Baby hoglet's health

4405 Views 16 Replies 11 Participants Last post by Herisson, Dec 7, 2009

lucky18ea

Discussion Starter · Nov 28, 2009

Hi all, I'm starting to have some questions about the breeder we chose...

First off, we sent her a deposit and picked our baby, a split face little female from a litter of 5 that was born on 10/20/09. That was fine but now the breeder is being a little short with us. What I mean by that is that our little girl is really small.. 37g as opposed to the 90-100g she should be (according to the breeder). When I asked her about taking her to the vet (since the litter mates are 90g and up), she replied:

"the other babies are about 90 grams, and growing. I've made inquiries from other breeders and am awaiting their responses.
I'll keep you posted. My vet here is good for basic things, but not things like that. Unfortunately, to get to a really good vet, I'd have to travel about an hour and a half. I've found that with babies that are so small, there is really not much they can do. It's nature. I will keep you posted."

That for me raised a concern because even though she could just be the runt, there could also be something wrong with the hoglet too, right? I would think in "breeder land" that most would drive the hour and a half to take that baby to the vet *just* to be sure that theres nothing underlying causing her to not be at the weight that she should be.

Here is her previous e-mail

"I traditionally take pics every couple of weeks for new owners. I've attached pics of her mom, Ms. Frizzle, for you to enjoy, today. Her father's pic is up on the website.

Her belly is just a soft cream colored fur, as is typical of all hedgehogs. She is a friendly little gal. She is very small, which at the time, is concerning me a bit. I'll let you know next weekend if we may need to put off picking her up. She only weighs 37 grams. At this point in time, she should be around 90 - 100 grams. I've been breeding hedgies for 4 years almost, and have never seen this. It is quite puzzling to me. She is even munching now on kibble, like she should for her age, she walks fine, can pull up, is strong, and is s real sweetheart, but is just sooo small. I won't let you go home with a hedgie that is not perfectly healthy, or growing right until I know she is ok. If she hasn't made a hundred grams in the next 10 days, you will have a decision to make as to keep waiting for her, or take another female from that litter. I've got all the females in that litter on hold just in case. I mean, she seeeeems fine, just TINY, so it has me totally perplexed! Pray for her! I will keep you posted almost daily each time I weigh her, so you can see, with me, how she is gaining weight. I am totally up front and honest with people about their hedgies, because it is important! I don't tell you this to worry you, but to let you know and to be prepared. Be prepared for what? Hopefully, just a relatively smaller hedgehog."

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Herisson

· #6 · Nov 29, 2009

I met Ms. Frizzle on 10/17/09 and she was not only beautiful, but very sweet. It's very sad she has passed.

Bless her soul.

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Herisson

· #17 · Dec 7, 2009

Herisson LOVES his wheel from Sunshine Quills! It's well made and very easy to clean. The wheel was custom made just for him due his large size and Helen even confirmed that I wanted a pink wheel for my boy. ----> (Blame me)

I was also impressed with all of the hedgehogs, especially Ms. Frizzle. How Helen keeps everything so clean is amazing. :mrgreen:

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