friend adopted preg. hedgie now babies are a week old and issues?

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Chin_Pig

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 30, 2009
Messages
192
Location
St. Joseph, MO
so my friend adopted a female and male hedgie from some guy on CL and he told her the female might be pregnant because he let them out to play all the time together. my friend has knowledge of hedgies of working with them at the zoo, but they never bred them at the zoo so he hoped they weren't pregnant. sure enough about a week ago the female gave birth. she hasnt messed with them at all i found lots of info from hedgie central on what to do for a preg, and lactating female and she has read up on what to do.

anyway on Saturday the babies were scattered in the cage, my friend found them and put them back with mom they were like 5 days old i think, they were cold but still moving, as soon as they were back with mom she let them under her to nurse.

well just today she found one dead. and the other two are missing quills and she says it looks like they were drug across rough flooring like cement (they are on pine or aspen bedding in a plastic bottom cage) she took them from mom and found on the net that they can be fed a dog milk re-placer(i forget what it is called) and she has a heat lamp on them and is feeding them as often as the breeder website has said.

we were wondering what could have provoked momma to do this to her babies? if it was momma... nothing could have gotten to the babies and momma so we are not sure what has happened.

any advice on how too keep the babies healthy and growing?

thanks,

Cassie
 
You should have found mention on hedgehog central regarding mother hedgehogs cannibalizing and killing their young. It isn't uncommon for female hedgehogs to do this, especially if they are stressed. Sometimes just too much activity in the same room as their cage can be enough to stress a mother.

It could be she was stressed from all that was happening or just that she is not a good first time mother. I'll leave the second portion of your question to Nancy. She is likely to most qualified on here to answer it.
 
maybe it is a first time mother thing, i haven't seen them yet, i dont know what they look like just wrote down how my friend described to me what they looked like, but i know nothing has changed in the room or in routine. when i think of cannibalizing young i think of gory horrible scenes, so i didnt think it was that. she didnt see any marks on the babies that looked like teeth marks though....
 
Does it look like mom killed the dead one? Sometimes mom kill one that she knows has defects or will not survive. Marks on the babies can happen from mom dragging them around. Some babies are very active and will crawl out of the nest box. Moms also drag babies around when she is stressed.

Hand feeding is very difficult and the chance of the babies surviving is just about nil. The babies should have been left with mom. How long have they been away from her? If only an hour or so, I'd put them back and hope she accepts them. She is their best chance for survival.
 
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