Did I do something wrong?

[Xoxolela]

Hello! My hedgehog, Armani, has been in my life around 6-8 months. He was always very friendly. Besides a few huffs and puffs when I would first stick my hand in the cage. But a few hours ago he scared me half to death. I was sitting on the couch and he was on my lap under a blanket all nice and cuddled up. He started to huff and puff a whole bunch and he kept running around and wouldn't even let me pick him up! He was jolting, shaking his quills, scratching, the whole time he just kept running around. I finally stopped trying to pick him up and he just sat on the couch, not curled up or anything. my first thought was maybe something was irritating his skin so I thought mites? Well I took a black cloth rubbed it over him and nothing... I let him sleep in his igloo after to see maybe he was just fussy? But now I am cleaning his cage and he is huffing and puffing and jolting and everything all over again. I don't know if I did something and he doesn't trust me or if he's in pain... I don't know I need some help... Thank you!!!

[shinydistraction]

Most of the time you won't be able to see mites. I'd go ahead and go to the vet and get some revolution. In the mean time a bath might help give him some relief.

[Xoxolela]

Man oh man ?? Okay thank you!

[GsMom]

I would definitely have a vet check, and also go over him with a fine tooth comb, to make sure he wasn't bitten, stung, poked, or injured by something.

The reaction you've described sounds more like a response to an acute event, like the way we react to touching a hot stove or getting stung by a bee - jumping around, swearing about it, while trying to get rid of the sting.

With mites, fleas, and most other external parasites, there's typically a build-up period. It starts with a little itch here, a scratch there, some head and body shaking, and mild symptoms like that. If you don't recognize the mild symptoms and attend to the problem, you'll start seeing more fervent licking, chewing, scratching, minor skin lesions, some hair/quill loss. If you still don't treat it, it'll eventually work it's way up to the type of frantic behavior you've described, along with scratching, rubbing against things, chewing, biting, patches of bloody hair/quill loss, skin thickening, and secondary skin injuries and infections.

With animals that live in contained bedding, the timeframe from mild to serious symptoms is shorter than you'd see with a dog or cat, but it's still that's not something that would happen as suddenly as napping one moment and frantic the next.

[Xoxolela]

Originally Posted by GsMom

I would definitely have a vet check, and also go over him with a fine tooth comb, to make sure he wasn't bitten, stung, poked, or injured by something.

The reaction you've described sounds more like a response to an acute event, like the way we react to touching a hot stove or getting stung by a bee - jumping around, swearing about it, while trying to get rid of the sting.

With mites, fleas, and most other external parasites, there's typically a build-up period. It starts with a little itch here, a scratch there, some head and body shaking, and mild symptoms like that. If you don't recognize the mild symptoms and attend to the problem, you'll start seeing more fervent licking, chewing, scratching, minor skin lesions, some hair/quill loss. If you still don't treat it, it'll eventually work it's way up to the type of frantic behavior you've described, along with scratching, rubbing against things, chewing, biting, patches of bloody hair/quill loss, skin thickening, and secondary skin injuries and infections.

With animals that live in contained bedding, the timeframe from mild to serious symptoms is shorter than you'd see with a dog or cat, but it's still that's not something that would happen as suddenly as napping one moment and frantic the next.

Thank you very much. I am going to be taking him in this weekend because I'm nervous about it. He hasn't had any quill lose and thankfully no bloody patches. I do work at a local pet store so I'm scared I brought something home with me on accident and passed it to him. I will let you guys know what the vet says!

[nikki]

Check to make sure he doesn't have a quill poking him somewhere, sometimes they poke themselves and some hedgehogs have even poked holes in their ears from their quills.

[Xoxolela]

Originally Posted by nikki

Check to make sure he doesn't have a quill poking him somewhere, sometimes they poke themselves and some hedgehogs have even poked holes in their ears from their quills.

I'm currently sitting in the vets office