HELP! quill loss!

[Runefaust]

Okay, this one's tricky. Maiche has been doing fine, the chipped toothe doesn't seem to get in the way of her eating enormous quantities of food, and is generally happy to be with me. Thing is, I find like 3 or 4 loose quills in the floor daily, them being easily broken. I asked to the vet some time ago if it was something wrong with her, and she told me Maiche was fine. Strange thing is, she doesn't seem upset about it, and she's as friendly as ever. I thought it wasn't quilling because of that..
Any similar experiences?

[sebian]

If she's of quilling age, then she's probably just quilling, if she's not, then I'd do a mite check. She may also have dry skin.

One of my guys wasn't very crabby when he was quilling. Granted, he was never as friends as Maiche is, but he didn't seem to mind us touching him or his crawling around (and pooping on) everything.

[Runefaust]

Originally Posted by sebian

If she's of quilling age, then she's probably just quilling, if she's not, then I'd do a mite check. She may also have dry skin.

One of my guys wasn't very crabby when he was quilling. Granted, he was never as friends as Maiche is, but he didn't seem to mind us touching him or his crawling around (and pooping on) everything.

I asked the vet if it was mites or something like that. While she didn't seem to do an extensive search on her, she said Maiche was fine. Maiche is now 3 months old, and pardon my ignorance, but I really don't know the quill loss rate when quilling.

[sebian]

Originally Posted by Runefaust

Maiche is now 3 months old, and pardon my ignorance, but I really don't know the quill loss rate when quilling.

It varies between hedgies. Some of them only lose a 2 or 3 a day (sometimes even less!) and some of them lose 10-15 or more. At three months, I would suspect that she is quilling, especially if she's not scratching herself.

This page has some more information on quilling: https://hedgehogcentral.com/quilling.shtml.

[Runefaust]

Originally Posted by sebian

It varies between hedgies. Some of them only lose a 2 or 3 a day (sometimes even less!) and some of them lose 10-15 or more. At three months, I would suspect that she is quilling, especially if she's not scratching herself.

This page has some more information on quilling: https://hedgehogcentral.com/quilling.shtml.

Wells she does scratch, but more or less at the frequency I scratch, lol

[sebian]

Hehe

You can do a mite test on her. (Gently!) Rub/pet her with a black t-shirt (or let her walk around/cuddle with it for a while on your lap) and then look if there's any flakes. If they're moving they she has mites. If they're not, then she has dry skin (if it's just a couple of flakes, I wouldn't worry about it).

Another to check for mites is to look at one of the quills. If there's a bulb on the end of it, then she's just quilling. If there's no bulb, then it's probably mites.

https://hedgehogcentral.com/mites.shtml

Again, it sounds to me as if it's just her quilling and she's handling it very well-- but it's never a bad idea to safe than sorry =)

[Runefaust]

Originally Posted by sebian

Hehe

You can do a mite test on her. (Gently!) Rub/pet her with a black t-shirt (or let her walk around/cuddle with it for a while on your lap) and then look if there's any flakes. If they're moving they she has mites. If they're not, then she has dry skin (if it's just a couple of flakes, I wouldn't worry about it).

Another to check for mites is to look at one of the quills. If there's a bulb on the end of it, then she's just quilling. If there's no bulb, then it's probably mites.

https://hedgehogcentral.com/mites.shtml

Again, it sounds to me as if it's just her quilling and she's handling it very well-- but it's never a bad idea to safe than sorry =)

Woah, great tips. that helped me recognize it beyond beliefs. Yeah, she's definitely quilling and has somewhat of a dry skin. Thanks again

[sebian]

No problem! I'm glad it helped =)

If you want to combat the dry skin, add a drop of flaxseed oil in her food once or twice a week and/or put some olive oil in her baths (although, one of my guys will drink the bath water if I put olive oil in it )

[Runefaust]

I tried once with the olive oil on water, but Maiche didn't like it much. And maybe it was due to her ending up all yellow. I may have overdone the dose a bit....

[sebian]

hehe

She probably felt very greasy