# New APH owner - couple of quills came off?



## Jeniva (Mar 17, 2012)

I've only had my hog around 2 months - she's an adult and fully grown (quite over weight in fact) - she's a rescue. She's not lost quills before but I just had her out for cuddles and she's quite huffy, she was jolting and when I put her back I found a couple of quills had come out. Is it normal for APHs to lose the occasional quill? As long as they aren't getting bald areas etc?


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

I'm not an expert on APH, but I know a lot about European Hedgehogs and they drop the odd quill all the time. Just like we lose odd hairs from our head.

So I would say that Quilling is normal, when it's just odd quills, but it wouldn't be normal if quills were coming out of one area and leave bald spots, but I'm sure an APH owner will come along and tell you.


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## Jeniva (Mar 17, 2012)

feorag said:


> I'm not an expert on APH, but I know a lot about European Hedgehogs and they drop the odd quill all the time. Just like we lose odd hairs from our head.
> 
> So I would say that Quilling is normal, when it's just odd quills, but it wouldn't be normal if quills were coming out of one area and leave bald spots, but I'm sure an APH owner will come along and tell you.


thank you! Haven't noticed any others coming out in the past 2 months I've had her. If she does lose more I'll get her to a vets.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

I do childrens education at a wildlife sanctuary and one of the talks I give is on hedgehogs. Some days i can take a hedgehog out, let him walk around the table, show the children how then curl into a ball and chat away for half an hour and there's not a quill in sight. Then another day there will be 2 or 3 on the towel that he hides under in the carrier, or on the table. So I know they can occasionally fall out.


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## Jamiioo (May 8, 2010)

Yeah they do have the occasional quill fall out, but not too many :2thumb:

That being said, i treat mine against mites every so often as a precautionary measure after getting mites once, they are fairly hard to spot and see when they do have them. Better safe than sorry i think, but not everyone does this!

If you were to treat as a precaution, Xeno 50 mini is good, as is Beaphar spot on for small animals. Both contain invermectin, which is safe in this form when applied on skin. If you got her from the hoggie rescue i would think they may have already treated her previously maybe?


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## ChazzieJo (Jun 14, 2012)

I wouldn't treat for mites, unless you know she has them. The odd quill coming out is completely normal, however if you notice excessive scratching or bald spots, take her to a vet.
:2thumb:


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## Jeniva (Mar 17, 2012)

Okay so I've not treated her for mites yet. But found another quill today. I had just bathed her to do her nails (as she likes to ball up otherwise). I can't see any mites but I guess you never know so I'll buy something and treat her just as a precaution. She does scratch a bit but she has had quite dry skin so it could be that. Her skin is looking really nice now that I've been using more flaxseed oil on her food and some times on her back. 

Another quick question though, IF she did have mites - would my reptiles be able to get them too?


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## ChazzieJo (Jun 14, 2012)

How often are you bathing her? This really dries out their skin and it's only recommended for when they're very dirty.

Do you know how old she is? It could be that she's quilling, although they go through a few quilling stages when they're young, hedgehogs have been known to have the occasional one when they're adults too. The best way to see if she has mites is to get some black paper or a black towel, rub it all over her and see if you can spot anything on the black material. If you can't see mites, I wouldn't treat for them, and if you do, take her to the vets to get some decent mite treatment.


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## Jeniva (Mar 17, 2012)

ChazzieJo said:


> How often are you bathing her? This really dries out their skin and it's only recommended for when they're very dirty.
> 
> Do you know how old she is? It could be that she's quilling, although they go through a few quilling stages when they're young, hedgehogs have been known to have the occasional one when they're adults too. The best way to see if she has mites is to get some black paper or a black towel, rub it all over her and see if you can spot anything on the black material. If you can't see mites, I wouldn't treat for them, and if you do, take her to the vets to get some decent mite treatment.


I don't bath her much, and only did it because of her dry skin when I got her - her skin is looking loads better now. The couple quills she did lose have s lump on the end of them of skin or whatever ?


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## ChazzieJo (Jun 14, 2012)

I would say it all sounds quite normal, mine quite often lost a few here and there, you can put some flaxseed oil on her food a couple of times a week to help with her skin also in this colder weather, keeping our central heating on tends to have an effect on them too.


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## Jeniva (Mar 17, 2012)

ChazzieJo said:


> I would say it all sounds quite normal, mine quite often lost a few here and there, you can put some flaxseed oil on her food a couple of times a week to help with her skin also in this colder weather, keeping our central heating on tends to have an effect on them too.


Thanks. I've heard flaxseed oil is fatty, I was using it on her food but she's unfortunately a very large and very lazy hog - before the rescue took her in she didn't have a wheel and was fed too fat a diet so she was so fat she struggled to walk. Now she can walk and ball up, but for some reason she's stopped using her wheel and doesn't run about so much when I get her out, so the weights creeping back on ): I've stuck to her low fat diet and only give her treats very very rarely. So no more flaxseed on her food but I'll continue to put drops directly onto her skin. Probably in the summer she'll liven up again and lose some hoggie weight. My room gets rather cold at night, she does have a heatmat but then she'll just want to stay on that and not go in her wheel.


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## Jamiioo (May 8, 2010)

ChazzieJo said:


> take her to the vets to get some decent mite treatment.


My vets have always advised me Xeno 50 mini which is what i have recommended, but they charge a hefty amount for it by the pipette compared to what you can get it for online. 

I think you are just as well buying it yourself if you can unless its a fairly extreme case in which case i would go to the vets for urgent treatment.


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## ChazzieJo (Jun 14, 2012)

Jeniva said:


> Thanks. I've heard flaxseed oil is fatty, I was using it on her food but she's unfortunately a very large and very lazy hog - before the rescue took her in she didn't have a wheel and was fed too fat a diet so she was so fat she struggled to walk. Now she can walk and ball up, but for some reason she's stopped using her wheel and doesn't run about so much when I get her out, so the weights creeping back on ): I've stuck to her low fat diet and only give her treats very very rarely. So no more flaxseed on her food but I'll continue to put drops directly onto her skin. Probably in the summer she'll liven up again and lose some hoggie weight. My room gets rather cold at night, she does have a heatmat but then she'll just want to stay on that and not go in her wheel.


Aw bless her. What diet have you got her on currently? 
Could you perhaps move her heatsource closer to the wheel?


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