Hedgehog In the Fog

I stumbled across this animated short based on a classic Russian folktale. It was directed by Yuri Norstein, and the animation is well respected in film circles. It is called "Hedgehog in the Fog" and is about a little hedgehog who is trying to make his way through the foggy woods to his friend Bear Cub's house. It is a scary journey for a little hedgehog, and full of danger and wonder. Here is the link.

In other news Phinneus was a total grumpus, but what else is new? His weight finally reached 300 grams, which I am very pleased with because he is so slender! Hedgies are like humans in that there is no universal "ideal" weight for them. Each one is different, and so their activity level and eating habits should be taken into account when deciding if they are at a healthy weight. Phinneus is right where he should be- which is on the small side. I don't have to worry about him becoming overweight because one of his kibbles is kitten food, so that's nice. I just need to watch and make sure he doesn't become under weight. A sign of poor feeding is when the sides of the hedgehog cave inwards.

I tried introducing Phin to yogurt yesterday (the plain whole milk kind) but he wouldn't have any, per usual. So the quest continues to find food my picky little hedgehog will consent to eat.

Ongoing Skin Battle

Phinneus's skin is STILL dry and flaky. I was getting really worried that it was the symptom of mites or something worse, but after some researching and question asking, I think it is simply the curse of the pet hedgehog to have dry skin. I have been adding flax seed oil to Phin's food every other day, and yesterday he had another oatmeal bath. He was not pleased...but now his quills shine and his fur is white and fluffy!

Hugh Warwick

This is a post dedicated to my hero Hugh Warwick. He is an ecologist-turned-journalist who has done a ton of work with hedgehogs. He has spent copious amounts of time tracking and studying them, as well as working for their relief efforts on Uist. He has written two books specifically about hedgehogs called A Prickly Affair: My Life With Hedgehogs and The Hedgehog's Dilemma. I have read the latter and loved it. I am even thinking of getting one of the hedgie illustrations from the book tattooed.

There is a slight sticking point, however. It would seem that Mr. Warwick disagrees or does not understand why hedgehogs are kept as pets. I can see his point about enjoying them in the wild or in one's garden, and it's true that they are not truly domesticated and retain their wild characteristics even when in captivity. Thing is though, I can't just pop outside and see one eating slugs off my vegetables because here in the US we simply don't have wild hedgehogs. I turn to my precious pet for hedgie love.

That said, I love his book and his website and his blog. He has a hedgehog blog too! One of his posts caught my attention in particular. Apparently the British governement wants to spend 97 billion pounds on big bad bombs, so in response there has been a website set up for people to post videos explaining what they think the 97 billion could be spent on instead. Mr. Warwick has added his own video explaining that even a cut of one millionth of that money could be used to do so much for hedgehogs. He points out that the world would be a much better place if we spent our money on life instead of death and destruction. Now fancy that. Here is the site.

Sometimes They Like You, Sometimes They Don't

I realize that I am writing this belatedly, but when I picked Phinneus up from the friends who were caring for him while I was on vacation he gave me an unexpectedly warm greeting. He was sitting on my lap, amidst his favorite purple blankies, and he crawled off to find a patch of my skin to lick. He licked and licked (I was in a terrible fit of giggles because it tickled so much) and then he started anointing himself like there was no tomorrow. He had big globs of spit all over his quills! Eventually he settled down and allowed himself to be cuddled, no fuss involved.

Hedgehogs all have very different personalities (they remind me somewhat of dachshunds, as they can be stubborn about who they are) and they can arbitrarily like or dislike anyone. Usually they do bond with their owners and become attached to them through the days of love and cuddles. To be a hedgehog owner requires patience and understanding. When a hedgehog balls up and positively spits and pops with what seems to be fury, one must understand that it is in fact fear. These are timid animals who are used to dark and peace and bugs, so a big blundering human can be quite frightening. However, after you win your hedgehog's trust and show them that you are a friend (large amounts of treats helps) they are very adorable and -dare I say? cuddly pets. When meeting new people some hedgies may retreat into their protective ball of quills until they figure out it is safe...or they may decide to despise that person. In this case it would seem that the person has mortally offended said hedgehog, but really I think it is just the little critters being crotchety. In the same way they will want nothing to do with that expensive cat food you just paid and arm and a leg for, or the delicious meal worms that any other hedgehog would go nuts for, but which yours won't even sniff at. Hedgehogs really do call the shots, and they aren't afraid to draw blood with their quills or go on hunger strikes to prove it.

