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LILY ANN JUST HAD TwO BABIES!!!! ***UPDATE 03-23-09***

15024 Views 99 Replies 21 Participants Last post by  CT-Zoom-Zoom, 
C
Hi everyone!

I picked up my new baby hedgehog yesterday morning from my local petstore. (Yes I know, no one like pet store hedgie, but I wasn't going to wait on an 8 month waiting list for the only breeder in CT.) Anyways, I've had her for a day and she's not eating!!! I'm worried something wrong, I had bought her the same "Vitakraft" food they were using in the store, to at somepoint start switching her over to a cat food or some other more nutrishional hedgie food. I know she did do some drinking last night, cause she knocked her water bottle off the side of the cage. I also found the poops she did last night before I went to bed, in her food dish, i'm maybe thinking she thinks it a toilet? I'm worried and I need some advice. She seems to be friendly and all, I had her out of her cage last night when she finaly woke up after she did some exploring of her cage for about 45 minutes. She seemed fine, she got along with my whole family, including my two dogs. She was a very happy hedgie. :) Still didnt eat though, I even tried giving her a few meal worm treats and she didnt even take those. :( SO I dont know, here the pictures of where she lives and of her, she's a cutie.

Thanks for looking,
Rob...

Living space: The bedding is a mix of White Pine, Spurce, and one other wood that NOT Ceader!
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a267/ ... ure781.jpg

I did put a box for a while for her to sleep in but she stopped using it last night.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a267/ ... ure780.jpg

Here she is, I have not named her yet...
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a267/ ... ure778.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a267/ ... ure779.jpg
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C
Re: LILY ANN JUST HAD TwO BABIES!!!! ***UPDATE 03-20-09***

They were only out twice, i've only been feeding her and thats about it. She gets mealies before i goto bed and after i wake up. She was keeping very close watch on them, and directing them as they crawled around the cage, so I assume she's doing what she's supose to do. i dont know, just all new to me..
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nikki
Re: LILY ANN JUST HAD TwO BABIES!!!! ***UPDATE 03-20-09***

If she was paying attention to them then i'm sure everything is ok. You sound like you're doing a good job with her :)
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A
Re: LILY ANN JUST HAD TwO BABIES!!!! ***UPDATE 03-20-09***

i wouldn't poke around with a flashlight as it may upset the mother. It is strange how easily they can be pushed over the edge. I suggest contacting D before doing anything concerning the babies that can wait (such as touching them, looking in the cage other than changing the food water once a day, poking around with a flashlight, taking pictures) as these acts can stress the mom.

As someone else stated the babies are still blind, and i am not sure if you should still be feeding the mother mealworms as it will cause her to possibly ignore the babies and come running for the treats. I am not certain about this, but you should ask D about it.

I know it is hard, but it is best to heed EXACTLY as D says. Don't touch the babies till after 10 days, and then follow D's instructions on handling them. Keep the noise to a minimum, and try to reduce any stress you can possibly apply to the mother.

So far it seems like she is putting up with you very well. Some mothers i have read about would have killed their babies at the first sign of a camera or flashlight, so in that sense i think you are either very blessed with an amazing first time mother or you are extremely lucky you didn't push her over the edge.

I am glad the babies are doing well, just try to keep some self control. I know they are cute, but they only get cuter, so it is best to wait.
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C
Re: LILY ANN JUST HAD TwO BABIES!!!! ***UPDATE 03-20-09***

azyrios said:
i wouldn't poke around with a flashlight as it may upset the mother. It is strange how easily they can be pushed over the edge. I suggest contacting D before doing anything concerning the babies that can wait (such as touching them, looking in the cage other than changing the food water once a day, poking around with a flashlight, taking pictures) as these acts can stress the mom.

As someone else stated the babies are still blind, and i am not sure if you should still be feeding the mother mealworms as it will cause her to possibly ignore the babies and come running for the treats. I am not certain about this, but you should ask D about it.

I know it is hard, but it is best to heed EXACTLY as D says. Don't touch the babies till after 10 days, and then follow D's instructions on handling them. Keep the noise to a minimum, and try to reduce any stress you can possibly apply to the mother.

So far it seems like she is putting up with you very well. Some mothers i have read about would have killed their babies at the first sign of a camera or flashlight, so in that sense i think you are either very blessed with an amazing first time mother or you are extremely lucky you didn't push her over the edge.

I am glad the babies are doing well, just try to keep some self control. I know they are cute, but they only get cuter, so it is best to wait.
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As for right now i'm doing exactly what D has said. I'm feeding her mealies still only because she's still getting use to the kitten food i've been mixing with her normal food. She seems very happy and has only hissed at me maybe twice in the last 4 days, so I think I'm doing a good job in keeping her stress free. Her cage is covered in darkness for 16 hours a day, then rest it it still covered but I do have a light on in the room. As far as sound, the only sound is from my TV which is at a moderate level. I think maybe she had the babies outside the nest was because the space heater I have was too close to the cage and may have been over heating the babies. I had it closer to the cage last night, because it was very cold here, and that was the only way to keep her warm. It was really fun to watch the little ones crawl around the cage "meeping" all over the place..lol SO cute, I cant wait to hold them...lol
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Hedgiepets
Re: LILY ANN JUST HAD TwO BABIES!!!! ***UPDATE 03-20-09***

I wonder since mom is soo young, if she has enough milk for them. 2 suggestions! You can try either or both. Get some Raspberry Leaf tea from the health food section of the grocery store and make a cup of tea, and dilute with equal parts water, give to mom in another water bottle or water dish. And/or get some goats milk esbilac and give mom some of that.

