CIm : yeah.. I'm freakin pissed off when saw his post with those smiling emo!!!

Living: not here... in my hometown forum.... we all already scold him but he think he's true as no law stated cannot cut the quill... stupid guy!

tell him law are meant to be broken..

kanasai la tat guy.... cut the quil... hedgies are cuter than durian bcos of it...

er my hedgehog just broke his water container...so i had to put water on his food dish for 3-4 days until i get the water container repaired. Problem is he keep spilling it on the woodchips. So happens then i also ran out of royal canin so i put in friskies...which he doesn't even touch!

so water + woodchips + left over friskies .... what you get? ... see picture




Attached thumbnail(s)

cool!!! u got mushmon(digimon)....

bledig : u should stock up the food lar -.-"
besides... friskies not that good... it's good that ur hedgie wont touch the food at all.. then it means he/she din eat at all the whole day?

urgh....
how can u got mushroom?

don't worry he still have canin. he doesn't go hungry. as proof i don't think i have seen a skinnier hedgehog than mine even though he runs a lot

i wonder how the mushroom come out? any idea? i think i am gonna mix this batch of wood chippings out on the balcony after cleanup and see if taugeh pops up

Mushroom = fungus

Our humid weather is a paradise for fungus to grow, provide a suitably damp environment and surpise!, fungus heaven. Some types of mold/fungus can make animals sick.

Perhaps sun or bake the leftover bedding to get rid of any spores.
Wash absolutely everything in the cage.

I agree about Friskies being a very bad food, its the equivalent of eating Twisties for breakfast lunch and dinner. In future you can try mixing other brands like Blackwood/ Acana with his regular RC, just in case RC is out of stock you have a backup food that he is used to eating.

This post has been edited by Cimredopyh: Jun 25 2008, 01:17 AM

My dear friends, yesterday night my little Demon passed away. I am sorry for not sharing this news sooner but it took me awhile to gather the courage to talk about it and look at his pictures
you may click below to view the memorial thread

http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=727190

Cim : I'm so sorry to hear that..
as u were told us he got improvement and now....
*the rest I had said it all in memorial thread *

how bout Angel? is she okay?

*pats Cim in the shoulder*

how come
u said he already recover?

demon.....

pretty unexpected really. RIP demon.

hope angel's doing fine.

To be honest with you guys, 2 years ago, I'll poison you guys to get a hedgehog as a pet as they really make a good companion. Now, when I heard friends around me going to get one, I stop them with the experiences I had. Hedgehog in Malaysia is very very fragile. For those who are getting one as a pet, please do reconsider. Til now, I'm still very very sad over losing both Pickle and Lucy, where I have to put them to sleep to ease their pain. Imagine what I was going through that time. sigh

thats not true. it depends on each individual hedgie and the owner.

i think my Amy is the longest living one around this forum? she's the first batch along with pickles and sparkie i think...

sometimes, i think you people care too much about the thing. they're solitary animals which do not need you to touch/carry/fondle them everyday.

to be honest, bonding time with my amy is only when she bath once every 2 weeks. other then the usual odd day pet and sniff session, she's just there.

its not that i'm asking you all to not care about the animal. but they're like that. they prefer it to be that way. they might be affectionate, but not all the time. if you want a pet that you can bring around everywhere and touch whenever you want to, get a glider.

PS: wet wood chips breeds mites. the mushroom is the least of your worries. mites can be deadly to a hedgie if untreated. to me, best bedding=newspaper. or breeder select cat litter.

This post has been edited by TAGreptiles: Jun 25 2008, 01:07 PM

Sorry about your pet hedgehog. But i am sure he had a good life so cheer up!

Thank you everyone for your kind wishes. It means more to me than you may think
I too thought that he was improving. Due to the circumstances of his death, a summary of his symptoms and the vet being unable to find the cause of the bowel irritation, it has been suggested to me that he may have suffered from cancer in the stomach.

Angel is doing fine, she is due for a checkup soon. I will be sure to update you. My little girl is a big comfort to me at this time.

Yes i agree
The fact that Amy is among one of 'the first batch' may have more to do with it and less to do with how little you handled her than you realize. The life expectancy used to be 5-8 years when hedgehogs first entered the pet market in North America and Canada, then 5-4 and now its not even that, 2-3 years has become the norm. No matter how well cared for they are dying younger and younger.
When they first entered the pet market they were closer in relation to the 'wild' hedgehogs that they descended from, where nature would naturally kill off the sick and weak allowing the more healthy to live one and reproduce. (of course the African hedgehog we keep as pets does not actually exist in the wild, being a hybrid species, but the reasoning is still sound.)

The increasing amount of disease and ever shortening life expectancy we are seeing is from a lack of genetic variability from mate pairings. I have no idea how many animals the original gene pool comes down from but i doubt it is a very large one, them being a hybrid species.
When you have such a small gene pool, it's especially important that you breed very carefully, paying close attention to disease and illness. But now that pet stores are selling hedgehogs and very un-knowledgeable people are breeding potentially unhealthy animals, This causes huge problems. Because these hedgehogs that carry the genetic illnesses are potentially being bred to a hedgehog that they are related to (some times closely related).

Would it be fair of me to say that you cared too little and that you missed seeing the very obvious signs of physical affection that a well bonded and socialized hedgehog can show toward their owner?
I don't think its fair of me to say that.
It is also unfair, and frankly rather carelessly worded, of you to judge us of caring too much about "the thing"

To be honest, handling for a bath once every two weeks is not bonding time.

Yes i couldn't agree more, Not all hedgehogs are affectionate, and some really do better when given space and privacy.
I would also add that for those for you who like display pets, go for reptile or something like a T. Keeping a potentially affectionate animal as a display pet only would be a waste.

The ink used on Malaysian newspaper, unlike some countries, is not a non-toxic ink, and can stain the white belly fur of hedgehogs. Any damp paper or wood can harbor a variety of things. Breeder Select is made from recycled paper, and is not excluded.
To me, Fleece cage liners are by far the best. The chances of getting mites is reduced almost to 0.

This post has been edited by Cimredopyh: Jun 25 2008, 05:14 PM

Yes, I have to agree with the above especially the last 2 para...

The lack of studies about breeding can cause the expected lifespan of an animal to be shorten dramatically.

This does not only apply to hedgies, but to many-many other pets today.

I am wondering if my suggies will live to their average lifespan of 10 years or not and still there are many of their youngs being pulled away before fully weaned to be sold. Most pets separated before fully weaned will have a higher chance of getting sick in the future and their lifespan is cut short to a few years directly...

It's a sad thing that there are still many buyers out there who does not realize this and succumb to purchasing these poor little animals...

Money can drive people to do anything.

Knowledge is power to prevent us from these people.

KP

What I'm saying here is that the quality of hedgehogs is getting from bad to worse. "Breeders" here breed without any knowledges, the quality and health of the hedgie are uncertain. What I'm talking is probability for the numbers of hedgehogs that manage to survive and died of old age. Your Amy is still living (thank god) doesn't mean that other people's hedgehogs manage to live that long too. The percentage for hedgehog to survive until it died of old age is waaay too low.