at the moment i don't think we'll be able to find manufactured food specifically meant for hedgehogs here in malaysia except for 8-in-1. it's the closest possible diet for the pet though at the moment, hedgehogs have a tendency to take RC34 but to be honest although i'm feeding it as well, i do not like the high fat %, plus the kibbles themselves are already very oily. i prefer to feed RC32, but few of the hedgehogs i have would rather starve than eating these, or when combined with other they usually finish up the rest and leave the RC32 kibbles untouched.

talk about picky eaters...

This post has been edited by livingmonolith: Sep 6 2009, 12:32 AM

sorry to hear that.

if anything i believe the other hoglet has escaped looking for hiding place if indeed the cage was broken into by cats or rats, probably injured as well. don't think other animals will be able to harm a hedgehog badly with the quills serving as shield. try to monitor in the next few days and see if you can find any droppings around inside and outside the house, it may hide all day long but will most probably roam around for food in the dark.

not surprising to see other pets or animals developing a crave for cat kibbles, the dog in my house likes to eat RC catfood as well, and she'll wait next to me everytime when i'm preparing food for my hedgehogs.

besides that, albino hedgehogs are much more sensitive to light, you'll see albino hoglets always rushing to hide in their hideboxes, mine even flipped the food bowl over and hide underneath it. over time they'll be a little better and will come out and for the sunshine ( ), but generally they prefer to only come out when it's dark.

i don't think so, i've had several and handle them regularly, never noticed any difference at all.

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Added on October 21, 2009, 12:35 pmit's a bit subjective but a lot of people have told me that the red eyes of albinos give them the creeps, hence the unpopularity. but i do come across some who adores albino hedgehogs.

This post has been edited by livingmonolith: Oct 21 2009, 12:35 PM

yes.

hey there, great to hear that from you.

homebreeding worms, beetles and roaches as well, talk about luxury for hedgehogs.

if you want DIY, ice cream boxes make great hideboxes, although they make good platforms for her to climb onto. but if your main problem is Pupi climbing on her hidebox, then i'd suggest getting the igloo-shaped hidebox, you can find them in major chain petstores. the price is about rm12-13 if i remember correctly. easy to clean and light, but will definitely prevent the hedgehog from climbing around. there's no base though, what you put as bedding will the the base for the hidebox. you can browse through petshack's website to have a peek on how it looks like, i bought from them.

the breeder has the responsibility to inform you in advance that hedgehogs should not be housed together, but considering that you said you've learnt about hedgehogs before buying, i suppose you should know about this as well, no? anyway, it's a bit too late to blame anyone.

this forum is open for everyone to ask for advices, so i guess you'll have the chance to make sure that the other hedgehog will be doing fine. if you can, do bring your female hedgehog for a checkup, i suspect the two has been fighting all these while during the duration they've been left together in one cage. if there's no visible injury marks on your male hedgehog, there could be internal injuries, so better make sure your remaining one gets a medical checkup just in case. you'll never know if it's suffering from any injuries inside although the from the outside it looks perfectly normal.

haha, i'm curious as to how we 'tarik duri depan' to carry the hedgehog.

anyway adikcute,

like eric said, take some time to learn more about hedgehog's behaviour from the one you currently have. no point having so many hedgehogs at home if you're not experienced enough yet to handle one, let alone a few.

some possibilities:

1) you haven't been bonding with it for quite some time and it couldn't recognize your smell. some hedgehogs have bad tempers to start with and will mellow down after frequent bonding. but if it's being ignored for some significant duration, then the hedgehog will revert back to its former defensive self.

2) you've handled some food which smells like it can take a good bite.

can i know how old is your Bo Chai?

so far i've been using the new sample on one of my hedgehogs only, the first couple of weeks there's always at least half left in the morning. had been mixing up with the RC and right now i'm adjusting to about 1:9 ratio of RC:sample kibbles. my hedgehog seems to start adjusting well to the new sample kibbles.

spray frontline on the body and make sure you don't spray anywhere near the face (best from ear and below). there's another type but i'm using frontline so that's the only i'm recommending.

shower your hoglet about an hour after spraying.

remove bedding and use newspaper as temporary bedding. change them daily and monitor if there are any more moving 'flakes' in the cage.

mites are tiny white 'flakes' you can see moving on the black cloth, not the ones you can smack and ooze blood out.

probably some irritation and skin-sensitivity, some people do develop rashes from handling hedgehogs but i am no medical expert.

unless you're allergic to hedgehogs (pretty rare i'd say) i don't think it's a big issue, especially if you are new to handling hedgehogs.

some hedgehogs are not very keen on mealworms, and if the hedgehog hasn't been eating any since young, then it's even harder to convince them to eat one when they've reach adulthood.

i used to have one hedgehog that will never touch a mealworm no matter what i do, in fact the hedgehog is so picky that it only eats certain few types of catfood only.

from that picture taken and from your description i'm quite sure that your hedgehog has got mites infection.

bring it to the nearest vet for ivermectin injection. judging from the picture, perhaps your hedgehog will need a few trips to the vet for a few jabs until it's completely free of mites.

added: i'd suggest that you take it to the vet as soon as possible. the longer you drag, you'll start noticing bald spots all over the hedgehog's body, dry skins peeling off, lost of appetite and subsequently, lost of weight.

This post has been edited by livingmonolith: May 31 2010, 04:20 PM

i guess crazymouse has got the important points all covered.

if your hedgehog shows signs of mites infection, bring it to the vet asap instead of wait and see. and if you have more than one hedgehog, i'd suggest to take all to get an ivermectin jab for precaution.

frontline is useless for mites infection.

try removing your hedgehog from the airconditioned room and keep it somewhere with a normal room temperature.

low temperature may trigger hibernation and you would not want to see that happening.

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Added on July 12, 2010, 5:44 pmperhaps it's a one-off situation? maybe it choked on some kibbles before vomiting out. you can monitor your hedgehog for several days and see if it happens again. rarely do we come across cases like this, but if it has happened several times the advice is always the same, bring it to the vet.

i don't know who did you buy from, but do take note even though if you're buying from breeders, there are always reputable hobbyist breeders around, you will be able to spot them in the forum from the way they participate in discussions here.

This post has been edited by livingmonolith: Jul 12 2010, 05:49 PM

if you do not intend to breed them then you'll have to put them in separate enclosements. hedgehogs over 6 months are considered adult and ready to breed, that's why you see the male kept chasing the female. if you've left them together for some time then there could be chances that the female might already be pregnant, so be a little extra careful and monitor your female hedgehog.

the screaming sound you hear (more like whistling) comes from the male, not the female.