Sick baby, need help

[laxbuellgirl]

I have hedgehog babies that are a week old. She had five, one died at day four. With the other four, three of them seem to be in great health. One however is half the size of the other three, seems to be warm and wiggling just as much as the others. But he/she is way to tiny compaired to the others. This is my first hedgehog and like many others she had babies right after I got her. I dont really know anything about them yet just what Ive googled and read on here. Somebody please tell me what I need to do before this little guy dies too. I have (tried, dont know if it worked) attacked a picture of the runt with one of the big ones. I also placed a quarter next to them to give you an idea of how big they are.

[LarryT]

Not all hedgehogs are the same size. I would just make sure to not disturb/stress mom since she is taking care of them.

[Nancy]

The little one may not be getting enough milk. You can try giving mom some goats milk of puppy esbilac. Often that help with moms milk production. Does the tiny one seem to be nursing when the others are?

I've had a few really tiny ones and they have ended up being fine and surpassing their larger siblings.

[tracie]

What is goats milk of puppy esbilac?

[Nancy]

Originally Posted by tracie

What is goats milk of puppy esbilac?

Esbilac is a milk replacement formula for puppies. It comes in puppy and goats milk formulas. It's usually sold at Petsmart.

[Sela]

You can usually get it at Pet Valu, too. Personally, I'd recommend Pet Valu, since, in my experience, PetSmart employees are rude and ignore you. << They also don't tend to know what they're talking about. (I worked in the Pet Valu my parents owned for nearly six years, so I speak from experience.)

[LizardGirl]

Looks like the baby is a runt, and was too small to get as much milk to catch up. With only 4 babies it should be fine, adding milk for mom will help as Nancy said, though it shouldn't really be a lack of milk (or all of them would be smaller), but more of the other babies pushing the weaker one out of the way. That's not to say it won't become a healthy, normal-sized adult, but right now it really needs lots of milk to keep its strength up.

[tracie]

I have almost week old hedgehogs, and I've been trying to keep an eye on them since two died on the second day. We've mostly seen all three together with their mom, but tonight I was concerned because I didn't see one of them. I found it under some bedding, but it was still alive, and jumped a little when we touched it. We unburied it and put it by the mom but it doesn't seem to be moving a lot, and the other two started squeaking, and the mom let them feed, but the third one didn't try, and isn't moving a lot right now. Should I be concerned? Is it just tired and sleeping? The mom is still protecting it. Do babies usually feed at the same time?

[Nancy]

If the baby is warm it is probably fine. No, babies don't always feed at the same time or some finish before others.

What type of bedding are you using? If shavings or carefresh, sometimes babies do get under the bedding. Something like a piece of fleece is more of a concern as babies can get lost in the fleece. Small pieces are okay.

[tracie]

I'm using aspen and carefresh. Can babies find their way back if they get under the bedding? The mom keeps trying to dig and making a higher and higher pile of bedding.