pinkish red skin and dandruff/flakey skin?

[Littlefootsmama]

Ive noticed lately that Little Foot has had dandruff. I massage him with a toothbrush to get the dry skin off of him when it gets too bad. I havent noticed any excessive itching or abnormal quill loss; he is losing some because he is 6 months old but besides his pinkish red skin and the dandruff he seems healthy. Should I be concerned about mites?

[EryBee]

I have been noticing this problem with my hedgie too, who is around the same age as yours, and I think it might be because of the quilling? I am going to try giving Phinneus a bath with some olive oil to try and clear things up.

[Littlefootsmama]

I gave him a bath yesterday and it did seem to help some. Thank you for the reassurance!

[Immortalia]

The skin is most likely pinkish from getting scratched.
And an Aveeno bath will definitely help, as dry skin = itchy skin.
You can try supplementing his food with flax seed oil as well. 1 capsule every 3-4 days to start, then eventually just 1 capsule/week.

[Littlefootsmama]

Thank you!

[silvercat]

I have had an ongoing problem similar with my hedgie (2 yrs in Aug), with the addition of quill loss. I'd advise against using olive oil on the skin as it can clog the pours. You could add some to the food though. Alternatively, as someone else mentioned, flax oil is very common.

For us, we've tried medications and such to get it under control when really bad (last medication back in February, still dry skin after that).

Over the past couple weeks these are the changes that I made which REALLY seemed to make a difference.
- bought new pet toothbrush, did a good brushing of my hedgie (on top of a towel, she really likes this). After brushing I took a lost quill & popped open a flax oil capsule, put the oil on her back, focusing on areas that I just brushed (dry patches)
- bought some canned mealworms (nothing new here) and crickets (new food). started giving cricket & 2 meal worms nightly as treats
- incorporated "Wellness Indoor Health" back into her diet

Like I said, huge change in her skin and also in her bathroom & energy levels. I think the brushing/flax seed combo did well to clean/sooth the skin & then the crickets/Wellness are adding some nutrients back into her diet to keep the skin healthy. Prior to these changes I also noticed her poos were getting strained, since they're the nice big 'toothpaste' poos again. Her energy level has also picked back up and even with the increased fat from the insects, she's dropping the weight she'd earlier put on (something that needed to happen)

[EryBee]

Thanks! I will go and pick up some flaxseed oil asap. I just tried my hedgie on some wellness wet catfood today (he's still not quite what to do about wet food) and he seemed to really like it. I am also going to try giving him an oatmeal bath, as someone suggested.

[silvercat]

It's actually the dry I use. I don't know much about the wet food.

Pick up the flax capsules rather than a bottle of oil. One capsule a treatment is all you need and that way it should stay fresh longer

[SnufflePuff]

I think perhaps the weather may have something to do with it too, my hedgehogs have had quite dry skin lately and they were just treated for mites. My exotics vet actually sent me home with a bottle of something called heal-x/avi-x Sunshine Factor. It's a skin supplement for exotic animals that you can give by syringe or put on their mealworms (which is way easier because the dosing is 0.02ml every other day). It has been used on hedgehogs before, including my own & is safe (I think a few people on here may have tried it also) and it helps with dry/flakey/dandruffy skin. I was using it for a week or two just to give my hedgies a boost in getting healthier skin and it seemed to make a difference. I'm gonna start using again because their skin is still dry, it's just kind of a pain because you have to soak it in hot water first because it's semi-solid at room temp and it's super sticky and messy! But it does seem to work, so something you may want to ask your vet about. You don't actually need a prescription, it's just availible mainly at exotic vets, and some bird stores.

Just thought I'd share, if anyone is finding that flax oil & oatmeal baths aren't helping enough.

http://www.exoticdvm.com/index.cfm?f...tGroup_id=125&

[silvercat]

We use sunshine factor here. No problems on having to heat it up before hand though. I just have to give it a good shake. Be warned, it does stain though! Sylvie loves it. If the bottle is open near her, she'll try to stick her face in it. From the syringe, she tries to take the whole syringe. Granted some days she doesn't want any, but usually she does.