babies

[chepren]

Help anyone
My mother hedgie is upset with me. One of the babies fell out of the nest and I used a spoon to put it back Now she is running around with it in her mouth. She has taken all out and won't put them back
What do I do?
Suzy

[giry76]

bump

I have never had babies but I am sure someone else can help you. You may have to hand feed them.

[southcalihedgie]

Hello,

It is a possibility that the mother rejected this hoglet and pushed it out of the nest becuase somethings is wrong with it (animal moms always seem to know when something is wrong). Sometimes if there is a really large litter 1 or 2 can be rejected because the mom is under a lot of stress. Or if this is mom first litter she just could be under a lot of pressure and unfortunately when the hoglet fell out of the nest she decided to not take it back. I would wait and watch for a day and if the hoglet is not being fed you may have to start bottle feeding. To tell if a new born hoglet has been fed you need to get gloves (or bare hands) rub them in the bedding in the cage pick up the hoglet and turn it over. You are looking for a milk spot (small animals are kind of see through when they are first born) which is the hoglets stomach. If the hoglet is full on milk you will see a white spot about the size of a large pea, which is the milk the hedgie was fed. If you do not see a milk spot at all you may want to start bottle feeding. There are plenty of "mothering Kits" available in pet stores they have bottles/syringes and formula. I have used canned goats milk before with great success. Besides feeding if you decided to hand raise a hoglet you need a warm cage and a surrogate mommmy (i used a furry beanie bag monkey). After feeding for a few weeks I was able to re-introduce the baby and the mother who was under a lot less stress took over the hoglets care. I was very happy.

Good luck with your hoglets. I hope this helps, please keep us posted.