Dry ears?

[dalangalma]

Hello, I'm new here :-)

My new hedgie seems to have dry ears - he also scratches around the edge of his quills a bit. I'm wondering if it's something I should be worried about / take him to the vet or just dry weather.

Here's a pic:
http://flickr.com/photos/dalangalma/117477915/in/set-72057594085197154/

Feel free to view it at the higher resolutions to get better detail on the ears...

[HedgieMate]

Hi. I'm also a novice hedgehog owner, so I really can't advice you whether your hedgie requires medical attention; sorry. What I can say is though, his ears do look a lot drier than our hedgie's. Our hedgie scratches his belly and around the edge of quills from time to time, but since we started giving him vitamin E drops, he is scratching himself less frequently. A number of threads in this forum also recommend oatmeal baths for dry skin.

Hope someone with more experience & knowledge will be able to tell you if your hedgie needs more than just moisturizing. Good luck!

[hemi_mygirl]

Yes, his ears look pretty dry. What I do is poke a whole in a vitamin E pill (from safeway or wherever), and gently massage a bit on my hedgehog's ears. You may have to squirt the vitamin E on a Q-tip to get it near his ears though.

Other members here use Bag Balm to the same effect.

And you might want to put a couple drops of Vitamin E on his back too...his skin looks dry, as well.

[Nancy]

I use human nipple cream on my gangs ears and it works really well to get rid of dry ears. Nipple cream is unscented and non toxic so is completely hedgehog safe.

I just use my finger to swipe some on or use my fingers to rub in if whomever allows. I don't use a q-tip as there is too much chance of poking someone in the eye if they move suddenly. :)

[hemi_mygirl]

I use human nipple cream on my gangs ears and it works really well to get rid of dry ears. Nipple cream is unscented and non toxic so is completely hedgehog safe.

I just use my finger to swipe some on or use my fingers to rub in if whomever allows. I don't use a q-tip as there is too much chance of poking someone in the eye if they move suddenly. :)

Oh yes...that's what I remember you saying. Why was I thinking q-tips... :dunno:

[pricklemouse]

I've been battling with dry ears in my herd for some time. His ears don't look -too- bad, but if you find that a few weeks after applying moisturizers or vitamin e that his ears are still looking dry and even a bit ragged, you may want to talk to your vet about doing a fungus-culture. I just had a fungus-culture started for one of my little guys (they just scrape a little dry skin off the ears, then let it grow in a petri-dish for a week or so). That way, you'll know weather its something that vitamin e/vaseline can cure, or if it needs different treatment.

[Shimmer]

You may want to check him (or get him checked) for mites. Dry and tattered ears can be caused by mites. They don't look tattered but it could be the beginning of them becoming that way. I would check just in case.

[dalangalma]

I put some lotion on his ears, we'll see how that works out.

[hemi_mygirl]

What kind of lotion? Was it unscented? Some hedgehogs go absolutely crazy with scents, because their little noses are so sensitive to them. Watch him try to annoint to himself...lol.

[dalangalma]

Yeah, it's this unscented neutrogena stuff... he didn't even notice us put it on, but his ears look much better.