My Hedgehog has extremely dry skin?
 

I know it's not mites as he has none of the symptoms & I have checked for them. But he suffers from dry skin which causes him to scratch occasionally. I tried bathing him with oatmeal which has seem to make the problem worse & it is like a snow storm when he lays on his back when previously it was not this bad! Is this a normal reaction after the oatmeal? Any suggestions on how to help my Hoglet?

Re: My Hedgehog has extremely dry skin?
 

How often are you bathing him? The oatmeal can relieve it but not necessarily solve the problem, and if you bathe him too often, it will make it worse because baths are drying. Flaxseed oil in the food and on the back can help, though it seems that in more severe cases of dry skin, the latter is pretty much needed daily and is unlikely to actually solve the problem. A humidifier near the cage can help also, and I've seen two topical sprays recommended various times on here (Rain and Humilac); we actually just got Humilac for Archimedes, but since it literally arrived yesterday, I can't report on how well it's worked for me personally.

http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/HEALx ... tments/49/

http://www.petco.com/product/109601/Vir ... Spray.aspx

Re: My Hedgehog has extremely dry skin?
 

What type of bedding is he on?
Have you tried feeding supplements such as flax seed oil, or sunshine factor?

Re: My Hedgehog has extremely dry skin?
 

Flax seed oil does wonders.

I also changed from the Carefresh bedding to liners and that helped with their dry skin and my baby girls sneezy nose.

Re: My Hedgehog has extremely dry skin?
 

To follow up on my last post - we used the Humilac on Archimedes for the first tine last night, and he seemed to find it relaxing. When we took him out tonight there was a very very noticeable improvement - quite a bit less flaky/dry skin. I'm really impressed! Much more effective than flaxseed oil, in my opinion.

Re: My Hedgehog has extremely dry skin?
 

I only bath him every few weeks or so as he's quite a messy Hog! His dry skin has definitely become worse after the oatmeal wash. I'll have a look at both of your recommendations,thanks :)

Re: My Hedgehog has extremely dry skin?
 

Thanks for the update! Ill definitely be looking into this

Re: My Hedgehog has extremely dry skin?
 

You really should! Humilac got rid of the flaky/dry skin over about 3-4 total days of using it. I should have taken before/after pictures to show just how dramatic the results were, it's fantastic stuff.

Re: My Hedgehog has extremely dry skin?
 

Sounds very promising, I ordered it just as you left this comment! Ill let you know how my Hoglet gets on! :)

Re: My Hedgehog has extremely dry skin?
 

Just wondering about the Humilac. I've ordered some from Amazon but have not recieved it yet. I keep hearing mixed reviews.