Washing and Cleaning

Everyone who owns, or has owned, a hedgehog will tell you this: they can be incredibly messy! Every morning without fail I find a poop/pee splattered wheel, food crumbs, and bits of litter strewn about. I clean his wheel daily (and I am seriously considering investing in a Carolina Storm Wheel soon to make my life easier) and try to remove large pieces of miscellaneous litter filth. The wheel that I have has small ridges which supposedly help small critters get a grip on it, but really just makes cleaning more difficult. Some wheels, like the Silent Spinner, are downright dangerous, but mine- the Comfort Wheel- is just inconvenient, and could pose a potential threat if my hog were big and fat because there is a plastic beam which sticks out into the middle of the contraption. He's not, so he's fine for now. Anyway, up until yesterday I went through a ton of Clorox wipes scrubbing the wheel. Then I got the idea to try using some Listerine as it has a high alcohol content and would save me wipes, and be a little safer for Phinneus as there wouldn't be as many harmful chemicals. I rinse the wheel thoroughly with near-boiling temperature water after every scrub to make sure I get rid of any chemicals anyway. The Listerine method seems to be working, and here is how it goes: First I use a cleaning wipe to remove large chunks of nasty (i.e. poo). Then I rinse the whole wheel under a heavy stream of hot water, adding Listerine as I go. This makes a soapy, minty mixture of cleaning goodness which I swirl around the wheel. Finally I go back with some toilet paper to remove any particles which may be clinging on, and give the wheel a final hot rinse.

Because I use fleece bedding, and because Phinneus mercifully keeps limits his excrement to his wheel (usually) I only have to change the bedding every two or three days. When I do I shake all the mess into the bin and then dump it into the trash. Next I take a wet napkin and go over the inside of the bin, and then follow up with a drying rag. Then I add a new fleece liner with a towel under it, his food and water dishes, his wheel, his hidey log, and his blankies and toys. The whole thing takes less than ten minutes.

I have also been attempting to litter train Phin...this has been so-so. Some hedgies get the idea right away and become loyal to their litter pans. By the way, the litter pan I use is just a small rectangular cookies sheet with Yesterday's News in it, which I place under the wheel to catch anything that might come off it. Like I said though, this only goes so-so. Some hedgies simply refuse to have their refuse contained and spread it willynilly around their environment. Phin is somewhere in the middle of these two poles. He won't go out of his way to use his litter pan, but he rarely poops or pees outside of his wheel. So really, I guess his wheel is his litter pan. Silly hedgepig, pans are for pooping!

Back Again!

I got back from vacation today and as soon as we could my boyfriend and I headed to go pick up my little hedgepig. He seemed glad to see me; by glad I mean he licked my skin thoroughly and then spent a very long time anointing. He was also happy to explore and settle down in my lap amongst his blankets.

Now we three are relaxing at home and Phinneus is plopped out in order to cope with the dense heat. I can see him (he thinks he is undetected) through the clear plastic bin as he falls asleep.

It was lovely to come back to find his cage clean and his food and water bowl full. I couldn't be happier with the care he was given while I was gone, and I am very glad that I decided NOT to take him, as it would have been such a stressful change in his routine.

In other news, I am fighting the fight not to respond to every ad posted for hedgehogs looking for new homes on craigslist. I would say that if a person has had no luck finding a breeder near them, then that person should check their local classifieds.

Also, I have stumbled across some interesting hedgehog related paraphernalia, and thought I'd share some of the best finds.

The original blue hedgehog

And the prickly hedgehog said...

Tie Dye hedgie

Cuff links?

