Mites or Dry Skin?

[hedgepig]

Hello fellow hedgie-ites! :wave5:
I'm concerned about my hog..I'm not sure if it's mites or dry skin? the reason I think he has mites is because I heard him scratching and I think it might of been around when he had aspen bedding (which can be mite invested!). But currently he's using liners now,
so can mites live in liners? And I also gave him bath in aveeno oatmeal to clear up any dry skin, and the next day his skin was sorta crusty & crusty around the BASE of quills near his shoulder (could that be a sign of mites? or maybe just dry skin?). And then I looked really close at his quills and there were white specks/flakes along them. They were all over my hands too! But they were not moving, so was this probably just dry skin? I'm probably over-reacting and this is most likely dry skin, but I wanted to remain POSITIVE that my baby was ok! Any help would be much appreciated!!

 

[LucksAngel28]

It could be a combination of both. The mites could live in the liners if the hedgehog already has them. It's less likely, though, but you should wash all the liners and other things in the cage really well to be sure. I would go to the vet and get a skin scraping just to be sure. If it is just dry skin, you could try adding a little olive oil to the bath - Maserati has problems with dry skin, too and that clears her dry skin right up. You also want to make sure that the hedgehog's temperature is consistent and warm, and try to keep his environment stable too - don't change foods, introduce new chemicals, etc. if possible, since allergies could cause dry skin, as well. But go to the vet first to make sure he isn't suffering from mites.

 

[hedgepig]

I just washed all the liner/hedgie bags & there are still one or two wood chips on them. Would that still cause a problem? And I'll definatley try the olive oil bath. As for the temperature, our heat broke for the past few days. He's been sleeping downstairs next to the fire place & the heat would fluxuate from 73-80 while his normal cage temp. is usually 71.

 

[hedgie_kid]

From what you have told us, I see a few problems you should fix as soon as possible.
For one, you should definately go to the vet. Skin scraping is fairly cheap and would tell weather or not your hedgie has mites. Another problem is that your heat went out and you have no back up heating source such as a heating pad or a heat emitter. If you are going to rely on your house heating system to keep your hedgie warm, you will NEED a back heating source. In addition, you should also have a heating source that requires no electrical energy encase a power outage occurs. I would suggest getting a heating pad at the least as soon as posible. Something else that worries me is that the fluxuation is so high. In fact, the maximim fluxuation should be 3 degrees farenhite. This is just one more reason to get a pet friendly heating source as they only seem to fluxuate 1 degree at a the most. Now, 71 degrees is not a deadly temerature for hedgies but it is considered fairly low and you should therefor increase the heat so that it lies between 74-78 as this is the most comfortable temperature for most hedgehogs.

I hope this didn't really come across to mean because I can clearly see you want to be a good owner but there are still some things that must be done to make your hedgie a happier and healthier hedgehog. :winkers:

 

[hedgepig]

From what you have told us, I see a few problems you should fix as soon as possible.
For one, you should definately go to the vet. Skin scraping is fairly cheap and would tell weather or not your hedgie has mites. Another problem is that your heat went out and you have no back up heating source such as a heating pad or a heat emitter. If you are going to rely on your house heating system to keep your hedgie warm, you will NEED a back heating source. In addition, you should also have a heating source that requires no electrical energy encase a power outage occurs. I would suggest getting a heating pad at the least as soon as posible. Something else that worries me is that the fluxuation is so high. In fact, the maximim fluxuation should be 3 degrees farenhite. This is just one more reason to get a pet friendly heating source as they only seem to fluxuate 1 degree at a the most. Now, 71 degrees is not a deadly temerature for hedgies but it is considered fairly low and you should therefor increase the heat so that it lies between 74-78 as this is the most comfortable temperature for most hedgehogs.

I hope this didn't really come across to mean because I can clearly see you want to be a good owner but there are still some things that must be done to make your hedgie a happier and healthier hedgehog. :winkers:

Sorry, I must sound like a terrible hedgie owner! We did have a heat emmiter, but it would get really, really HOT after a few hours so we would turn it off for an hour or so until it would cool down to 75 or something. Also I used a heating pad under half of his pigloo but when I took him out to check on him, he felt really toasted! I already had put another sack next to his bed in case he got too hot, but I guess he never noticed it. As for his room temp., I'll turn it up a bit! You didn't offend me at all either, and sorry for all the confusion! :thumbsup:

 

[tskoffina]

We did have a heat emmiter, but it would get really, really HOT after a few hours so we would turn it off for an hour or so until it would cool down to 75 or something.

Do you have a thermostat on the heat emmiter? If you get a thermostat it will turn it on and off automatically and hold the temp a bit better.

 

[Sonica]

Skin & Quills

I have rescued my hedgie and have some concerns as this is all new to me.

I had her at the vet to have her nails clipped and they also looked for mites. As she had some bald spots on her front part of her body and her skin was dry and scalely looking. They told me nothing was found.

Once I got her home I gave her a bath with aveeno oatmeal baby shampoo (like said on here). I don't notice her scracthing unusually or more, but I do notice that she is losing quils (at least 5 a day and more if I handle her). I just also noticed that I think she is experiencing quill growth as I do see small stubs of new quills and she (what I think) has got a boil or pimple like bump that has popped on it's own from an ingrown quill? (don't know what to put on it or do with it) She has had a very stressed life living in a bad situation with no shelter. She now has her own room and a large cage. What should i do? Can the vet not have seen the mites? How do i treat the popped pimple on her back?

PS She should be at least a yr old if not a bit more

Help! Help!

 

[cooljm94]

I just went to the vet for this today in fact! My hedgehog doesn't scratch but he does have dry skin and quills falling out. It can be caused by mites but it can also be a fungal issue or nutritional. Take them to a vet! I paid about $130 total for sedation, full physical, nail clipping and then medicine for mites.