new hedgie.

[iilblondeangel]

I was in the exotic store when they received a shipment of new baby hegies. one of the babies was extremely thin and pre/in transit got into a fight and nearly had his entire left ear chewed away at. they gladly let me have him to nurse him back to health...i took him home. called my vet and have an appointment set up for wednesday (i work the same hours as the vet tuesday..).

for right now i gave him a bath, used a bit of ointment from the vet from a injury to a guinea pig pre-adopting him. as far as weight goes, he was ALOT smaller then his shipping mates. i put him in his new cage - after some exploring he plopped onto the food dish and began going to town. i did the skin-elastic-y test for hydration and there was good hydration and i did see him next to the water bowl drinking twice so far today.

basically - im wondering if anyone has any tips on how to get weight quickly onto a hedgie??

[HedgePigLove]

I wouldn't worry about getting weight onto the little one fast - a slow, steady weight gain is best (and safest) on an underweight hedgehog.

It's also possible that you have a small hedgie - I've adults that stayed at or under 250 grams their whole lives. Please weigh your little guy and track his weight.

Can you describe his body shape? If he looks like he has a waist, then he's a bit underweight - somewhere there's a post about body shapes, which I'll attempt to paraphrase here:

If you look down at your hedgehog from the top, there's several body shapes that are "normal" -

| | - long, lean, runner's body

/\ - teardrop shaped

( ) - round hedgie

Not great body shapes:

) ( - underweight

( ) - overweight

( ) - really overweight

Remember to keep your new hedgie quarantined from your other hedgies for at least a month - and pay attention to possible cross-contamination.

Please let us know how the vet visit goes - hope that his left ear is okay!

[Nancy]

Don't worry so much about size and thin babies. Many babies go through a scrawny stage and babies do come in all sizes. The important thing is he has teeth and is walking and acting normally. Sometimes babies are shipped out too young so make she he can eat.

Royal Canin Baby cat is good for babies as it's a hedgehog friendly size and easy for them to chew plus it has the extra fat that babies need.

Watch the ear closely for any signs of infection. :)

[iilblondeangel]

His bodyshape from the top view looks normal...its his underbelly that worries me I can almost see a ribcage and all around its quite sunken in.

Since I wasn't planning on bringing him home I had to use supplies I have laying around instead of new dishs wheels and toys. Thankgoodness he explored early bc he took two steps on the wheel (which was a sterdy mesh wheel and both his arms went right thru...then he just staired at me like "help me" so needless to say he was wheelless after that and I need to go hunt down a solid wheel.

[Grace Kelly]

go for the royal canin babycat. it's puny and loaded with fat. i used to feed my hedgie that when he was just a wee little baby... hahaha.
but yeah, it's a good food and it is addicting. i still feed him some royal canin kitten food. it's bigger and has less fat but he loves it so much.

[iilblondeangel]

just a little update from the vet. he is quite skinny/tiny - only 107g. the dr gave me a gram scale to monitor weight. i got some antibiotic for his ear i have a recheck in a week. hopefully the little guy will do well :-D o and so nice of him - gave us a poop sample at the vet for a check on that too haha.

[mmartinez1987]

Thankgoodness he explored early bc he took two steps on the wheel (which was a sterdy mesh wheel and both his arms went right thru...


This is the EXACT reason we dont use mesh wheels. I suggest you read a lot more on this site and others before aquiring more hedgehogs. You have four already and most of the things you mentioned are very dangerous for them.

[iilblondeangel]

I think personally a lot of people are way uptight on this site and completely "my way is the ONLY correct way to properly raise a hedgehog". Its actually quite annoying. I work at a pet store and do not go around preeching to everyone who doesn't raise their pet the way I do is wrong and dangerous. I own a lot of animals and have experience with them all as most are 1.5-2 yrs old now - they are not dead,nor have missing broken limbs or no toe nails. O and by the way I used one of my dogs fleece blankets to see the fuss - and wouldn't you guess - she got covered in fleece fuzz balls - that's a choking hazard! Mmhmm. So seriously, stop telling people they are neglectful and ignorant because they raise their animals differently from you. As I've said before - there is no one right way to raise an animal. I never had such a small hedgehog (107g) he stepped on the wheel. I saw the problem - I fixed it. Please get over the preaching.

[HedgeMom]

Different isn't wrong but there are some wrongs that are just plain dangerous. And that wheel is one of them. Whether you like it or not, it's unsafe for ANY hedgehog. In the 15 years I've been involved in hedgehogs, it has always been preached that solid surface wheels are the only safe wheel.

:sarcasm3:Then there are the people who are just too know it all and perfect to listen to constructive criticism.

[Kiah_Muz]

As a person new to hedgehogs (I've had my first hedgie, Kiah for about 5 months... He's going to be 6 months old on Saturday! Woo!) I really like all the suggestions here by people who know how to raise hedgehogs.
We are all different in our preferences, but the people who have had hedgehogs for years and the breeders here know that they are talking about. They are not calling you a neglectful or ignorant owner... they are just trying to help you and your hedgehog. They are not trying to mandate you to care for your pets, just giving suggestions to raising pets that aren't covered by many. Anyone could tell you at least the decent care for a dog... but there aren't that many things for hedgehogs that you can take seriously. Also note that none of the breeders on here or people who have cared for hedgies for years are arguing about some of these safety points- they all agree.
I could of been criticized early from the ways I raised my hedgehog (though I was doing what the breeder told me)... but instead all of these wonderful people here helped. They gave suggestions. Never once were they criticizing me or my knowledge of caring for Kiah. They helped me get through a very scary day when no one else did.
Be humble and learn. :)
oh... and P.S. I'm not trying to attack anyone here, I'm just trying to give a suggestion about a better way to handle the experts opinions.