nails too short, så one was bleeding


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

hercsmom said:


> the squeaking was Hercules on my chest terrified because I was "growling" at him!


 :lol: Poor little guy!


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## hercsmom (Jul 6, 2010)

Yeah, funny now, but boy was he mad at the time! :lol:


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