Hedgehog Central banner

Hedgie acting wierd - quilling, or something else?

884 views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  euphorialjc 
#1 ·
Hi guys, for the last few days my hedgehog Lily has been acting strange and I'm not sure if it's normal, or if I should take her to see a vet. She just finished a quilling a week or two ago and seems to be quilling again now - I got her on October 19 so she is about 11 weeks old.

On Friday, I came home and found her curled up in a tight ball in her litter box under her wheel. She didn't click or huff like she normally does, and took ahwile to unball, so I figure she was attempting hibernation. I held her close to me and after a few minutes she uncurled and seemed normal again. I inspected her cage and noticed her CHE, which normally has no trouble keeping her cage temperature at about 24 degrees (celsius) seemed to be constantly running and never getting above about 21 degrees.

I think what happened is that the temperature outside has dropped and the temperature of my place dropped as well, so low that the CHE couldn't bring her cage temperature up high enough. I have since turned on the base heating in that room to about 20/21 degrees, and the CHE is working properly again. She also has a light which is on from 9am - 9pm. On Saturday and Sunday, things seemed back to normal, except she didn't seem to use her wheel as much as usual during the two nights (there was only a bit of poop on it and it is normally very messy) and in the mornings I have found her sleeping under her litter tray again, but just regular sleeping and not hibernating.

She does sometimes go and sleep in her litter tray after I put her back in her cage after her evening handling, but normally by morning she is usually back sleeping in her igloo.

Today, when I came home from work, I found her in a tight ball again, unresponsive like before until I held her for a couple minutes.

She is eating and drinking normally, and nothing else has changed, but I'm really concerned that she has tried to hibernate again even though I have made certain she is warm enough and has a proper light schedule. I am also concerned that she has been less active the last couple nights and keeps sleeping in her litter tray.

Do you think this behaviour could be attributed to change of season/quilling, or is there a chance something else is going on? If I take her to the vet, I'm not really sure what to tell them is the problem aside from telling them this long-winded background info...
 
See less See more
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top