Nevermind, i have bad vision:(

[Fish_Mike]

Please read and answer fast!


Today when i took out my hedgehog i closely examined him. I noticed that his mites had returned (he had them before, i dealt with them, everything was fine), but now, upon further inspection, i've noticed that he has bloody spots all around his back (where his spines cover the skin). Is this a disease, is it life threatening? Should i take him to the vet? Will he be ok? Could it be Hemophilia?

 

[JackDemp528]

It's probably an infection from the mites, get rid of them and see if it improves. If not then take him to the vet.

 

[Fish_Mike]

Oh man, i'm such an idiot, i just looked back at him and found that in fact, it was very vright in the room and the blood was just some pink skin. Sorry for worrying myself and anyone else who read this

 

[Angel Lady]

You are just worried about your animal. I know how that goes I read somewhere about the things ferrets get and it has me scared to death I am a worry wart also..

 

[black angel]

Glad he is ok, youre the first person i know that keeps a hedgehog for a pet. Tell me more about it.

 

[Bloo]

It's actually illegal to keep wildlife as pets

 

[moray]

hi bloozoo2, you can buy a sort of long eared hedgehog from a petshop near Staines when they have them in, they need a heated enviroment and wouldn't survive here otherwise. Legally you can keep an injured or disabled hedgehog in your garden as long as you look after it properly including vet visits if they are needed.

 

[SRC]

Well if that was true..you wouldn't be able to have ferrets or parrots or turtles or geckos or snakes either. I would imagine that law means wild caught critters..not store bought ones.

I dunno about over there but they sell hedgehogs at Petco, and other various pet stores that sell live animals, here.

I think they are cute, but prickly...I think one of the classrooms at my son's school has one as a "homeroom" pet...unless they gave it away. They have a 120gal fish tank in the front lobby and a turtle tank by the lunch room as well. I think it's nice they teach the kids to take care of animals.

 

[Fish_Mike]

Well no, i don't think it's illegal, i live in Canada anyway, so hedgehogs aren't really native wildlife. The one i have doesn't have long ears, he's an African Pygmy Hedgehog. He IS prickly. I always have to handle him with 1/4 inch thick leather gloves or else it hurts. Though not as much as you may guess, it's like press your finger on 1 nail, or 50 nails. The weight of your finger is distributed across a greater surface area.

 

[Fish_Mike]

( Unfortunately i read somewhere to handle them without gloves so that they can quikcly get used to your scent and as well get used to you touching him. So i tried that once, and let me tell you, it didn't go as planned. It HURT!)

It's a lot like having a hamster on steroids. Except in the winter. They hibernate AND are nocturnal, so i didn't see him much awake in the winter when i bought him, but now, close to the end of the day, he wakes up and runs around his cage. He is so freakin' active lol.

As well, he bites, but it's a bit different with hedgies. Once they bite, they usually don't let go for an hour. Mine's only bitten me once and thank god he missed my finger and bit the glove instead. I tried to pull it from his mouth, though it wouldn't come out. So i put it in his cage with him and after quite some time he FINALLY let go!

They're really funny as they've got characters. Mine is a bit more on the grumpy side and curls up into a spiky ball whenever i try to hold him.

You have to feed them mealworms as you would a lizard, and mine likes catfood so, hurray for that!

The only problem with hedgehogs though is that they get sick easily and often. Mine is sick again with mites as he has had them before.

Also, when you let them out to run around your room, it's funny to watch. They are like round, oval things on stilts. They have long, thin legs. Also, because they're not rodents and come from the shrew family, they have pretty long noses for their size and when they sniff they make funny little squeaking sounds

Great pet, but you really must worry a lot for them.

 

[Dangerousdan]

It's actually illegal to keep wildlife as pets

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I think bloozoo2 means Native caught wildlife. Ie if i was to go out and catch a squiral, it would be illegal for me to then keep it caged up as a pet.

 

[wuvmybetta]

It's a lot like having a hamster on steroids. Except in the winter. They hibernate AND are nocturnal, so i didn't see him much awake in the winter when i bought him, but now, close to the end of the day, he wakes up and runs around his cage. He is so freakin' active lol.

As well, he bites, but it's a bit different with hedgies. Once they bite, they usually don't let go for an hour. Mine's only bitten me once and thank god he missed my finger and bit the glove instead. I tried to pull it from his mouth, though it wouldn't come out. So i put it in his cage with him and after quite some time he FINALLY let go!

They're really funny as they've got characters. Mine is a bit more on the grumpy side and curls up into a spiky ball whenever i try to hold him.

You have to feed them mealworms as you would a lizard, and mine likes catfood so, hurray for that!

The only problem with hedgehogs though is that they get sick easily and often. Mine is sick again with mites as he has had them before.

Also, when you let them out to run around your room, it's funny to watch. They are like round, oval things on stilts. They have long, thin legs. Also, because they're not rodents and come from the shrew family, they have pretty long noses for their size and when they sniff they make funny little squeaking sounds

Great pet, but you really must worry a lot for them.

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awwwwwww!!! You had me at hamster on steroids

They sound adorable. My lfs has a couple for sale and we check them out often. I've just never taken the leap. What sort of habitat does yours live in? They keep them in a tank at the store....would a cage be more suitable? I'm just being curious. I'm not going to run out and buy one or anything

 

[SRC]

I dunno that'd I would feed your hedgehog cat food, unless it is a low r reduced calorie formula. Hedgehogs aren't suposed to eat alot of fat, from what I have been told before.

I saw some hedgehog food last time I went to Petco matter-o-factly
http/www.geocities.com/beck4321/hhcare.html

oh and I foudn this as well

Hedgehogs can also get mites. Sometimes you can see them on their skin. If your hedgie is itching, or the skin appears really dry, put them on a sheet of black paper and rub their quills a bit. Look for dandruff that comes off to see if there are any mites. If your hedgie has them, there are topical treatments and injections that work for this that you can get at the vet. One treatment that I found to work (I found this on the web, but have no idea where now), is to sprinkle Borax detergent in with their bedding. Cleared it right up! Use only a very small amount, about a teaspoon when you change their bedding. Mites can also come with bedding, so be careful of that. You can find Borax at the grocery store with other laundry detergents. The box is a pale green color and has a mule on it. It's very inexpensive and will last forever!

 

[Fish_Mike]

Heh, they are adorable, their little quills make them look like they have a small mohawk when they haven't put them down all the way. Mine just lives in a normal rabbit cage with food, water, shavings and a small log cave ( but he's too fat to sleep in it now, it pretty much rests ON him )

Edit: I guess it wouldn't really matter if you kept him in a cage or tank, infact a tank the size of a rabbit cage would be cheaper, but because only the top is open in tanks, there's just not as much aeration.

I know they aren't supposed to eat a lot of fat as they are like fish, and you can over feed them, but mine is not fat at all. I just mean that he's grown too big for his house

Also when we bought him i asked what kind of food they liked, they said they fed theirs catfood and so i just bought it to help him adjust. They also said they had the hedgehog food, but the hedgies didn't like it.

And yes, thank you SRC, i read your quote about the mites

It's actaully pretty gross, you can actaully see the mites crawling on him, so now i have to put powder on him and clean his enitre cage and disinfect.