Advice please

[Alis]

Hello =), My baby Morgana should have her babies by now but I just don´t know.
Are babies real noisy? I'm in a *don't disturb the mother cruzade* she has been left completely alone for a week now (I know she's ok because I hear her eat) I haven't heard the babies. I want to check but I'm afraid she might get scared and kill the babies.

She had a litter 5 months ago, I didn't know they where there! she had them like a week before their due date >_< and none survived (she ate them all) . So now I'm being ultra carefull about her privacy, she's in with a feeding dispencer and her water can be filled without even seeing the cage.

How long should I wait before I check? She has been in hedgie confinement since the 18 of november (25 days since hedgie action, and my hedgies have 0 shame XD I saw all the action) My plan is to atleast take a peek inside the nest this sunday (this would be day 39), or should I wait more? Is it better if I check in daylight while she sleeps or at night when she is out of the nest feeding?

I just want to know if she had them and that she's ok T^T I miss her so much (my dog is having a treat of being the only pet again xD he gets extra attention)

Any advice is welcomed =)

[Kellymf22]

I understand your concern with not disturbing her, esp. since her first litter was so early. Normal gestation is 35 days, plus or minus a day or two but can take as long as two weeks AFTER the 35 day mark. So after day 50, assume the pregnancy was unsuccessful.

Hopefully that helps a bit?

[Kellymf22]

I didn't address one of your main q's...., I don't know your cage setup or nestbox, but if she's out of it and eating, lifting it to take a brief glance shouldn't do much harm. Does she look pregnant? or DID she? Mine just gave birth yesterday and I could visibly tell she appeared pregnant. If you aren't hearing crying, they prob aren't born yet. Give it time and use your judgement to inspect the nest as simply as possible. Whichever slight movement will allow you to peak in, just disturb as LITTLE as possible. That shouldn't bother her significantly more than you going into the cage to feed/water/poop disposal---as long as you aren't invasive.

Kelly

[Alis]

Thx guys =) I think she hasnt had them yet cause she is like ULTRA fat, like exploding with babies (she had five last time).

I saw her today cause she made a racket yesterday night and I thought she might be killing the babies, but no signs of baby killing where found at inspection (I think she might be having pre labor sintoms or something).

Since I'm a Vet mayor I tried to palpate her belly to check if she is pregnant (wasn't very succsessfull).

So :P just hoping she is still pregnant and didn't kill with no evidence left behind.

I'll keep you posted and XD baby pics will come if the babies come (not right away I know), XD babie hedgies can give one diabetes, so sweet!

[Alis]

Born today! Morgana won't leave their side so I don't know how many yet, last I saw she was hugging one with her arm <3 so cute!

[HappyHedgies]

You shouldn't be able to see the babies at all. Dont disturb her or she could abandon or eat them.

Are the hedgehogs you are breeding registered or have lineage? Its really unsafe to breed a hedgehog without a clear genetic history.

[Heavenly Hedgehogs]

How are the mom and babies doing now?

[Alis]

Mom and babies are ok, about the genetics I know you guys are very strict about this things, and it's a great Idea and I envy you for having the strict rules and fabulous breeders in the U.S.

I on the other hand am from Chile a south american country where breeding and most animal things are very poorly regulated.

I actually got my hedgehog from a veterinary clinic where she was being very poorly kept, the most I could hope for was preventing her from inbreeding and got the background of the dad (not very good info) and his mom.

I am certain that I'm not inbreeding and will keep a very strict record of who my hedgies (I only have one for now) so people that buy from me will have the best information possible, about wobbly hedgehog syndrome I have spoken to many Veterinarians here and none report ever seeing even one case of the disease.

Maybe since USA has better Veterinary medicine (and with this I mean more advanced, Vets in my country do magic with the tools they have) Hedgies don't live long enought to develope the sintoms. In any case, rest asure that if I ever hear from one of my babies from developing the syndrome I'll stop my breeding (witch is mostly recreational) and alert possible new hedgie owners to never breed one of their own (all my babies are being adopted from close friends if they live to adulthood).

[HappyHedgies]

You shouldn't be breeding them at all in that case. You cannot guarantee that they are not related if you only have very brief information on the male, the female could be his sister for all you know because you know nothing about her. Even if they weren't related you have no idea if WHS runs in their genetics. You can have two completely unrelated hedgehogs that carry the WHS gene or other genetic issues. Its very unsafe to breed hedgehogs who do not have pedigrees. You are not doing the mother or hoglets any good by breeding this way. If you do not have the resources to breed properly don't breed at all.

Even if you were to monitor the babies WHS can show up years later. If hedgehogs don't live very long out there because of the lack of medical care why would you create more? Do you know how old she is?? Your heart is probably in the right place but you should rethink this next time before you decide to breed.

[Alis]

Yeah I thought you might take it that way.

Well, first, yes I know exactly how old my hedgie is she is a year old now (already had babies once).

I saw all my Hedgies brothers, and her mother and father, and I know who the dads owner got his hedgie from and now about his mother and father. They are absolutely not brothers (I will admit they could be far related cousins).

Every country starts with a couple of unknown animals, things just grow along the way and start being right as long as people start trying to do things right.

Or do you think that the first breeders in the U.S new all about the hedgehog families their animals came from?. If you do I think that's a little naive from you.

Saying that people should not own or breed hedgehogs because of the state of development in medical fields is the same as saying they shouldn't have dogs, or cats, or even babies...Veterinary Medicine as most medicine in the U.S will always be more advanced than in most countries really (save maybe for Japan or some other major world powers), hedgies not getting as good as an attention as they could get there does not mean that we don't have specialist in exotic medicine, and are always trying to improve ourselves in all maters animal related : ).

Please think of me as one of the people that are trying to make an improvement in the hedgie and all exotic vet world in my country actually, one of the breeders that actually cares about trying to make things right, one that many generations later could give to costumers even the time of day when their new pet wants to have a belly rub (I don't even know if I'll breed anymore just trying to prove a point) even though there is no government issue here that would be an impediment in me owning as many hedgehogs as I like, get my grip?.

I'm in a forum writing in a foreign language to ask for help and advice on all things hedhoggie, clearly I love all animals and would never do a thing to hurt them but please understand we are not at the same standing point here, if I lived in the U.S I would have gotten all information from a bazillion generations old breeders. Here I did the best I could to address the genetic issues.

Hedgehogs live four to eight years here too, but most of them dont reach the eight I'd say life expectancy here is four to six years.

(sorry for any misspelling English is not my native language and I don't have the time right now to run this through a spell checker)