Babys 2nd bath

[cookieboots]

We know bathing them often is drying for their skin which isn't good BUT we also know that her skin was very dry. So we took the advice of many people here and gave her a 2nd bath with flaxseed oil(1200mg liquid tablet) we then drizzled on her back avoiding her neck and ears to prevent getting water or oil in her eyes or ears. Then we rinsed the oil off with 2 cups of water again making sure not to get in her eyes and ears. She is now contently chewing on her burrow/cuddle/drying towel. How often should we do this to alleviate her itchy/dry skin. She has had 0 quill loss i had sifted her bedding and it has not gotten worse or less so we don't think its mites just itchy dry skin. If i was to describe her skin on her back where u can see it under the quills I would have to say it looks kinda like she rolled in a lot of large spider webs. We are overprotective so please forgive the bazzilion posts about her we are making.

[SquiggyTheHedgie]

normally people dont bathe their hedgies more than once or twice every month, depending on how messy the hedgie is. but if its dry skin your worried about, just try putting a few drops of evoo (extra virgin olive oil) in her water so it will help her skin. as for baths, I would suggest no more than once or twice a week, just to be on the safe side.

Originally Posted by cookieboots

We know bathing them often is drying for their skin which isn't good BUT we also know that her skin was very dry. So we took the advice of many people here and gave her a 2nd bath with flaxseed oil(1200mg liquid tablet) we then drizzled on her back avoiding her neck and ears to prevent getting water or oil in her eyes or ears. Then we rinsed the oil off with 2 cups of water again making sure not to get in her eyes and ears. She is now contently chewing on her burrow/cuddle/drying towel. How often should we do this to alleviate her itchy/dry skin. She has had 0 quill loss i had sifted her bedding and it has not gotten worse or less so we don't think its mites just itchy dry skin. If i was to describe her skin on her back where u can see it under the quills I would have to say it looks kinda like she rolled in a lot of large spider webs. We are overprotective so please forgive the bazzilion posts about her we are making.

You can drizzle the flax seed oil directly on the food and avoid the bath route as well.

Also what kind of bedding are you using if its dusty it will dry out your hedgies skin

[cookieboots]

Carefresh is the bedding we are using and some simple cotten white t shirts of mine are in her little box/bed area for her to snuggle and sent with. Now I have to ask how is putting Evoo(god i love rachel ray) and/or flax seed oil in her food and water how does that help her skin out? How much should we use in both situations?

Flax seed oil ingested does the same thing and can help joins and other things and is included in small amounts in some cat foods. I wouldn't go overboard on the flax seed oil but it can still help moisturize when ingested.

Carefresh is dusty and that will attribute to dry skin as well on a hedgehog

[cookieboots]

The pet store owner recommended this bedding he had used said it wasnt dusty but it looked like wood shavings of some sort. I cant remember the name of it and will report back with it. What do y'all use?

[Rainy]

I use liners, but he might have been talking about aspen, which is fine. Don't use pine or cedar because there are oils in them that are bad for hedgies.