Older hedgies

[tacotac]

I noticed for awhile now that Blizzy doesn't usually get up at night anymore. Occasionally she'll get up to have a nibble of food, but she usually does that after I put her back in the cage from holding her. Then she goes straight into her igloo. I put in her wheel last night, and took off the roof of her cage so that it would fit, but she didn't use it at all. Tonight she was resting in her igloo, but she wasn't sleeping; just laying there with her head sticking out and her eyes wide open. She got excited and came out when I gave her a wax worm crunchie. She'll sleep all day too. She just turned 6 years old last month. I just wondered if they just run out of energy when they get older and don't really do much of anything anymore?? :confused:

[mrgew]

I'm not sure but I would assume that age would catch up to a hedgie also

[paris26]

Sounds like the lifestyle of a senior hedgie. My oldest hedgie lived to be almost 4 and he definitely was content to take advantage of naptime. He would rather be held then to be let down to explore. I think that as long as Blizzy is eating and drinking, I wouldn't be too worried. Congrats on hitting age 6!

[tacotac]

Thanks, I hope she is around for awhile longer, maybe even break a hedgie age record. Who knows. :D Her birthday was 1/12/99.

[haig]

Sounds like mine and he's somewhere around 2.5. I adopted him from someone who could no longer take care of him and he estimated his age around 2. After having him here for about a month, I think he's a little older than that. He is perfectly healthy, but probably sleeps about 20+ hours a day. I sometimes think that if I didn't wake him up for play time, he wouldn't wake up at all.

[Kalandra]

Older hedgehogs do tend to slow down some. They can and do suffer from many of the ailments that older people/animals suffer. One thought that comes to mind is that your little one may have arthritis and perhaps a veterinarian can help her feel a little better if indeed this is the problem.

[tacotac]

That may be an issue, as she hasn't been using her wheel as much, but when I notice her walking, her hind legs kinda squabble along. She walks fine, she just doesn't walk as upright as she used to.