FAQ - Caring for hoglets - Part 2

Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum

Help Support Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

alpayton

Always into something...
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
814
Location
Bowling Green, KY
Written by jandshyne:

Caring for and weaning hoglets is fairly simple past about the 14 day mark. Once they hit that age chances are they’re pretty bonded to mom and she to them but you should ever be mindful of mom’s reaction to your interference whether it be changing the food and water or just coming near the cage. Just to highlight a few points:

Hoglets can’t regulate their body heat until they are about 3 weeks old and even then they can’t regulate it fully. They need to always be in the nest with their mother for at least the first three weeks and time away from mom should be limited after that. If it’s a winter litter or if it’s exceptionally cold a heating pad under half of the cage is a good idea. That way mom and babies can move closer to the heat or further away as necessary. A cold baby won’t eat and is more susceptible to illness so maintain that temperature, a room with a temperature of 75 degrees or above or a heating pad is really necessary.


DO NOT disturb the nest or mom unless you absolutely have to. It’s just not worth the risk

Hoglets are very vulnerable, keep any and all other animals out of the room until the hoglets are old enough to see them and be able to fully ball

Hand feeding hoglets is rarely successful, there is absolutely NO proof that handfed babies are friendlier and often they die. DO NOT remove a hoglet from mom to hand feed unless it’s absolutely necessary. Should hand feeding become necessary please see the post on hand feeding hoglets.

Female hoglets are sexually viable at a very young age as are male hoglets, hoglets should be separated by sex no later than 8 weeks and preferably at 7 weeks of age.

When weaning hoglets it’s a good idea to break the kibble in to smaller pieces and it’s necessary to cut fresh foods in to tiny pieces, hoglets can choke and die if their food is too big.

Try to make sure you always breed two females at the same time so you have a potential foster available.

Hoglets need to build up their immunities. They can’t do so if they are exposed to outside threats. Be sure to always wash your hands before feeding and after cage cleaning. Never hold a hoglet if you haven’t washed your hands with anti-bacterial hand soap. Do not allow strangers to over handle your hoglet and make sure anyone who comes in to contact with mom and babies practices good hand washing. DO NOT allow anyone harboring an illness in to the room. We are not certain human illnesses can transmit but some infections such as Staph and Strep are found in animals so better safe than sorry.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top