Squealing.. Help, I'm worried !

[Sary]

For those of you who don't know, on August 29th (I believe) I added two new hedgies to my family...

A little background info MIGHT be needed for this post, so I'm going to give it. I got both of them from this guy that had no idea how to take hedgies at all at all at all. He was clueless, and they were in pretty bad shape (No food, water full of shavings, not much shavings in the cage, no hidey place, no wheel, etc.)

You could call it some sort of rescue, I suppose. Cept I paid for them ($120 for both, after scaring the guy about them)

They've been housed together in a sterilite bin since the day they got home

They are both females, ofcourse...

Last night I was woken up by this shrieking/squealing/whimpering sound.

I went over to the cage, and Kiha (The bigger one... this might be needless information, but she has a cut just above her nose) seemed to be trying to bury herself under Raelin. That's an odd way to put it. She was like... nuzzling against Raelin's side and head with her nose, and I BELIEVE it was Raelin that was squealing.

Raelin is much smaller than Kiha.... I got Raelin out and held her for a while, the squealing totally nonexistant.
I put her back in the cage and tried to go back to sleep. About 5 minutes later, the squealing started again, and the same thing was happening.

I cleaned their cage up a bit.... They had spilled water over their bedding and shirt (The replacement hedgie back for now) and whatnot. I gave more food and water and put in a big towel for them to bury themselves under. Before, I had the entire vellux blanket (the first few days) but I finally cut it into layers a couple of days ago.

Before now, I would always peek in on them sleeping. They slept side by side, usually ones head by the others feet, laying on their side. Such an act I had never witnessed before, and I just thought it was so adorable..

They were housed together before I got them, and they seemed to get along with each other very well... I use the sleeping like that as an example, but that's not neccessarily proof that they get along.

The squealing has never existed before last night. I only know that because it woke me up, and it was at about 6 in the morning, so I'm usually awake at that time, anyway. It's highly unlikely that it's happened and DIDNT wake me up (It was rather loud)

...I read a post from someone saying that he had two male hedgehogs, housed seperately, and one of them was squealing... the answer was that sometimes hedgehogs do their mating call to prove dominance etc.

Argh! She sounded in so much pain... help? someone? She didn't have any cuts or scratches or bites on her that I could see, and I think it WAS Raelin that was squealing, because she seemed to be slightly attempting to get away from Kiha..

o.o any idea what's going on? anyone?

[Tampaquillowner]

Maybe a trip to the vet is in order, I mean maybe there is something health related going on? Or maybe the move has just stressed them out and they just werent getting along last night (-: I wish I could be of more help but I have two boys......Good Luck!

[Nancy]

It sounds like Kiha wanted to snuggle closer than Raelin. When Snow and Peaches were housed together Snow would just about lift Peaches up by sticking her nose underneath her. Snow loved to snuggle and the closer the better but Peaches prefered some distance.

How old are they and were they always housed together.

They may just have been having a bad night or Raelin may have decided she doesn't want a cage mate anymore. If they are newly housed together keep a close eye on them.

Try giving them more sleeping options, 2 water bowls, 2 food bowls, 2 wheels and see what happens. :)

[Sary]

They were always housed together, as far as I know. Housed together before I got them and as long as they had been with the guy, as well as their previous owner.

Ofcourse, no one knew if they were male or female, but they were still housing them together O.o anyway

They don't actually have a wheel right now (I've only had them, what, 5 days? Once I finish the ones I'm making they'll have one)
But I will try that two water bowl/food dish, the squealing scares me...

[bloane]

If I were you, I would double and triple check to make sure that they really are two girls. ;)
It sounds to me like this was probably a dominance issue, dominance displays often mimic breeding behavior. The dominant hedgehog will nuzzle the sub-dominant's underside, especially around the rump area, squeak or squeal, and then often progress to mounting. The sub-dominant will often try to run away or hide. Or, they may flatten out and submit to the mounting. As long as the sub-dominant is willing to accept her position, it probably won't be a problem, but any return of dominance could lead to a fight, so watch them closely.
Becca

[TucKnRoll]

I have most of my hedgies seperated except for 2 sisters. But when i let the males out for play, the father of my 2 month old male, always goes to him and they squeek at eachother in the corner. Im sure its dominance related. I mean, isnt there dominance battles in all species? You should see me and my brother fight. But he is usually the one that ends up squeeking.

Chad