[Danique]

Hello everybody.

I have a hedgehog named Karma who is now 5 and a half months old, I had her since she was 1 and a half months old, she is my first hedgehog ever. And everything seemed to be fine with her. She is always friendly, never grumpy, never has trouble waking up, loves to run around and loves taking baths.
But since today she started acting a bit off.
When I went to check up on her she was very jumpy, something that has never happened before, only the first 2 days that I got her which is normal since she has to get used to me, and as soon as i got her out of het house she started running like crazy all over the place and throwing her self to the floor, smelling around and climbing on the wall of her cage. I couln't even pick her up when I tried to do so, as soon as I got my hand close to her, normally she has no problem with it because she loves to get pet, now she would jump away and puff and even tried to bite, something she has never done before.
When she would go back in her house she is scratching it and throwing her self all around in there.
I don't know what is wrong with her since she has never done this before. Is she sick? Did she had a nightmare?
I did get a tattoo on my wrist yesterday and I have to put vaseline on it, maybe she doens't like that?
Sorry if I wrote something wrong, I am not english.

Please help
Danique.

 

[Kalandra]

By any chance could she have gotten vaseline on her? Sometimes such items can cause them to freak out if they get it on them. I have seen hedgehogs behave like you describe, freaking out, when they get something on them that smells odd to them and they cannot get it off of them or away from it. Vaseline and similar products can do that.

If she has some on her, try to wash her off. Get the smell off of her.

Another idea, is to look for a quill that could be poking her. Any chance of fleas or mites? I've seen a hedgehog with ear mites jump, and act out because her ear was hurting.

You will need to hold her and try to figure out what is happening. If you cannot, and she continues, she will need to see a veterinarian as pain/discomfort can cause freak out behavior.

 

[Danique]

I don't think that she has gotten any vaseline on her and I don't think that she has fleas or mites, I am almost 100% positive that she doens't have them because I haven't taken her outside or anything because it is still to cold in my opinion for that. And wouln't she been acting longer this weird if she had fleas or mites? And when I give her a bath I don't see anthing like fleas in the water. Maybe it is a quill that could be poking her, I haven't thought of that yet. I well go and check. Thanks for trying to help

 

[Kalandra]

The hedgehog with the ear mites had not left the house, nor were any other pets allowed near the house. Sometimes strange things happen. Had to mention it though, as something else to consider.

Any change in her environment? Road work being done outside? New perfume in the house? A television turned on that usually isn't?

I've seen some strange things over the year. Had one male hedgehog who was fine, one night he freaked out. I sat down with him in the bedroom, to allow him to run around while I watched television. He was fine for a bit, then suddenly went crazy. He ran blindly, nearly ran head first into a wall. I tried to calm him, I couldn't find anything wrong with him. I called to my husband. My husband came in, turned off the television that was on to sit with us. As soon as that television was turned off he calmed down. We sat with him for a while and he was fine. Went back to watch television, and he freaked out again. Only thing we can figure is the television was failing and emitting a frequency that we couldn't hear.

 

[Danique]

No nothing new or weird, no new parfume or building done outside, I just gave her a bath and checked her quills but I also didn't see any quill pocking her or anything. And the bath didn't help either becausse she is still acting weird and crazy. When she was in the water she calmed a bit down and acted like she normally does when she is having a bath but as soon as I went and got her out and put a towel around her she went back to being crazy.
I sometimes wear parfume, and when I later play with her I already have changed in diffrent clothes without parfume. And I didn't wear any parfume this morning when I went to check on her and clean her cage. So that can't be it either...

 

[Danique]

Little update she is now over a half an hour in her little house, and it's all calm again like normally, I don't hear any loud sounds or scratching. So I hope that she is calm again.
Maybe she got scared of a noise she heard in the morning? I don't know I just hope that she is back to normal.
Will post an update later on

 

[Danique]

Update:
In the end it was in fact the vaseline that made her crazy. She didn't get it on her but when I went to check on her in the morning I did touched vaseline like 10 to 20 min before I went to check up on her. And when she acted so crazy I got a bit worried because she also didn't want to sleep because every now and then I would hear the scratching noises comming out of her house again, so I checked on her a couple of times after and she still acted crazy. And now thinkin about it, every time I went to check on her I had used or touched vaseline. Sometimes 45 min before or half an hour but still, hedgehogs have great sence of smell, and vaseline hasn't got any smell or scent to it, she still didn't like it and went crazy.
And when I gave her a bath it also took of most off the scent which calmed her down again, until I picked her up again.
She has been sleeping for a couple of hourse before I woke her up, normally I would have woken her up earlier but because she slept so little I left her alone longer.
And I made sure that the last time I used vaseline was at least one hour before and I washed my hands a couple of more times.
When I woke her up just now she was fine until I went to grap her, she didn't went as crazy as before, I could pick her up this time better then before but still she didn't really like it. And when I put her in her cage so she could eat she didn't go crazy as before and finally ate something. And now she is back to sleep without any problems.
So I just have to extra wash my hands as long as I have to apply vaseline to my tattoo.
Thanks to Kalandra for helping me