Necklace

Alice's Sewing Basket

Share the hedge!

Mecki and Micki

Huggable CD case

And finally, possibly the strangest is...

There are tons more cool hedgehog products out there. Some of which are so bizarre you wonder how people manage to sell them and make money...Oh yeah, there's people like me who are suckers for these little critters :)

Vacation

It's vacation time, and Phinneus is spending the week with his Auntie and Uncle (some friends of mine). I decided that it would be a bit too stressful to drag him along, not to mention I don't know if I'd have enough time to spend on him while I am running around. So it's the first vacation I've faced as a hedgie owner and frankly I miss him already...it's only been a few hours.

Flaxseed and...Adventure?

Upon the advice of some knowledgeable hedgie people at Hedgehog Central I have now started giving Phinneus regular amounts of flax seed oil for his skin by way of pouring it over his kibble. I am going to do this three times a week and hope to see improvement in his skin. I was also informed that hedgehogs have chronically dry skin- just part of the breed- and not to worry too much. Whew! I do have a tendency to overreact to anything that might in any way possible be health related when it comes to my hedgehog.

* A helpful note about giving flax seed oil: If you put too much on a hedgie's skin it might irritate him and causing scratching. Also, be sure to buy it in capsule form as they are easy (and fun!) to break open, and last a long time, as opposed to a bottle of flax seed oil, which doesn't.

Now for the fun stuff! I decided to take Phinneus out on an "adventure" yesterday to the boardwalk. Partly because I thought he might enjoy it, partly because I knew it would yield great photos (it did), and partly because I needed to get outside. For his part, Phin did a wee bit of exploring, but mostly tried to hide under me or local plant life. He also found what must have been a *fascinating* piece of boardwalk because he licked it for a while and then anointed with it. For those who are not familiar with anointing here is a link to a definition from hedgehog wiki. Photos from the event will be in the thumbnails from flickr above.

Finally, no word from the zoo yet :(

Katmandu- Destroyer of Peace and Wellbeing

My boyfriend has a cat named Rodrigo, who is a little over a year, and is very much an energetic kitten. An energetic, mischievous, devious, little fiendish kitten. He discovered an opened package of Aveeno Oatmeal Bath Formula that was leftover from when I gave Phinneus a bath, and which I had left on a chair. Sometime during the night Catface dragged it down, spilled it ALL over the living room, then proceeded to drag it through the kitchen and into the bedroom. Apparently the time was ripe to anoint the carpeting, the clothes on the floor, my bag, and all sorts of other things with oatmeal. He made sure to grind it in. When I eventually discovered this I even saw that he had signed the mess by leaving little oatmeal kitty paw prints. Grrrr.

In the end we took our revenge by dressing him up as Space Cat, complete with cape and tinfoil helmet. Ha.

Cuddles, Flakes, and an Email to the Zoo

Phinneus ate his first mealworm! Almost all pet hedgehogs I know love to eat mealworms. Most owners use them as special treats to spoil or reward their hedgies, but Phin wanted nothing to do with them...until recently! The trick is to hold him on his back while he is in "ball mode"- that is all balled up so only his face is peering out- and then dangle food in front of him. This is what finally got him to chomp the worm, and since them he has been enjoying them. I also got him to nibble some watermelon. This is all part of the effort to improve his diet and help his skin. It is still nastily flaky, two oatmeal baths and several new foods later. The skin behind his ears is mercifully healthier, but on his back it is like a fresh snowfall.

