[valp162]

Hi!
I hope you'll be able to answer and help me out. I'm a new hedgehog owner it's been 4 days now.
My little Charlie is 8 months old and is worrying me. The first day she came home she was terrified and just slept and didn't curiously look around. I had let her be till that night around 11pm which is when I woke her up, picked her up with gloves then let her wonder around in my room which she did, and she seemed to LOVE it! That night she discovered her whole cage and was scratching/digging all night. I'm trying to make it a routine to wake her up around 10-11pm and let her walk around and try to hold her, pet her fur so she can get used to me and not puff in a ball like she does every time I pick her up. I know I also do get a little jumpy trying to pick her up with my bear hands but only cause she almost immedietly goes into a ball and that's just suicide for my hands... i think. But now i've noticed she's not that awake at night and I have yet to see her drink from her water dish. She eats a bit (about 1-2tbsp a night of hedgehog diet), she won't eat my dried mealworms, fruits or veggies but, i was able to get her to eat a bit of a banana. Is she eating enough? Will she wake up more often? (I have yet to put her wheel in her cage since I read you should wait atleast 4-5 days before) Will she exersise? Will she ever tame up and drop her quills with me? :s

-worried mom

 

[sklock65]

Hi there!

Making sure she is staying hydrated is super important. Are you SURE she isn't drinking? Mine doesn't drink a ton but I am able to see the water line in the dish is lower every morning. It's important to make sure she is drinking.

As for food intake...that sounds about right to me. I would say my hedgie eats about 2Tb a night.

I understand handling her with your bare heads is still tricky so just keep at it. You are right to try to keep a consistent schedule for her to adjust to. Hedgehogs can take a while to really adjust so my best advice there is just to really keep at it!

As for having a wheel in the cage...I'm not sure about advice to wait on putting that in. Personally I wouldn't wait anymore as she is definitely old enough to be wheeling and honestly is going to be bored without it. Boredom can be dangerous if they try to start climbing or something to expel energy. So my recommendation there is to go ahead and place the wheel in her cage.

Just because you don't necessarily she get awake at night doesn't really mean anything. Lots of hogs will ONLY come out of their sleeping area when it is completely dark and quiet...so you just may not be witnessing it.

One last piece of advice. If you haven't already, there's an awesome book on hedgehog care that you can download for free. Of course you can always come to the forum for help but this book was a huge help to me when I first brought home hedgie. Here's the link:
http://www.westcoasthedgehogs.com

Best of luck with your little one!

Sent from Petguide.com Free App

 

[valp162]

Thank you for the advice, I will put the wheel in tonight then. Also, I do have a hedgehog book, and will look at that link, but i just though a second opinion about my heggies behavior would be nice since i'm new to this.
Thank you!

 

[Annie&Tibbers]

Totally give her her wheel soon-as -- it'll keep her from being bored.

Keep handling her, bare-handed when you can. You can use a bit of fabric (fleece, sleeves of your shirt, snuggle-sack) to protect your hands a bit when scooping her up.

Give her a bit of human-smelly fabric (worn shirt, fabric you've slept with) to snuggle with to help her grow accustomed to your scent even while she's sleeping.

 

[DesertHedgehogs]

Food intake level sounds completely normal. Hedgies eat so little I always tell people to freeze their food into gallon bags or even smaller as a gallon bag can last as long as 3-4 months for one hedgie. There's no reason for an uninjured hedgie to not have a wheel. So good on you for putting it back. I also second the dirty clothes in her sleep hut/sack thing.