Quilling?????

[hedgewood]

My new little baby Pixie, is loosing the odd quill. I got her 1 week ago today, the pet store (who knows nothing) said she was 4 months old, to me she looks younger. Anyway my question/concern is when looking at her, you can see the obvious difference between her little baby quills, and the adult ones she has grown in, you can also see the little short stubs of a quill poking through her skin to grow in. What is the approximate age of babies who are quilling? Is she quilling? Could this be why she is so grouchy and huffy?

When my male was quilling, he lost tones of quills at a time, she only looses the odd one? What does this mean??

[Nancy]

Some hedgehogs quill very rapidly loosing upto 50 quills per day. Others take their dear sweet time about it and only loose a few a day. Quilling can take a couple of weeks to a couple of months.
Yes the grouchy mood could be caused by quilling. A nice warm oatmeal bath should make her feel better. :)

[hedgewood]

I gave her a bath today, not oatmeal however, but she felt alot better, she was not huffy at all and did not hiss. She fell asleep in the towel, and allowed me to pet her/look through her quills. She scratches quite frequently, could this be due to quilling as well? She has been taken to the vet and treated for mites, although the vet did not seem to think she had mites. She also has a huge scab on the top of her head, that has been there since I got her, it looks like it is healing.?!

[Nancy]

Yes the scratching can be because of quilling and also dry skin. A few drops of vitamine E oil on her back will help the dry skin. :)