[dndq66]

Hi guys,
Sadly my baby Harvey passed away suddenly tonight. I went to go change out his bedding and found him not moving. I thought maybe he was hibernating as my apartment was rather cold, around 65, so I tried heating him up with my blowdryer on low since he loves that thing and I got some response. I did that on and off for about 40 minutes and then let him sit in his cage. I went to check on him again and he wasn't breathing. I took him in to the vet just to make sure he was in fact dead, even though I work as a vet tech and sure enough they confirmed he had passed. The only thing unusual was that the last two nights I hadn't heard him running much on his wheel and not as much food was gone. When he was being warmed up I saw some very dark green loose stool on his belly as well. The only other thing was I hadn't changed his cage for 2 weeks as I had run out of bedding and my car was in the shop but I did spot clean. I am scared somehow this is my fault. Do you guys know anything that could cause this? He was around 2 if that helps at all.

Danielle

 

[Tongue_Flicker]

Sorry about what happened danielle

 

[chloere93]

Was his cage not heated then? I'm assuming not as you've said that your apartment was cold- which if the cage was heated shouldn't have affected him. The cage should always be heated at a near constant temperature. I use a CHE set up which didn't cost very much at all and keep his cage between 22 - 24C. He could very well have attempted hibernation, they don't often survive this.

If the poop was soft with a tinge of green, this is usually caused by food or stress- if it was sticky or slimey then that could have indicated an infection in his gastric tract. But I've not really heard much on green stool being a major problem unless it's reoccurring.

In terms of cleaning, if urine is left and not cleaned over days, the material it soaks into becomes a bacteria breeding ground and can expose your hedgehog to ammonia. I know you said you did a spot clean, but I'd imagine a more extensive clean would need to take place to clear any bacteria potentially in the cage.

Otherwise, I honestly couldn't say what possibly caused your hedgehog to sadly pass away. I'm very sorry to hear this. Whether or not it was something that you could have prevented, I hope in future should you ever own another hedgehog, you can take some additional steps to avoid the chances of it happening again.