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My Hedgehog has extremely dry skin?

28K views 18 replies 9 participants last post by  Lilysmommy 
#1 ·
I know it's not mites as he has none of the symptoms & I have checked for them. But he suffers from dry skin which causes him to scratch occasionally. I tried bathing him with oatmeal which has seem to make the problem worse & it is like a snow storm when he lays on his back when previously it was not this bad! Is this a normal reaction after the oatmeal? Any suggestions on how to help my Hoglet?
 
#2 ·
How often are you bathing him? The oatmeal can relieve it but not necessarily solve the problem, and if you bathe him too often, it will make it worse because baths are drying. Flaxseed oil in the food and on the back can help, though it seems that in more severe cases of dry skin, the latter is pretty much needed daily and is unlikely to actually solve the problem. A humidifier near the cage can help also, and I've seen two topical sprays recommended various times on here (Rain and Humilac); we actually just got Humilac for Archimedes, but since it literally arrived yesterday, I can't report on how well it's worked for me personally.

http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/HEALx ... tments/49/

http://www.petco.com/product/109601/Vir ... Spray.aspx
 
#5 ·
To follow up on my last post - we used the Humilac on Archimedes for the first tine last night, and he seemed to find it relaxing. When we took him out tonight there was a very very noticeable improvement - quite a bit less flaky/dry skin. I'm really impressed! Much more effective than flaxseed oil, in my opinion.
 
#7 ·
moxieberry said:
To follow up on my last post - we used the Humilac on Archimedes for the first tine last night, and he seemed to find it relaxing. When we took him out tonight there was a very very noticeable improvement - quite a bit less flaky/dry skin. I'm really impressed! Much more effective than flaxseed oil, in my opinion.
Thanks for the update! Ill definitely be looking into this
 
#8 ·
You really should! Humilac got rid of the flaky/dry skin over about 3-4 total days of using it. I should have taken before/after pictures to show just how dramatic the results were, it's fantastic stuff.
 
#9 ·
moxieberry said:
You really should! Humilac got rid of the flaky/dry skin over about 3-4 total days of using it. I should have taken before/after pictures to show just how dramatic the results were, it's fantastic stuff.
Sounds very promising, I ordered it just as you left this comment! Ill let you know how my Hoglet gets on! :)
 
#12 ·
Emma_Grace said:
It's brilliant! His dry skin disappeared within days of using it I recommend it highly! Even using it on the dog now :)
I'm so glad it worked so well for you!

This is exactly the same as what I experienced - it really was kind of a miracle cure, haha. It took about 3-4 days total for his dry skin to be completely gone. We're now spraying Archimedes with it about once a week to prevent the dry skin from coming back, and so far so good! It's such a relief after using flaxseed oil for so long with pretty much no improvement from that.
 
#14 ·
Hi, lily has been on a diet (a mix of hills science plan and James Wellbeloved senior with live mealworm and cooked chicken as treats) and it has been a huge success. However, she has started to get dry skin. I want to try flaxseed oil to see if this helps and was wondering if there are any preferred brands to use? Is it better for her to ingest it or wear it? :)
 
#15 ·
lukachu said:
Hi, lily has been on a diet (a mix of hills science plan and James Wellbeloved senior with live mealworm and cooked chicken as treats) and it has been a huge success. However, she has started to get dry skin. I want to try flaxseed oil to see if this helps and was wondering if there are any preferred brands to use? Is it better for her to ingest it or wear it? :)
You can do both. There's no preferred brand, just make sure there are no additives. Using a kind that comes in capsule form, rather than a bottle of liquid, will last longer; the liquid kind goes bad a certain amount of time after you open it, whereas the capsules can theoretically last for years. You just puncture one with a needle, dribble some on the back (parting the quills if she'll let you so it can get to the skin better) and some on the food.
 
#17 ·
Had to drag this thread up because I just ordered some humilac to try and ease P.B.'s dry skin (we already put flax on her food and use a humidifier). Do you use this spray daily initially? Just a few spritzes or so? Thanks in advance for the help.
 
#19 ·
This thread is from a few years ago, please try to double check dates before posting! :) Most of the people on this post aren't on the forum anymore.

But to answer your question, Humilac has been discontinued by the manufacturer, so I'm not sure it can be bought anymore, unfortunately.
 
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