[mrpizza3000]

Hello,

Lately Omochi (almost 1 year old) is not as active as he used to throughout the night and I'm worried about it. Before, he would wake up twice during the night wake up and do a lot of running in his wheel and some exploration, for a total of two hours more or less. Now, he wakes up once, do a bit of running (20-30 min) and some exploration (10-15 min). He will usually wake up a second time for 5-15 min to do a bit of exploration and running. This has me worried that's something is not right.

Besides this level of activity decrease, everything seems normal: he gained a bit of weight (reached 405g, had been around 370g-380g for the past 6 months), he eats reasonably well (7-10g every day), pooping looks normal, we spend 30-40 min everyday socializing mostly watching TV while he relaxes in a blanket. Temperature is kept at 24.3C, no change here. There's a lamp that keeps a steady 12 hours light in his cage + normal daylight coming from the window.

Should I be worried and would it be better to schedule a visit to the vet?

Thank you!

 

[Joey_Joeseph]

Look around his enclosure and see if theres quills laying about he might be going through quilling and if you do find any quills please post a picture of like 5 of them you can tell if they came out due to quilling or other sources and that I hope will help.

 

[Ragou]

I'd go to the vet just for a routine check up every year anyway. If it hasn't been done in a while, I think it's absolutely worth it as a preventive measure. If your vet tells you that he's completely healthy and you're doing everything fine, the happier you can be!

I'd also say try to change and enrich his environment as often as you can afford to stimulate him. Buy him live insects that he can hunt for. Place a dig box in his cage or mutliple tunnels or toilet rolls or paper bags (mine loves the latter). Interesting new (but safe) smells. Enlarge the enclosure. Let him explore your home from time to time under supervision. There are so many fun things you can do with/for your hedgehog!

To avoid him gaining more weight, you can change his diet and also consult a vet about it.

 

[mrpizza3000]

Look around his enclosure and see if theres quills laying about he might be going through quilling and if you do find any quills please post a picture of like 5 of them you can tell if they came out due to quilling or other sources and that I hope will help.

Thanks for your response. I searched for quills but couldn't find any.

 

[mrpizza3000]

I'd go to the vet just for a routine check up every year anyway. If it hasn't been done in a while, I think it's absolutely worth it as a preventive measure. If your vet tells you that he's completely healthy and you're doing everything fine, the happier you can be!

I'd also say try to change and enrich his environment as often as you can afford to stimulate him. Buy him live insects that he can hunt for. Place a dig box in his cage or mutliple tunnels or toilet rolls or paper bags (mine loves the latter). Interesting new (but safe) smells. Enlarge the enclosure. Let him explore your home from time to time under supervision. There are so many fun things you can do with/for your hedgehog!

To avoid him gaining more weight, you can change his diet and also consult a vet about it.

Thanks a lot for your recommendations and advices. I will book an appointment with the vet.

Yesterday evening I moved things around in his enclosure and added a new tunnel, plus I let him do some free exploration in a safe room for 5-10 min (first time I tried that, he seemed like he was really wondering what was going on!), and the following night he seemed to be a bit more active, so that's make me optimistic this might be the way to go.

 

[Ragou]

Thanks a lot for your recommendations and advices. I will book an appointment with the vet.

Yesterday evening I moved things around in his enclosure and added a new tunnel, plus I let him do some free exploration in a safe room for 5-10 min (first time I tried that, he seemed like he was really wondering what was going on!), and the following night he seemed to be a bit more active, so that's make me optimistic this might be the way to go.

Glad to know I could help yeah if you haven't let him out before, it might be scary first. Mine mostly does 10 min exploration (at least in my presence) as well, because he then hides and balls up in a place he finds comfy enough, but it's still more than nothing.