I will be back home after 2pm Saturday, my time.
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C
Re: LILY ANN JUST HAD TwO BABIES!!!! ***UPDATE 03-20-09***

Hedgiepets said:
I wonder since mom is soo young, if she has enough milk for them. 2 suggestions! You can try either or both. Get some Raspberry Leaf tea from the health food section of the grocery store and make a cup of tea, and dilute with equal parts water, give to mom in another water bottle or water dish. And/or get some goats milk esbilac and give mom some of that.

I will be back home after 2pm Saturday, my time.
Click to expand...
Yeah, see thats why I want to clean the cage out and put her fleece liners back in there, I cant see what going on with all he shredded paper in the cage, if they're feeding or not. They did get bigger, and they are starting to get color in their quills. :)
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H
Re: LILY ANN JUST HAD TwO BABIES!!!! ***UPDATE 03-20-09***

Hedgiepets said:
I wonder since mom is soo young, if she has enough milk for them. 2 suggestions! You can try either or both. Get some Raspberry Leaf tea from the health food section of the grocery store and make a cup of tea, and dilute with equal parts water, give to mom in another water bottle or water dish. And/or get some goats milk esbilac and give mom some of that.

I will be back home after 2pm Saturday, my time.
Click to expand...
I would never suggest raspberry leaf tea postpartum except to tighten the uterus and lessen uterine bleeding. A better galactagogue is Fenugreek, which doesn't have the negative side effects that Raspberry leaf does.
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Hedgiepets
Re: LILY ANN JUST HAD TwO BABIES!!!! ***UPDATE 03-20-09***

I have been using Raspberry Leaf tea for years with great success.
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C
Re: LILY ANN JUST HAD TwO BABIES!!!! ***UPDATE 03-20-09***

Hedgiepets said:
I have been using Raspberry Leaf tea for years with great success.
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Lily just drank some of the tea, and was anointing happily in her cage :)
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Hedgiepets
Re: LILY ANN JUST HAD TwO BABIES!!!! ***UPDATE 03-20-09***

Yes, mom will usually do that the first time with the tea.

BTW, I have used the Raspberry Leaf tea for many years to help moms with low milk with great success.
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Hedgiepets
Re: LILY ANN JUST HAD TwO BABIES!!!! ***UPDATE 03-20-09***

Oh, and D did tell him to increase the fat content of the food and increase the mealworms. This is a baby who came from a petstore, who is about 12 weeks old and just had babies of her own.
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Re: LILY ANN JUST HAD TwO BABIES!!!! ***UPDATE 03-20-09***

Hedgiepets said:
Yes, mom will usually do that the first time with the tea.

BTW, I have used the Raspberry Leaf tea for many years to help moms with low milk with great success.
Click to expand...
Good for you. It can cause painful uterine contractions. Fenugreek is a better galactagogue and doesn't cause painful uterine contractions.
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A
Re: LILY ANN JUST HAD TwO BABIES!!!! ***UPDATE 03-20-09***

excellent, glad to see things are going well. You have a very good mentor CT.
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C
Okay so I had to do it, I had to clean her cage. The smell was not only making me sick, it was making other people in my house sick. I moved her in and out as quickly as possible. She started carrying around the bigger baby wildly around her cage for like 2 minutes after I put her back in, that baby in now outside the nest, with the little one inside. I hope she didnt reject it.... I'm worried...
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N
Putting up with the smell is just part of hedgehog breeding. :lol: Luckily, our pregnancies are planned so moms are on shavings so a handful of dirty shavings can be picked out when feeding and it helps keep the smell down.

Did you put her on shavings or carefresh? Now you will be able to quickly grab out some of the messy bedding. Don't touch the nest box though.

Hopefully she will take the baby back but sometimes moms can freak out for hours after we disturb them.
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C
I put her back on fleece liners, and put new news papers and fleece back in her box. i'm just worried about her carrying around the little one, it looks pretty violent. But it's still alive. So I dont know whats going on...
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N
The smell would not have affected your health or your families health. Just shut the door to the room she's in. She should not have been put back on liners because you are going to end up with the smell again and if you try cleaning it again, next time you might not be so lucky. Also, don't assume all is well. She may have injured the baby by dragging him around.

Hopefully all will be fine.
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K
I'm not a hedgie owner, but I might have a suggestion for the smell (because it sounds like its going to get stinky again in a week)

You could try 2 things that we do at the humane society I work at:

1. Put a fan in the room that is NOT DIRECTLY blowing on the cage... so have it angled away from it. This will cool the room down though, so make sure you have some sort of heater directly over the cage and a thermometer in there to figure out the temperature.
You have no idea how smelly a humane society center can get.... we have fans running all the time, but the kitties hate it if it blows on their faces, so we have it angled away from them.

2. There are non-fragance "smelly-ness absorbers" (for lack of a better word) that you can buy at hardware stores that are used for painting. I believe there is also "smelly-ness absorbers" for pets too... you could place those around the room. Just make sure they aren't unscented
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A
Arm and hammer baking soda is one such absorber of smells, and i am pretty sure you can get unscented ones.
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C
hmm, I did think of that, I think I have some baking soda some place in the house...
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