Potential Second Hedgehog is Home but....

[Herrison]

Hi Everyone,

So my husband and I found someone looking to re-home their 6 month old hedgie. We agreed to take him home for a week to see if he would work out with us. I have him at home in a quarantine C&C cage until he can be relocated in the same area (not the same cage though ) that Herrison is in. He seems like a very nice hog bug I have a couple of questions.

His previous owners had him on Nutrient Rich Hedgehog food (ek!) - I have put a couple pieces of one of Herrison's cat food brands in his food bowl. How quickly can I possibly take him off this food. I was thinking of over a two week period while beginning to introduce another one of Herrison's cat food brands (he is on 3).

He does not seem to have mites, has a nice set of mostly adult quills but their quality is a little questionable. Just in the 30 minutes between picking him up and getting him home he broke about 6 quills in half?? I am hoping that this will be fixed by a better diet? Thoughts?

He also has very swollen feet. He did come with one of Larry's wheels but was not on fleece liners so I am hoping that this will subside - anyone else have experience with swollen hedgie feet and how long it typically takes to heal up?

Thanks for the input!

[Viki]

My first hedgehog had that problem and chewed her feet quite badly. Luckily a family friend is a vet and was able to diagnose Bean with an allergy really quickly. Bean was in Aspen shavings. I think trying to switch the shavings for liners would be a great idea.