In other news, I recently took a visit to the local county zoo, as I usually do. I went to go look at the African Pygmy Hedgehog that they keep in the Discovery Center (with the creepy crawlies, the bats, sugar gliders, and a few tattered looking monkeys). That poor little hedgie looked like it was in a sorry state. Not that I could see it's face; the hedgehog (albino from what I can tell) was crouched inside a log with it's back facing out and it's quills up. It had no visible source of exercise or activity, was bedded on some suspicious looking shavings, and had a dish of cat food and a water bottle. Although many people say that water bottles are okay for hedgehogs, I personally wouldn't wan to risk it because they can break a hedgie's teeth and injure their little tongues. Water bowls on the other hand present no dangers and just require a little more maintenance. Shavings can dry out their skin, and feeding a hedgehog one type of food will leave it malnourished. All in all this little hedgie needed help so I decided to contact the zoo by sending them a friendly email which listed the ways I have mentioned above to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of their hedgehog. I offered to donate supplies as well so that they wouldn't be able to refuse on the grounds of expense. Now I just have to wait and hope that they take my suggestions. I am also hoping that they won't read the email as an attack on their zoo, as it really is a lovely little place and I only want to help their critters. Updates will follow on the status of their hedgehog.

Flaky Skin? An Oatmeal Bath Is Just The Thing!

Phinneus has been getting flakier and flakier skin. Dry skin like this in hedgehogs can be due to mites (which are a very common affliction in the hedgie world), fungal or bacterial infection, dry air, or bad diet. Add quilling on top of that and a poor little hedgehog could be in for a rough time. Since the vet took a topical skin sample from behind Phin's ears and saw no mites, it is unlikely that they are the cause. Humidity has been soaring this summer, so that is out. Also, since Phin hasn't lost vast amounts of quills and isn't showing any bald patches, I'm thinking that he just has been lacking in diet. He is, after all, extremely picky about food. I added a new food to his mix- Blue Buffalo Spa Select for Mature Cats. This will be slowly integrated with is mix of Solid Gold Katz-n-Flocken, and Wellness Kitten Food. He also gets Innova kibbles and Wellness wet cat food as treats. Here is a wonderful comprehensive list of quality cat foods based on their top ingredients. I have heard that even picky hedgehogs enjoy watermelon, so I will try that too.
On top of this diet change I took the advice of hedgehog care veterans and bought some Aveeno Oatmeal Bath formula. There is a great article here that I referenced before I went ahead and dunked Phinneus in the tub. I filled the tub with warm (not hot!) water that came up a little above Phin's tummy. Not so much that he would panic and think he was drowning. I used most of the packet of oatmeal in the water and broke up the clumps with my hand. Phin remained surprisingly calm as I poured the water over his back and gently swished him around. He did poop. A LOT. But this is a common thing for hedgies to do during bath time, as few of them actually enjoy baths. I also made sure to get his poopy feet (jokingly referred to as "poop boots")nice and clean. No doubt by morning they will be filthy again.
I held Phinneus until he was completely dry, bribing him with treats, and then I put some flax seed oil on his food. It can be good to put flax seed oil directly onto the hedgehog after a bath, but that last time I tried that Phin scratched until he bled. So this time I just doused his kibble with it and added some freeze dried worms for good measure.
Now to wait and see if his skin improves. If not...then it is time for another trip to the vet. *sigh*

A Sweet Hedgepiggy, and a Word on Bedding

More about Phinneus: As I wrote before I have been lucky to get a hedgehog who was both healthy and socialized. This is probably because he came from a single breeder who sold to a pet store and not a mill. The breeder sent along several packets of the Katz-n-Flocken, since he had been feeding his hedgies that. It worries me why a small breeder would sell a good animal to a pet store...but so. Phinneus is coming (I think) to the end of his quilling period. This a period on a hoglets life that, "typically at 2-3 weeks, 5 weeks, and 8-12 weeks of age," (hedgehogworld.com). For a while Phin would drop quills everywhere he went and I have found them (painfully, sometimes) in the carpet, all over his cage, and even in the bathtub. Hedgehogs have been known to go through radical personality changes as they emerge from their final quilling. Kind of like when a child becomes a grumpy teenager and then ends up being a completely different adult person. Anyway, Phin has not changed, thank goodness. He remains good natured and curious. He likes to explore, and only cuddles up to people when he is tired or scared. Oh, he has his good days and bad days like everybody else, but mostly he is his own sweet self. For this, I thank whatever hedgehog genes he has going for him and count myself lucky to have him.

