New adopted Hedgie

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miniminotaur

Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2014
Messages
5
Location
illinois
I adopted a hedgehog 3 days ago from a girl who took really bad care of him. I guess you could say I rescued him from her cat, who would attack him. This girl never took him out to play and didnt give him a wheel and overfed him, so hes definitely overweight (he can't roll into a ball properly). He's about 3, 3 1/2 years old, and his former owner bought him from a breeder. She had him in aspen or sometimes pine bedding (which i know is horrible for them) so i switched him to fleece liners and made a few snuggle pouches out of the leftover fleece. i took the remainder of the cat food she had for him, its a chicken and rice normal purina blend. not the best or the worst from what i understand but im open to other suggestions. i feed him from small ceramic dishes, which he cant spill but does push around sometimes. hes been eating normally and pooping normally.
Im not sure if it will work but i attached a picture of him in his snuggle sack and in his hidey ball. His name is Minotaur

He has a few problems though. first of all, he tries to bite whenever my hands are near his cage. this makes changing his food and water a scary process. My thinking is that hes used to the cat pawing through the top and so he feels he has to defend himself? anyway, its upsetting because i try to take him out to exercise and he tries to bite me. Ive been using a fleece bit to pick him up even though i shouldnt because i hate the biting but i know he loves to run around. Hes definitely an adventurer type and doesnt like to be held for more than a few seconds before he tries to roll away onto the floor. i should mention that hes even figured out how to jump off of high surfaces in his quest to explore, if hes up off the ground he goes to the edge of whatever hes on and rolls off to land quills first.

this leads to my second problem. he's been itching non-stop but i cant check him for mites or dry skin because i cant hold him without him biting me or running. i can also see that his claws are too long and need to be clipped but i have no idea how to tackle that without upsetting him way too much. he itches the same areas pretty repeatedly but theyre all over his body and he itches constantly unless hes sleeping or running around the cage. my friend (a fellow exotic pet owner and user of this site) has just referred me to an exotic pet vet 25 minutes from my house, so i can make an appointment if thats the only logical route. I have, very alarmingly, found at least 3 or 4 quills on the bottom of the cage daily since switching to a liner, but no dry skin flakes that i can see. please help!

so basically i need help getting my hedgie to want to come out to play (even if he will never want to snuggle) without biting me, and i need to know if i should take him to a vet or not. also, he never learned to use a wheel but i got one for him just in case because i know he likes to run. any advice on teaching him to use it? its a silent spinner, NO HOLES of any kind, but maybe a little high off the ground for him to get up into. Sorry for the novel, any and all advice is appreciated!
 

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I would recommend taking him to a vet. It is good to get him checked out anyway. I don't know if I would trust the former owner kept up on his check ups.

I am sure that if he had a cat after him all the time he is terrified. Does he like worms or any treats? You can try bribing him by giving him worms and when he is busy with that change his water. You can also try leaving a t-shirt you have worn in his cage so he will get used to your scent. I think using fleece is ok to pick him up, it is much better than gloves. You can try sleeping with the fleece you pick him up with so it will have you scent on that too.

For play can you put him on the floor? Maybe in a play pin with some toys and let him do his thing. That way he is safe and while you will be right there he won't be able to bite you.

For the wheel, most hedgies figure it out on there own. You can try to put him in the wheel and gently move it so he will get the idea, but I fear that may lead to biting right now. Also the silent spinner has been known to crack down the middle so remember to keep an eye on it.

I like the name Minotaur. I can't see the pictures but I know there have been some issues with pics lately.
 
Thanks for answering :) he's gotten much better about my hands being in the cage and me picking him up, and I found some toys he loves to play with on the floor so he gets some exercise. I think the wheel is too small for him anyway, so I gave up on that idea and I'll look for a wider one or make my own. I also have a vet appointment for him in 2 days with a vet I trust, so hopefully all will go well. He has been losing quills like crazy and has dry skin, so I gave him a bath today and I'll see what the vet says to do. Sorry that the pictures didn't work, it might be because they're on my phone instead of my computer.
 
Hope all is well with your little man!! Hope things start to get better with him! I know how frustrating it can be at first. Your an angel for taking this little man in and giving him a new home!!
 
The vet visit went fine, she diagnosed him with mites and even let me see them under the microscope. I wanted to do revolution for treatment but she convinced me to do ivermectin because she could administer it orally to him, since he prefers to try to nip at people instead of rolling into a ball. Hes been in a better mood since then, and I also got cat and kitten safe flea shampoo per the vets suggestion and he can have a bath a week to help with the itching. He loved having the toothbrush get all his itchy spots in the bath :) plus, we got a bunch of new toys for him since he won't use the wheel and he's always in a good mood after he gets to play with them. He has a few little balls to push around and his favorite is paper towel rolls. He has 2 more treatments at the vet, each 2 weeks from the last, before the mites will be gone but he seems to be getting better already and adapting to a nice schedule here. Hopefully with a little more time he'll be feeling all better and will be a little happier about being handled :)
 
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