Blood!?

[Nightdust]

So, my boyfriend and I got a new hedgehog(we've had one before) about a week ago from an unlicensed breeder(probably a mistake, but we didn't know at the time until we got there!). Instead of getting the babies, we decided to go with a 5 month old girl(she's soooo cute! Pics forthcoming!). She's very active and curious and seems to like us very well.

On the second day we had her, we noticed little white things crawling around on her skin. Ick, mites!! So we take her to the vet the next day where he checks her out with good health and all that. He gives us mite medicine that we have to inject her with every week for 8 weeks. He gives her the first injection there.

About 2 days ago, when I got home from work I noticed a pile of blood in her cage, with mucas and what appeared to be solid blood stuff. I'm freaking out! I check our hedgehog and there are no wounds, punctures, etc. She's walking fine, eating, and appears to be her normal happy little self.

My boyfriend gets home and I point out the blood and he scoops it up and checks it out/dissects it(eww!). He concludes that it appears that our little hedgehog might have had a miscarriage!?! He checks her out and notes that the area near her tail(if you catch my drift) is swollen a bit and there's bits of dried blood on her tail. The blood stuff looked like a flattened blood sack maybe about the size of a dime with something inside it.

Anyways, she seems and has been fine since then. She lets us touch her, feed her, play with her, etc. No signs of illness or pain of any sort. She's just as happy as she can be! If it really was a miscarriage, we were not informed by the seller and the vet didn't notice either(although she was curled up in a ball most of the time, so maybe that's why).

Has anyone else had this happen to them? Do you think it really was a miscarriage or something else? Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions? Anything would be helpful!!! Thanks! :)

[hedgieluv]

I'm by no way an expert with this, and have not had it happen to me, but from your description it sounds as if that's a reasonable conclusion. Pregnancy can be hard to detect in hedgies unless you know she was exposed to a male and then there are some ways to monitor her and see if there's any weight changes, etc. In your case it's very possible that she could have been exposed to a male (possibly a sibling) and thus became pregnant. I would take her back to the vet and have him make sure there are no more babies in there that could cause her infection (and could lead to death). Also, if you kept the "specimen" you could bring that in there with you to have them check and make sure that it was indeed a baby. Either way a consultation with the vet would be wise.

On a side note, the breeder you bought her from was very irresponsible if she was indeed pregnant and the fact that she had mites. A responsible breeder would never have sold you a hedgie if they thought she was pregnant. A responsible breeder would have also offered to cover the vet bill (given some type of warranty for the health of the hedgie). I would call this breeder and tell him/her what you've had to go through so far and see if he/she will step up to the plate and offer to cover the expenses.

Good luck, and congrats on your new little one! :D

[Nightdust]

I agree that this breeder wasn't very responsible. It became apparent when we were there that they didn't know very much about hedgehogs--in fact, I think my boyfriend and I knew more than they did! I don't know how they treated their hedgehogs(and other animals they have for sale), but I doubt they treated them very well. They probably figured that they could make some $$ out of breeding them...I kind of felt bad for all the animals, I wish I could have taken them all home with me!

Anyways, I don't know if calling them will result in much...they seem to be more of the "once we sell it, it's your problem" mentality, but I might call to complain. We'll see.

We plan to go to the vet in a few weeks(hopefully). We'd go right away but we're both really short on cash. Unfortunately, we thought about keeping the "specimen," but didn't. Hopefully by explaining what happened the vet can deduce what's going on.

I hope that she will be ok and nothing else will happen to her. It's been a rough week and half for her already!

[Ododad]

That poor little girl. She needs you right now more than ever! Can you call the vet and get an opinion? I agree with Hedgieluv, if you can, your little girl needs to see the vet. Bloody discharge can be a sign of many things, none of them good.
There are State and Federal laws concerning breeding for profit. I would talk very seriously with this breeder and make sure they are aware of these laws. I would find out myself exactly what the Humane laws in your state are and then contact the various Health Depts. in your area for advice. If this breeder is neglecting her animals, they should and can be shut down. You can contact the USDA or the USDH for more information and perhaps some advice.
Hearing of people like this that use animals for money making machines really burn my butt. :angry: If I had my way, I would shut all of them down. I am not refering to responsible breeders who breed with love and care as most of them do.

[Nancy]

It sounds like she has either had and cannibalized the babies, or had a miscarriage. Hedgies can leave very little evidence when they destroy their litters.

Poor girl. :( Give her lots of love. :)

[Nightdust]

Oh my....I hope she didn't destroy the litter if she did have babies. :( It's too bad it all happened while I wasn't here...then I would have known or at least seen what happened.

Thanks for all your responses!

[Ododad]

I'd like to know who this "breeder" is.

[Love4Hedgies]

Aw poor girl :( It's sad that so many hedgies (and other animals) live in such poor conditions. Keep us updated on her and if I were you I would report this "breeder". Seriously, you do not want this to happen to another hedgie or new hedgie owner. It's not fair to anyone involved.