[OmniQuill]

Hello all I'm here to see if any other hedgie owners out they may know what this strange looking sore and or growth on my hedgehog may be and how it is treated. Regardless how what anyone may know about it I still plan on taking her to see a vet as it is of great concern to me. I've had her for about a month and never really noticed it before but from the look of it I think it may have been there for some time and got bigger? Also she unexpectedly gave birth to 3 hoglets (Upon my research I found this was a common case of many new owners since I guess no one can tell if a hedgehog is preganant?) about 5 days ago so I am also worried about separating her from the babies to take her to the vet, shoudl i take them all? I really want to take care of this but also do not want to babies to be in any danger from an upset moma.
If anyone can give me any info it would be very much aperciated, thank you!

Attached picture is the growth/sore located on her backside area within her quills.

 

[Hedgieonboard]

It almost looks like an absess or an ingrown quill. You'll have to wait though for someone with more experience to come along but I know that in most cases the mom and babies are supposed to be left totally alone or there is a risk of the mom stressing out and canabalizing the babies. If it ends up being something more serious though she may have to go asap, this is a very hard situation so Im not sure what is the best way to go. Im really sorry to hear about your experience and I hope all your hedgies are ok.

 

[OmniQuill]

Yeah this is not an easy situation for a new hedgehog owner with little to no exp. to deal with. I read up all about new babies and stressing the moma so that is why I'm so concerned I don't know what I should do but I need to have her looked at, for the time being she doesn't seem to be in any pain and she is being a fantastic mother looking after the little guys. I don't want to lose any of them and very excited they are here I feel very lucky for a first timer to have babies within my first month of having her, lol. However I'm a little upset with the pet store for...

A: Not knowing she was preganant (I'm sure being taking from familar surroundings put in a small box and dropped off in a new home couldn't have been good for her stress levels)
B: Not noticing the growth in her quills. (Although I will admit it's not very noticable unless you are holding her up and looking at it i barely saw it but still)

I'm aware they have a lot of other animals to care for as well but i feel they should be taking better care of the smaller animals since they don't seem to get as much attention as the larger pets. I'm actually glad I picked up my little Roxy when i did since I doubt she would be getting so much attention and care at the pet store. Not saying the pet store was bad it's actually one of the best I've seen I'm just saying I think this could have been taking care of sooner. Anyway I appericate your input thank you very much for the reply.

 

[tie-dye hedgie]

Whatever the diagnosis, I hope your girl will make a full and speedy recovery.

 

[Immortalia]

Well, quite honestly, there is absolutely no one currently on this planet who can tell if a hedgehog is pregnant or not. At least not until the day the babies come out :roll:
So it may not all be the pet store's fault...Unless they kept her in a cage with another hedgehog, who they didn't sex and ended up being male... THEN it's their fault.

But, it could also be the mill they bought the hedgehog from. The mill could have given them a pregnant hedgehog, and the store has no idea about it.

Either way, glad she's in a good home and well cared for. ^_^

Did you find the growth before or after the birth?
I'm sorry I couldn't be of much help either. It almost looks like a weird growth my dog had on his tail years back.
It's hard to tell from the picture what it could be. As a description of what it feels like would clear things up a little as well, but that's impossible, since you can't handle her right now.
Basically, you'd want to know whether it's on the skin or below the skin. Whether it's a hard unmovable lump. A lump that is squishy and movable. Hard and movable. Moves with the skin, or moves with the flesh, or moves in between both. (Yes... too many years of having dogs and cats with cancerous lumps... freaks me out every time I find some sort of bump)

If there is some way to feel the lump, without stressing her out... That would be the thing to try first. Maybe during feeding time, lure her out a bit, feed her some treats and just reach in and feel the bump...
But, that being said, might be good to wait for someone who has experience with nursing mothers.

 

[OmniQuill]

I'm not putting any blame on the per store for the my hedgie being preganant, I'm well aware that it's pretty impossible to know if a hedgehog is preganant or not simply by looks. I'm actually very happy she was and now I got a whole family of hogs to look after!

In any case I have a slight update, just got off the phone with the vet and they told me that I need to wait a few weeks untill the babies are done nursing and can go off on their own before I can bring Roaxanne in to be looked at. SO I guess that means I have no choice but to wait it out. I kinda figured as much but I was hoping there would be a way to get this taken care of now. I don't like the idea of Roxy having to wait to get treated, I'm gonna be worried for the next couple of weeks but I guess she's ok since as I said before she doesn't seem to be in any pain and she is taking care of her babies. As long as she keeps that up I suppose there is no cause for major concern.

Thank you to all for your support and input, if anyone comes accross this and has any other info on what it could be please post it. Also i will be posting a report of what the vet tells me once Roxy gets her exam whithin the next few weeks.