[KinsRaw]

Hi! I would like some advice for my hedgehog, Venera. I have had her for three months, and she is only five months old. Four days ago when I woke up, I got her out of her cage to snuggle. It had been cold that night and I forgot to turn the heat lamp on. It waas 69 degrees in her cage, and she was freezing. I quickly turned her heating pad on, and stuck her underneath my shirt until it was warm. Then I put her on it, and put a blanket on top of her. She warmed up in about an hour and was back to her normal self.
I was nervous to leave her home alone because I did not want her to get sick or try hibernating again, but I had to take my cousin's bridal photos that day, so I took Venera with me. It was a long ride, but she's really good about being in the car. For the past couple of days though, she's been eating and drinking very little, and the last time she ran on her wheel was two nights ago. Since then, I have only found one little poop in her cage, so I put her in a warm bath today to help with the constipation, which helped some.
I am just afraid that since she started hibernating there has been so much stress on her body, or maybe she just hasn't been feeling well. Maybe I shouldn't have taken her with me in the car. I am just really scared. Should I take her to the vet or is this normal?

Her heat lamp has been set at 75-80 ever since this happened.

 

[Lilysmommy]

I would head to the vet to see if she possibly got a URI during her hibernation attempt, or if she has something else going on. If she's not eating on her own, it'd be a good idea to gather what you need for syringe-feeding. Hedgehogs should not go more than a day or two without eating or with not eating much, or they go downhill even more quickly. Here's our sticky on syringe-feeding for more info - http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/foru...yringing-tutorial-syringe-feeding-sticky.html Feel free to ask if you have any more questions or trouble with it. If you can, try syringing her some food tonight, and continue to syringe-feed her until you can get her to the vet.

Do you have a thermostat for her heat lamp, to control it? Or did you just have the lamp turned off for some other reason? If you don't have a thermostat, I'd recommend getting one ASAP. It'll turn the lamp on & off as needed to keep a steady temperature so you won't have to worry about it.

Good luck and let us know how Venera is doing. I hope you can get her to the vet soon & find out what's going on.

 

[KinsRaw]

Thank you so much for the info! I do have a thermastat, and the lamp is set to stop heating once it gets to the temperature its set at. After what happened, I will never forget to turn it on again.