losing Sweetpea

Today I lost another one of my girls, Sweetpea. Sweetpea was the daughter to my first hedgehog I ever had and was the only baby of mine I've kept. She was bred at the end of November and I have been anxiously awaiting her litter. Last night when I checked on her she was holed up in her igloo and had blocked off the door with shavings and a blanket. The top of the igloo in her pen has been cut out and made removable so I could check on her. I peeked under the lid and she was snuggled into the shavings and just huffed a little as normal. I was excited thinking I would probably have new babies this morning. Everything looked fine when I left her in her house. This morning I checked on her as soon as I got up, and found blood all over her cage and my sweet little girl was gone. I didn't find any babies but assume she died due to complications from giving birth. This would have been her first litter and she was 8 months old. This is my first breeding related death.

These have been a rough couple of months for me now..At the end of November my best friend of 13 years died from a massive stroke, she was only 57. On Christmas day my first rescue hedgie, Mirabelle, passed away, and now my sweet little Sweetpea.