My first hedghog

Hi Im Osh and Im 15 and I just got my first hedgehog on friday night and he was as grumpy as can be. After taking him out to play he has calmed down a bit and doesn't growl or ball up often if at all. He has nipped me and my sisters friend, but I think that was because she was wearing perfume and I just handled his food. He is 10 months old and his name is Archie. When I first got him he itched every now and again but now he is itching kind of often. Every 20 minutes or so (while he is awake). He isn't missing any patched of quills, and I saw a quill fall of while he was scratching and it had the ball at the end. I read that means he probably doesn't have mites. The previous owners said he was 10 months old. He is in a 30 gallon aquarium with aspen bedding that I am planning on changing for fleece. He did not come with a wheel but I ordered one and it should be here tomorrow. Yes, it is a closed bottom wheel. So Im just saying hi and asking what you think of they scratching thing. Here are a couple pics of Archie.

Hi. Welcome to CnH.

Archie certainly is a cutie.

The scratching could be from a number of things. The first thing I'm thinking about is dry skin. The sooner you can change the shavings over to fleece the better. The little flecks of aspen could be getting on his skin (imagine living amidst super-small sawdust particles all day every day) and causing an issue. Also, if there does happen to be a mite situation (the ball on end of quill isn't 100% definitive), shavings can harbor mites.

You really don't have to get terribly fancy with the fleece -- if you happen to have an old fleece blanket that no one will miss, go ahead wash that (unscented detergent; no fabric softener) and cut that to a size that will fit his cage. Or if you can get out to a fabric store and find some fleece remnants/scraps from other projects, that would work well too.

You could give him an oatmeal bath too. Either put regular oatmeal in a sock and swish that around in the water until the water is kind of murky or get some colloidal oatmeal and pop that in the water. Nice warm water (not hot), keep your hand in there so he can climb up if scared, and have a bath blankie/towel near by to dry him off. Just an inch of water max and use your hand or a little cup to pour water over his back (keep it off his face and away from his ears). Just pat dry and let him snuggle in the towel on your lap until he's dry (this will take awhile, so plan accordingly). Do not use a hairdryer; do not rub. And don't over-bathe. For hedgies, less is more. If you bathe frequently, even when using the oatmeal, their skin dries out and it makes the situation worse.

Sounds like you know that major warning signs of a bigger problem include a lot of quills falling out to the point where you're noticing bare patches or an overall thinning of the quill coat. If either of those happen, get the the vet ASAP. If the vet recommends treatment for mites, Revolution is okay; Ivomec/Ivermectin is NOT.

The next in line of possibilities is mites. There's the possibility of stress quilling (though that seems to be more with quill loss alone... not the scratching). Then there are bacterial, viral, or fungal infections of the skin. He could also have an underlying health condition that's manifesting as quill loss (like a URI or UTI) -- we're getting into less and less likely possibilities if the only problem is scratching and a bit of quill loss, but I want to put those out there.

Soooo.... long story short, if the only thing that's going on right now is scratching and a little quill loss, then let's go with "dry skin" as our hypothesis: get him off the aspen and onto fleece and give him a nice oatmeal bath.

Meanwhile, keep your eye on things:
- look at his skin - is it flaky? are there any spots where it's irritated/roughed up/scabby?
- how is his weight - is he gaining? losing? staying the same?
- when you look at him from the top and he's just standing about, how do his sides look - straight from hip to hip? bowed out like an oval? a circle? are his sides sunken in like an hourglass? is he shaped like a teardrop with a bigger hiney than front end?
- how's he eating - what foods is he on? how much does he eat per night?

A 30 gallon is a little small. You'll have trouble fitting a wheel in it. The minimum suggested to me was a 40gallon breeder which I happened to have and we find that to be slightly cramped. The hedgie in there gets bored and goes liner diving more than the others no matter who we put in there. They also poop up against the sides more. That's why we are building our own cages out of plywood that we seal against mites and urine. We've got some just a little longer than a 40 gallon breeder but also 2 36x30 and 1 48x30.

Good call on the cage size issue.

You'll want something larger for the future... Also something with more ventilation. There are lots of good cage ideas from the super luxury models to the relatively inexpensive.

Thanks for all the great advice. I am planning on building him a C&C cage very soon. I got the fleece and I think he was grumpy about it or something, because he was extra grumpy when I tried to pick him up after putting fleece in his cage. I have bad news. While he was laying down by the glass I got a good look at his face and he has mites. Could I just get revolution and give hime a .01 ml dosing behind the ear?

Ugh... mites. Poor little fella. Changing over to fleece is definitely recommended then. Get rid of any left-over shavings. Mites can take up residence there. You could successfully treat the mites, then bring them back if you hang on to them.

Yes, Revolution is the way to go. You'll administer a drop on his upper back/shoulder/neck area, toward the back of his head. You want to aim for a spot that would be difficult for him to reach with his tongue. Of course, our little guys can do quite the impression of a corkscrew when anointing... So aim for the central area instead of right behind an ear.

Two weeks later, a second dose of Revolution. And then another two weeks later, the third dose. Meanwhile, make sure any wood (or other things that can harbor mites) is long gone and you're keeping up with wiping down his cage, toys, wheel and washing his fleece!

Definitely stay away from Ivomec/Ivermectin - it's been known to kill. Even a hedgie who survives a first dose is not "safe."

You can set up a fleece dig-box for him, so he can still burrow (if that's what he likes to do). You can put some smaller fleece scraps in an igloo (or other container) in his cage and let him romp around in there. Or, if an igloo doesn't fit... try piling some fleece pieces in the corner and seeing if he has some interest in those.