Hedgehog quills turning PURPLE? (PIC)

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SnowblindWizard

New member
Joined
Aug 29, 2014
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1
I purchased my first hedgehog from a college student on craigslist about a month ago. I noticed she had a small purple patch of quills on her back. I thought it was really cool, but possibly a sign of sickness. After research, I found NOTHING about hedgehog quills turning purple. It seems like the patch maybe grew in size since I had her, but I am not positive.

If this is a health issue, I would like to know what is causing the problem. If it is harmless, I wouldn't mind if she turned completely purple. It actually looks quite amazing. Pic below

http://imgur.com/5ldKJw0
 
It looks as though there's something on her quills, rather than the quills actually changing color. I can't imagine that there's any health condition that would cause a quill to change color like that. Figure that quills are a bit like human hair or nails. You can paint your nails, you can damage your nails at the nail bed area and cause funny things to happen, but they're not just going to change color toward the tips on their own.

Sometimes breeders will color a small area of quills in order to tell one hoglet from another - I suspect that is where the purple came from.
 
Try giving her a bath and gently using a toothbrush to see if you can remove the purple!
I agree with all Hufflepuff said!

It's probably not something to get stressed about!
 
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