# African Pygmy Hedgehog - Fleas?



## Athravan

My APH's are scratching a bit lately, does anyone who has experience keeping these know if they should be routinely treated for fleas? I do my dogs every 3 months.

I know wild hedgehogs often have a lot of fleas, but have no idea what sort of flea treatment would be suitable for them. I can't actually see any fleas and not being bitten myself, and the dogs aren't scratching... but just wondering why the hogs seem to be scratching themselves quite a bit lately.

They're still quite young, around 4 months old, not sure if that makes a difference, if they could be itching their quills or something else.


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## Young_Gun

I'm sure they 'moult' out quills while young, sure someone will know for sure though.


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## saxon

I haven't kept African pygmy's but have 'rescued' one or two wild ones.

I have always used cat frontline drops. I only ever put one or two drops on, one cat pippette can easily do two adult wild hedgehogs.
No-one ever told me it was safe to do so. ( thought I better add that)
But as I used it with my ferrets without problem then I used it on hedgehogs. I haven't had any die oon me yet because of being flea'd.
I have two adults that 'visit' and I de-flea them three times a year with frontline.
I do them as my cats keep getting hedgey fleas on their ears and it does my head in.


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## Athravan

Thanks, I nipped into the vets today to be sure and spoke to someone briefly who sold me some advantage droppers for kittens/rabbits and said to do them every 3 months


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## feorag

saxon said:


> I do them as my cats keep getting hedgey fleas on their ears and it does my head in.


That's interesting because all the research I've done on hedgehogs says that their fleas are 'host specific' and will not live on other animals.

I suppose they may get onto your cats, but would soon leave???


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## saxon

feorag said:


> That's interesting because all the research I've done on hedgehogs says that their fleas are 'host specific' and will not live on other animals.
> 
> I suppose they may get onto your cats, but would soon leave???


They are 'host specific' but it's pretty nasty when the cat has about a hundred of the damn things on his ears when he comes in the house. It's easier to try and keep them to a minimum on the hedgehogs than to try and comb them off the cats ears.

I suppose if he didn't come in the house very often they would get a chance to leave and find a more appropriate host.

The cat who is the worst is our Domino he seems very fond of the hedgehogs, I mean that honestly he doesn't try and hurt them, he will follow them around for ages when they are in the garden and often shares a bowl with them.


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## saxon

Athravan said:


> Thanks, I nipped into the vets today to be sure and spoke to someone briefly who sold me some advantage droppers for kittens/rabbits and said to do them every 3 months


 
Yes vets are going more for Advantage now than Frontline. I think that might be becaue you can get Frontline without prescription now so it works out cheaper. I don't know if you can get Advantage without prescription.

Did they advise you about worming??
I've never wormed the hedgehogs that come here.


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## Hogarth

Hi,
I have very recently got a little hog myself and also noticed scratching, but also flaky skin- mine is about 3 months old, i read the following link which explains their shedding of quills which would fit.
Hedgie Hut | Alaskan African Pygmy Hedgehog Breeder


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## Jamiioo

You should be carefull when selecting treatments for APH as alot of treatment that are used for wildies can be toxic to APH. Most commonly used one i have known of that is suitable for APH is Xeno 50 mini pipettes which are hoggie safe.

If your hogs are only 4 months old then i would say there is a good chance they are still going through a phase of quilling, my hog went through one at 5/6 months. They are also quite prone to dry skin so a bath using something like aveeno oil can help sooth their skin a little (especially during quilling) although they shouldnt be bathed too often as it can make their skin worse if done too much.

Also, APHS dont need to be routinley wormed/flea'd unless that are actually showing symptoms of having them.


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## Shell195

Frontline of any kind can be very toxic to hogs, the only stuff we use at the sanctuary for our wild hogs is Johnsons rid mite for birds(we have only used it twice).
When we first started caring for hogs we lost 3 x 3 week old babies as the vet frontllined them, they were dead within the hour


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## LiamRatSnake

I can only assume that ivermectin would be suitable. I know it's good for most small birds and animals. And I swear by it's use on poultry.
Please don't try it until someone can confirm it's use.


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## mrcriss

Haven't read the whole thread, but there is a good chance the hog is "quilling" which is when they lose their baby quills. They scratch a lot and the skin can get dry.

Here's an alternative method to help the skin that I've used and worked a treat. 

Cut a foot off an old pair of tights, fill it with rolled oats and tie the end so you have an oat bag. Get a shallow bowl of luke warm water and put the oat bag in their to stew for a couple of minutes. Then bathe the hog in the water making sure you scoop some over their backs. They don't love it, but it's only for a minute and then put them back in the cage, making sure they stay warm. The oats soothe and naturally condition the skin. 

Good luck!:2thumb:


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## mrcriss

Oh and btw, don't use flea stuff on them. I can't imagine they have fleas anyway.


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## Athravan

This thread was started in 2007 :lol2:


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## mrcriss

Oh right, hahaha! I only answered cos it popped to the top then 
Still, there's the method I use to ease the stress of quilling anyway, and it works without using harmful stuff


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## Jamiioo

Omg. :lol2: I never noticed that either! I assumed it was new after it appeared on the main forum page lol.


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## LiamRatSnake

Oops :blush:


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