Now for a more practical note. Since this blog is about being a first time owner and my trials and tribulations I wanted to write about the different types of bedding I have explored. I bought a TON of aspen bedding when I got Phinneus. I have had various other "pocket pets" before and used aspen for all of them, and so I didn't even think that maybe hedgehogs had different bedding needs than gerbils and guinea pigs. That seemed fine for a little while, but then I wanted to make extra sure that my guy was having the good life so I bought what I considered a luxury for him- Carefresh. This too worked well enough, but it was ultra messy and stinky. I watched to make sure he didn't eat it (many hedgies have been known to eat their bedding and get bowel obstructions). He didn't- picky eater. I grew unsatisfied with this and also noticed that he was leaving puffs of dandruff. About this time I joined the Hedgehog Central forums and found out that FLEECE was the actually the best bedding choice. It does not dry out skin and had no loose threads for them to get tangled in. It also eliminates mess and stink (if changed regularly) and cuts down on the costs of bedding. So I found some cheap fleece, cut it into the appropriate size and voila! Phinneus and I have been pleased ever since. If you are interested in this method you can usually find some good deals at places like Hancock Fabrics, Jo~Ann Fabrics, or Michael's. Light colored liners are the best because then you can keep an eye out for blood or oddly colored urine/feces.

Phinneus has woken up to snack as I write this so I am off to observe and cuddle him :)

Beginnings

Here is the beginning of this blog. I have started it almost two months after I picked up Phinneus from a pet store in my college town. Why is this? Partly because it did not occur to me to create a blog until very recently, and partly because it would have been very foolish of me to create a blog about caring for a hedgehog when all I knew was from books, and nothing from actual hands on care! I want to say THANK YOU to Hedgehog Central, and particularly to those on the forums, for providing a wealth of information on hedgie care. All of those wonderful people were warm and welcoming, and also understanding when I quibbled over everything from trivial made-up problems, to actual long-term health and care concerns. Phinneus and I are both so much better off since we've had Hedgehog Central. Readers can find a link to the site on the blog.

Now, on the hedgehog himself. Phinneus was purchased from a pe tstore. That said, I would not recommend others doing this. Most hedgies (and critters in general) at pet stores come from mills of mass breeders and can have a wealth of health and temperament problems. As a friend on the forum said, "No breeder worth his/her salt would sell to a pet store." This is because caring breeders who want to properly introduce hedgehogs into the world want to make sure that their animals are going to good homes with owners who know what they are doing. Also, even small breeders will sell of their "less desirable stock". That is, those with illnesses or weaknesses. Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome, or WHS, is a serious problem as there is no cure and 100% outcome of death for the hedgehog. Reputable breeders are working to breed this disease out of the population, but careless people who just stick any two hedgies together ruin this. Not to mention there is a risk of inbreeding when two hedgehogs at random are paired.

It is much better to find a good breeder and get in line for one of their babies. These will be healthy and socialized, and good breeders will provide you with information about proper care- especially a good diet. Here is a link to a list of breeders in the US and Canada: http://hedgehogcentral.com/breeders.shtml

Back to Phin. He was roughly 8 weeks old when I purchased him, so that would make his birthday March 15, 2010...or somewhere thereabouts. He came to me healthy, socialized, and curious. He just loves to eat, poop, wheel, and explore. I have been very lucky so far with him! Phinneus is starting to show his personality more and more everyday as he emerges from babyhood. For example; he is nervous pooper and ends up pooping all over new people. He loves chicken, lamb, and eggs, but won't have anything to do with fruit and vegetables. This poses a problem for me as I need to give him a well rounded diet. Right now he eats a mix of Katz-n-Flocken Gold, and Wellness Kitten Formula.
Phinneus is bedded on fleece, which I change every few days depending on stinkiness, and he has a large Comfort Wheel. Wheels are ESSENTIAL to hedgehog well being. It keeps them slim and is a great source of exercise.

That's all for now folks, more to come soon. If you have any questions, please post them! Oh, and stay away from this girl on youtube: timbertomboy. She is full of nonsense and lies.