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xwhateverx92

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So I feel that it is a bit Ironic that yesterday I made a post titled "I'm such a proud Momma" on the hedgie chat board, when this morning I feel like the worst hedgie mom ever.

Annie's cage is in my room and occasionally at night I'll wake up from her running on her wheel or crunching on some food. This morning I woke up to Annie making this scratching noise that I wasn't sure what it was. I got up just thinking that I would take her out for a few minutes to play, and found her oddly behind/under her wheel with her sleeping bag over top of her. I just thought "silly girl" and when I tried to move her sleeping bag off of her, I realized that it was caught on one of her toe nails. So I carefully moved her wheel out of the way and got her out of her cage. I was able to snip the piece of thread off of toe nail, realizing then that her foot was all bloody.

I know that hedgehogs have fragile toes and nails, and that loose threads are a problem. I never noticed any loose threads on the sleeping bag before- I thought it was safe...but Annie won't be getting that sleeping bag back, and I'm thinking I will contact the breeder to let her know that her products that she makes are not safe.

So she was curled up in a ball pretty tight for maybe 5 minutes, obviously pretty terrified and in some pain. When I got her to uncurl, I realized that it wasn't her toe that was bleeding, but the top of her foot-- like maybe she tried to get her foot free by bitting at it (?).
I had her walk around and she seemed to use her foot normally. There was no active bleeding, only dry blood. I couldn't really see any cuts on her skin, it's like she scratched at it really hard.
Annie seemed to be acting pretty normal after a few minutes, and didn't appear to have any problem using her foot. She seemed traumatized though, so I let her back into her cage to sleep.

I'll be checking on her again later to make sure that she is okay. I think I was almost more upset than Annie. Seeing blood on my little baby was so scary.
 
Poor Annie! I've had that happen before with an "octopus" that Masi was sleeping in (a store bought one that was made for ferrets). She got her little toenail stuck in the threads. I guess it just goes to show that all items need to be checked before being given to a hedgie, and it is so important to buy items from reputable, knowledgeable sellers. Glad Annie is okay! :cute:
 
Did she get caught on the thread that stitched the bag together or the fabric of the bag? Stitches need to be very short or they can get caught. The fabrics also need to be tight woven.

Some hedgehogs get caught on fabrics easier than others because of the way their claws grow and babies will get caught easier than adults. Our Pebbles used to get caught all the time because she had very fine front claws that curled under very quickly. They were prime for getting caught on just about anything and she let me know it one time with the scream of death. :hilarious:

Glad Annie is ok.
 
I'm really glad Annie is alright! And you don't need to feel like a bad mom, it is pretty common and there is little you can do to stop it other than to carefully check the product. But with some hedgehogs(like Pebbles;) ) even the safest products can be turned into a safety hazard!
 
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Sasha said:
Yikes Nancy, the scream of death! That'll get anyone moving fast, any time!
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Yep, she had everyone in the house, humans and cats running for the stairs to go see what it was. Hubby and youngest daughter had no clue. I knew it was a hedgehog. There was Pebbles trying to get out of her igloo with her blankie caught on her nail. She was a diva and sure knew how to make everyone jump to her rescue.
 
Man I hate the scream of death! I have never seen anything wrong when I have heard that, but I have one male that just does it for no apparent reason. It is the WORST noise I have ever heard. In the dead of night, upstairs, door shut, 2 fans on (I am crazy and like the loud old box fans) and I still wake up to that scream. Amazing such a small animal can make such a loud noise.
 
It's good to know that I'm not the only one this has happened to, because I felt really horrible about it and like the worst pet owner.
Annie seems to be doing fine. Seems to be acting like usual, ran around the living room like a wild woman yesterday, so I think her foot is fine.
 
We've heard the death scream here too! I was on the couch and Lola was laying on top of me and we were both sleeping. Then the scream came and we both nearly had heart attacks! It was Thorne with a piece of food stuck in the roof of his mouth. We got it out fairly easy. But gosh! We thought someone was dying.

Glad to heard she is back to normal! A bit of blood is always scary.
 
Nancy said:
Did she get caught on the thread that stitched the bag together or the fabric of the bag? Stitches need to be very short or they can get caught. The fabrics also need to be tight woven.

Some hedgehogs get caught on fabrics easier than others because of the way their claws grow and babies will get caught easier than adults. Our Pebbles used to get caught all the time because she had very fine front claws that curled under very quickly. They were prime for getting caught on just about anything and she let me know it one time with the scream of death. :hilarious:

Glad Annie is ok.
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Scream of death? -That's scary!
I've never heard it from a real hedgehog, only online. oo;;;
 
I had the worst night sleep ever last night well after 2am anyway. I woke up to an extremely high pitched scream and I was terrified. I came down to check on my babies and it stopped when I came in the room. I checked them out and they we're all fine. It is truly the most horrible, distressing noise ever. I really hope it's not going to turn into a habit.
 
I had one who was cohabiting with her sister. If her sister was in a snuggle bag and blocking the entrance she would scream. Not sure if it was to make her move, or to wake me to make her move... either way she always got in the bag with her sister.
 
Hemi used to scream every time a thunderstorm would roll in. I could very nearly set my watch to it. A clap of thunder would be heard and exactly 10 seconds later, Hemi would screech. The first time it happened, I raced up the stairs, mom woke up, nearly fell off the couch where she was napping and dad came running from outside. I nearly ran into him on the way up - it turns out he was just about to open the door to come inside when Hemi screeched.

In short order, the diva had three very panicked people at her beck and call. After two thunderstorms when I began to notice a pattern, I started taking her downstairs each time the weather network called for a thunderstorm. I'd snuggle her under a thicker blanket to muffle the noises and play soft, quiet music to provide some background noise. It seemed to work.

I was always amazed by how big a noise could come out of such a tiny body.
 
Just a quick question about nails catching on things--A few nights ago when I was taking out Bilbo, I took the hedgie sak off his head and his nail was tucked into the fluff of the fleece. I just picked his nail out of the fluff and there was no scratches/harm done to his foot, as far as I know he never noticed it! But could this be dangerous to him?
 
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