I posted this information in the Memorials section of the forum as well, but I would really like to see if anyone has any ideas of what might have happened to our little Lucifer..
Lucifer was our first hedgie. We had only had our little buddy for 3 weeks when this happened, he was only about 12 weeks old
Both my boyfriend and I worked a 5 hour shift that evening, so he was alone in his cage. When my boyfriend got home he found him curled up in his little igloo with blood around him. By the time he had gotten home it was already too late.. Lucifer had passed away We were able to determine that the blood came from his nose and mouth, and that there weren't any external injuries. Both my boyfriend and I are college students so we cant afford to have him sent away for a necroscopy, and to be honest, I don't think we could handle it. After extensive research we have come up with the idea that it may have been tumors in his lungs, but he just seems so young! We had no warning signs that he was sick, but I am going to include more information. This is all from the last couple days before his passing.
Food Type: Hedgehog Diet by 8 in 1 (This is what he was fed at the pet store, we didn't have a chance to switch him before it happened)
Appetite: Normal, he would eat around 2 tbsp of food a day. We also gave him some treats as a supplement that included: apple, kiwi, and some banana. We tried meal worms but he just wouldn't eat them at all.
Thirst: Normal, we cleaned his bowl and gave him fresh water everyday and we saw him drinking plenty
Poop: Completely normal. It was formed and a brown colour. He seemed a little constipated one day but that only lasted about 5 hours before he was pooing normally again.
Activity Level: Normal, he would wheel every night and explore when we brought him out of his cage for a little while. No lethargy
Mood: Normal, he was always a little huffy when we first picked him up but he would soon uncurl and fidget until we put him down to explore. His mood never really changed other than becoming slightly more huffy in the last week. We assumed his huffiness was from his quilling because he was also dropping a couple quills a day. He didn't let it stop him though.
Cage Temp: We have an ambient thermometer on his cage and a heat lamp that kept him at a constant temperature between 77-80 Fahrenheit. We always checked on the temp.
Lighting: We have a lot of natural lighting so we didn't use any lamps other than the heat lamp (we were in the process of ordering a CHE for him but he passed too quickly) that emitted a red light. Since its summer the days are nice and long.
Bedding and Etc: He had white carefresh in his cage because no pet store near by sold fleece liners and we were ordering some online. We used yesterdays news in his litter box, but he never used it. He also has a larger plastic igloo to hide in and a wheel to run on. The wheel is metal however and the flooring of it was tightly knit metal mesh. Again, we were in the process of finding a new plastic one that would work for him..
I'm sorry for the really long post, but I wanted to make sure I included everything.
Lucifer was our first hedgie. We had only had our little buddy for 3 weeks when this happened, he was only about 12 weeks old
Both my boyfriend and I worked a 5 hour shift that evening, so he was alone in his cage. When my boyfriend got home he found him curled up in his little igloo with blood around him. By the time he had gotten home it was already too late.. Lucifer had passed away We were able to determine that the blood came from his nose and mouth, and that there weren't any external injuries. Both my boyfriend and I are college students so we cant afford to have him sent away for a necroscopy, and to be honest, I don't think we could handle it. After extensive research we have come up with the idea that it may have been tumors in his lungs, but he just seems so young! We had no warning signs that he was sick, but I am going to include more information. This is all from the last couple days before his passing.
Food Type: Hedgehog Diet by 8 in 1 (This is what he was fed at the pet store, we didn't have a chance to switch him before it happened)
Appetite: Normal, he would eat around 2 tbsp of food a day. We also gave him some treats as a supplement that included: apple, kiwi, and some banana. We tried meal worms but he just wouldn't eat them at all.
Thirst: Normal, we cleaned his bowl and gave him fresh water everyday and we saw him drinking plenty
Poop: Completely normal. It was formed and a brown colour. He seemed a little constipated one day but that only lasted about 5 hours before he was pooing normally again.
Activity Level: Normal, he would wheel every night and explore when we brought him out of his cage for a little while. No lethargy
Mood: Normal, he was always a little huffy when we first picked him up but he would soon uncurl and fidget until we put him down to explore. His mood never really changed other than becoming slightly more huffy in the last week. We assumed his huffiness was from his quilling because he was also dropping a couple quills a day. He didn't let it stop him though.
Cage Temp: We have an ambient thermometer on his cage and a heat lamp that kept him at a constant temperature between 77-80 Fahrenheit. We always checked on the temp.
Lighting: We have a lot of natural lighting so we didn't use any lamps other than the heat lamp (we were in the process of ordering a CHE for him but he passed too quickly) that emitted a red light. Since its summer the days are nice and long.
Bedding and Etc: He had white carefresh in his cage because no pet store near by sold fleece liners and we were ordering some online. We used yesterdays news in his litter box, but he never used it. He also has a larger plastic igloo to hide in and a wheel to run on. The wheel is metal however and the flooring of it was tightly knit metal mesh. Again, we were in the process of finding a new plastic one that would work for him..
I'm sorry for the really long post, but I wanted to make sure I included everything.