Scratching more than i would like to see

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Snacko

Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2011
Messages
12
My baby, Mia, is scratching quite a bit lately. at first i would just hear her in the act, and got concerned after a while. so i started watching her.. She scratches all over and does not have any bigs, nor does she have the dry skin i was warned about. to be honest i think its just those spots she couldnt get to past the quills (I would scratch a lot too if i had all those quills) But i am just curious as to possible reasons why.

On a side note, i was watching her in her cage the other day, and as she runs her little heart out in her wheel, she has this habit of not stopping for anything. Instead of just stopping in her wheel, she will take a flying leap out of it, take a lap around her cage, and jump back into her wheel for another 5 minutes or so. Repeat. Cutest thing ever in my opinion.
 
Aw... poor little one :(

Occasionally, hedgies may scratch a little here and there. I had one who had a bit of a ritual: once she ate mealies, she'd give herself about 2-3 scratches, then stop. Also, she'd often (but not always) give herself a good scratch after getting back in her cage and under her liner.

My take: if it's just an occasional scratch and resolves itself after less than a minute -- probably nothing to worry about. I liken reasons for why a hedgie would scratch to reasons we humans do... maybe a bit of dry skin, something (a bug, an eyelash, whatever) landed on us, etc...

But if she's scratching for minutes at a time or if it's every time you have her out or you're seeing flakes or she's gouging/hurting herself or she's losing quills -- then definitely something to worry about. I'd be thinking about mites and dry skin as first possibilities.

You're lucky to be able to see her run! Mine have been such closet wheelers.
 
Well that is a little reassuring. She does often (5-8 times in the hour i sit and listen to her) but not for long periods of time. Just a couple seconds or so. I first started to notice it when she scratched at her ear so much she made it bleed, but that was when she had that infection. Much better now.

I would like to say i got realllllllyyyy lucky with her (considering i got her from a pet store) She is very healthy, very tolerant, she hardly even makes hissing noises when you handel her, nor does she ball up, EVER. Although she tries to escape your hands, but that is her nature, she loves to look around new places.
Bringing her home for the first time, she poops when she is nervous, but never runny or green. She's a trooper. :)
 

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Oh gosh, yeah.. scratching until bleeding is definitely bad. Glad that she's over the infection that prompted her scratch so hard.

She looks like such a cutie pie -- peering out from her snuggleplace in the blanket!

Sounds like it would be a good idea to keep an eye on her to make sure the scratching doesn't increase. There's the possibility that her ear infection may have left her more susceptible to a problem with mites. If the scratching increases, I'd suggest looking into getting her some Revolution in that it will help if there are mites, and doesn't seem to hurt if there aren't any.
 
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