Loosing quills and not using wheel?

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Joined
Oct 24, 2011
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So I've had Chi for about 4 months now and she is around 10 months old. For the last month though, shes been shedding her quills and not using her wheel at all.

Her quills ARE growing back, but she usually loosing about 20 quills a day. I've read about hedgehogs going through quilling multiple times and wondering if its just that. She isn't scratching much at all, and her skin isnt flaky, so i don't think its mites. If her skin is flaky, I put on a mixture of coconut oil and couple drops of oil of oregano and it clears it up well for a few weeks. Sometimes I bath her in tea or oatmeal. I clean her cage once or twice a week, and she is in a room with very little drafts. For the most part her attitude seems consistent, and has actually been warming up to us and gotten used to her new cage by actually pooping in it now.
Her wheel is 12 inches and she loved it when i got it for her. She would usually wheel for a few hours every night. But now she hasn't used it much at all. All she really does is sleep day and night unless she wants to eat or I take her out of her cage. Her room does get daylight.

She is eating and pooping normally, however she will only want to eat one mealworm a day at a time instead of the usual 5 or more; like she isnt interested in them at all. (I do occasionally clean the mealworm colony).

Wondering if this is just a phase, because we don't have the money for a vet bill atm.
 
I'd do a few things:
- check the temperature in her cage and make sure it isn't falling too much at night. It's possible that her heating system isn't able to keep up with falling nighttime temperatures and she ends up a bit too chilly to want to get out and run.
- check her feet -- look for little cuts that might make her not want to run and (more likely) check her nails. If her nails have grown too long, it might not feel comfortable to run.
- check her wheel -- it's possible that something has shifted slightly since you got it. Like if she weighs more as she's grown up, perhaps those added grams make the bottom of the wheel touch the floor when she's on it. It's also possible her wheel feels or smells funny to her - I'd take it out, wash it (yeah, even it it's clean) and rinse it with plain water really well just in case.

"Enough daylight" - if you haven't already, I'd put her on a really consistent time schedule for light. Go out and get a timer and plug a lamp for her into it. Make sure she's getting at least 12 hours of light every day (mine are set at ~14h... others may provide additional suggestions on the "best" time).

It's possible she's going through a late quilling - I've read about hedgies quilling around one year. It hasn't happened with mine - I only experienced the 8-week quilling when Satin was a baby. So... good news... it is possible that her behavior change is associated with feeling crummy due to a 1year quilling. But I'd still check all of the above - would rather cover all the bases to ensure I've done everything I can for my little one.
 
thanks for the good suggestions.

we have an electric heater in her room to keep it consistantly warm. she also sleeps in an electric blanket and i check every few hours to make sure its warming her properly. what i should do is get her a proper heating lamp and an insulated igloo. she used to sleep in those huge tubberwear containers, but they dont have any little "windows to let in light and for her to look out. i wondered if she could have been slightly claustrophobic so i moved her into a laundery basket because of the holes on the sides.
i have been checking her nails and trimming them regularily. hers grow fast so i usually
trim them every 2 weeks. her feet seem to be fine as i pick her up every day and put oil
on her to moisturize occasionally.

since we live in the south, spring is coming pretty soon. when i got her during the fall i loved taking her outside to get some sunshine and she runs around and does her thing (supervised). so when i can get her on an outdoor playtime schedual i think that will help :)
 
Hey all, update:

Chi is doing better now. I never did take her to a vet. Her quill loss has basically stopped. Its warm enough now in the mid-south so I take her outside to get some sun and fresh air. Whatever it was before, it seems to be gone now. She does play on her wheel at night as well.

:)
 
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