Please help

[illinidairychic]

Clover is having her litter. She is a first time mom and it appears to be a big litter at least 5 best I can tell. She's in the corner behind her igloo having them. The problem is some of the babies are wondering away and she has some nursing already that she doesn't seem interested in corraling them. Any thoughts??

[illinidairychic]

Well I was wrong there were 7 hoglets, she was nursing 5 then realized there were 2 more and proceeded to attack them. I took them, the six remaining and they are with a foster mom right now. Don't know what will happen with them. Snugs has had 2 litters with no problems but her litter just turned 4 and 1/2 weeks old. I took those guys out, since they are eating hard food on and off already, and will be supplementing them. Snuggles seems to be rebuilding her nest and moving the hoglets around to where she wants them. Hope it goes well....poor girl I'm asking so much of her!!

[Steph]

Jeanne has had a lot of luck with fostering, I suggest you e-mail her. You can find her e-mail address on the BHB list which I know you're on. You might also post this there.

My suggestions would be:

Don't interfere so quickly next time, let mom take care of things. I literally don't know how many babies some of my females have until 2-3 weeks because they just can't handle me interfering.

She might need a more secure cage and nesting option for her future litters. I have one girl who has to go in my smallest possible cage for the first week to be sure the babeis don't scoot away because she's such a bad nester.

At this point it sounds like the mother won't take them back because she didn't like the size of the litter, the interference, etc... so the foster is your best bet.

Edited to add: didn't you have problems with a mom rejecting a litter once or twice before??

Personally I don't even mess with my friendliest females unless I absolutely have to for at least 2 weeks. Maybe they are just antsy because you are hovering. Sometimes too much concern can be worse than none.

[illinidairychic]

Rosie I found the hoglets the next morning one was malled and the other two were scattered. Rosie was hiding in a corner all huddled up away from them covered in blood, it was pretty scary. That was the only litter I have lost.

This time it was a combo between Clover deciding to have her hoglets out side the nest and sheer size. She was happily nursing the 5 like I said, then realized the other two had gone the wrong way when they were born and hadn't started nursing.

Snuggles is a good mother, and her instinct is usually good. She has had two successful litters with no problems. Her last one was 5. I wouldn't have known how many Clover had had but she had them out in the open and I couldn't stand watching her bash the baby around and proceed to eat it.

I also planned to have a few nursing mothers together for this very reason, I have been having some huge litters with most being first time moms. I think it must be something I'm feeding them, lol.

[illinidairychic]

Snuggles is doing wonderful, I hear squeaks from time to time. I listened by her cage when I went up to get some food for the weanlings and could hear some happy little nursing. It looks like things are good for now :)

[illinidairychic]

Good morning, this morning when I gave Snuggles her daily mealies (She comes out to great me when she hears me coming with them) All 6 hoglets are alive and kicking. She has gone into Mommy mode and these are now HER hoglets. She has moved the food dish back to the door and when the light turns on and she's out doing her business or drinking water she darts right back to the nest, I swear I couldn't ask for a better hog!!!

I forgot to add that I have upped her feed to help with the nutrient pull and will be giving her extra yogurt tonight to help with calcium.

[Love4Hedgies]

Gosh, how scary. Looks like you handled the situation perfectly though. Keep us posted on how they continue to do with Snuggles! GOOD LUCK! :D

[illinidairychic]

Got a peek when I heard snugs up getting a drink, they are all still live and growing some nice little quills. I only got a quick peek because snugs rushed back in when she realized I didn't have any mealies. :)

[Le'ah]

Wow! You DO seem to be handling this EXTREMELY well...Lucky you had a foster mom ready with milk! I think this has worked out perfectly. How are Snuggles' other hoglets (the 4 1/2 week old ones)?

Since everything is going pretty well with the 6 newborns, I would probably leave them alone completely, so as not to stress Snugs out... I would probably give her a treat once daily to make sure that there are no dead hoglets anywhere, but that's about it.

Actually, I'm not sure I have that kind of discipline, which is why I could NEVER breed... but it seems a good idea to me if you can do that.

Other than that, keep up the good work!! And the yogurt seems like a GREAT idea also.

[AlisaD]

Way to go Snuggles!!! :hyper: