Overly Concerned First Time Parents

[elizakait]

We just got our first little hedgie yesterday. We have a few things we are concerned about. First of all, he's definitely a burrower. Which means he won't really come out of his house because he's too busy burrowing up and sleeping. How much sleep is normal? Do we need to try to get him out of his house and make him play? Once he's out he's alert and runs all around us and is very active, but it seems that getting him initially out of his house is a task. I made him this nice elaborate C&C plopped him in it, he sniffed, saw his house had new fleece in it instead of the recycled pellets the store gave us, and made an immediate b-line to his house to burrow, burrow, burrow, poke his head out, then continue burrowing. I know it's only day two so he's still adjusting, but he's our new "baby" and we'd like to know what's normal and what he should be doing.

Also, he seems to be sneezing a bit and licking his nose. When is it necessary to make an appointment with a vet concerning this?

Like I said, it's only day two, but we're just really concerned and scared we're going to do something wrong. If y'all have any suggestions that would be greatly appreciated!

[moxieberry]

Since he's sneezing, and from a store, I'd say get him checked out by a vet. Sometimes a little sneeze here and there is normal, but more often it's a sign of a URI (upper respiratory infection). Hedgehogs from pet stores often will have something like that, and the sooner it gets treated, the better. The vet will prescribe an antibiotic.

Do you know (roughly) how old he is? Babies sleep all the time, the same as any other baby animal (or human). You don't have to wait for him to come out on his own before taking him out to play with, but you also shouldn't be making him stay awake. Waking him up for a cuddle session or to explore and socialize with you is great, and you should handle him 30-60 minutes per day at minimum. More is better - you can't really overdo it as long as you make sure he has the option to sleep (a bag to go in, a blanket in your lap to burrow under) so the time you have him out isn't making him constantly be awake when he'd rather not be.

[elizakait]

I'm really not sure how old he is, but he's definitely still a little baby! I'll definitely make an appointment with a vet asap.

When does the feeling that he's going to get too cold go away? I have the CHE, a heat lamp, and a digital thermometer (CHE for night time, heat lamp for day), but I still catch myself checking that thermometer every 5 minutes. *sigh* It's almost pitiful.

[moxieberry]

When the "new mommy" phase is over. Don't feel bad, everyone goes through it in their own way.

[elizakait]

Taking tons of pictures of his cute little face. Yep, I'm in the new mommy phase! DF is in the "new daddy" stage too. He called from work to tell me to unplug all of our plugin air fresheners because all the smell may be too overbearing

Any other tips y'all have for first timers, bring it on!

[kurai18]

Congratulations on your new hedgie!
If he's a baby he will definitely sleep a lot.
I remember when I first brought my Pineapple home..
it seemed like she was only awake 2 hrs a day!
She came home with a cold as well and I took her to the vet and was prescribed cold medicine.
The medicine came in a little bottle and they gave me a plastic injector without a needle tip that I could use to feed her.
It's going to be hard in the beginning, but for me what worked was:

1. Hold her like a cellphone in my left hand
2. Tuck her back two legs between my pinky and ring finger.
3. Tuck her front two legs between my ring finger and middle finger
4. Tuck my index finger and thumb under her chin so she can't ball up. Not hard enough to choke her.
5. Feed her with the injector

Might not be for everybody and it's harder with older hedgies but that's what worked for me.
At first she scrunched up her face and pushed the injector away with her front paws but since it was a sweet grapey flavor she actually learned to like it
and started biting the injector tip and licking it excitedly when I gave it to her.

"New mommy stress" is a terrible phase.. I could barely sleep for a whole month. Hopefully you'll get more comfortable with your boy soon and have more fun with him

[hedgielover]

Originally Posted by elizakait

DF is in the "new daddy" stage too. He called from work to tell me to unplug all of our plugin air fresheners because all the smell may be too overbearing

That's adorable. Glad you both are getting into hedgehog care taking, sounds like you are doing a great job! It's great to have new owners come on and already seem like they know what they are talking about. It shows that you've done research and really prepared as best you could for your hedgehog.

The first time my hedgehog was on antibiotics I was nervous about giving them but it was no big deal. I held him on his back in my lap, holding him still with one hand and put the syringe tip near his nose, when he unballed I stuck it in the corner of his mouth and squirted gently. Turned out he loved being syringe fed and we did it all the time after that with baby food.

Sounds like your hedgehog loves the fleece as well, so cute! It's so much fun to watch them discover all their new things. I remember the first time we put put Quigley in a play pen. He'd never really been out of his cage for the first two years of his life (previous owners ) as soon as he saw he had such a big space he was running around like crazy. Sniffing the air with his little nose diving under blankets. Aw memories, now I want another hedgie.

Enjoy this time try not to let the nervousness take over.