My poor hedgehog!!

michelle · 04-18-2004, 12:16 AM

Mama Chiku gave me the biggest scare today! I went in to the room and her little baby was running around on the floor, instead of in her cage on the table. So I went to put her back in with the mom, but she was MIA! I looked everywhere in the room but I couldn't find her. I even dug through the garbage. Then someone told me that they thought they saw the door open earlier, so I searched the whole house from top to bottom and couldn't find her! Jason kept trying to give up, saying stuff like "Well, she'll turn up sooner or later" but I couldn't bring myself to stop looking. I have had hedgehogs dissapear before that came back on their own, but something told me that Mama Chiku was in trouble. So I looked and looked and looked some more, and then I went back in the room and just sat and cried. Then suddenly I heard this terrifying "wheeeeeeee!!!" squeal coming from what I thought was Paco's cage on the dresser. I looked in behind the dresser, and there was Mama Chiku squished between the dresser and the wall! She had somehow jumped from her table up onto the dresser, then fell off the back. Poor thing! Lukily she was alright, and when I put her back in her first priority was to take care of her baby. While she fed the baby I held up her waterbottle so she could take a nice long drink. I guess the point of this story is that if your pet ever disappears, don't give up looking because it could be in trouble!

velvetrabbit · 04-18-2004, 12:57 AM

I'm glad she was ok!

Something similar to this happened to my aunt (who stays with us). She had gone away for the weekend, and my aunt's room doubled as my mum's office during the day. My aunt had a terrarium with a mouse and there was also a cat in the house.

I remember my aunt saying to all of us before she left to make sure that the door was always closed, because the cat was too fond of mice to pass up the tasty "treat".

In any case, my aunt came back from her trip and she couldn't find the mouse anywhere. When she asked my mum, my mum recalled a time when she opened the door to the room and the cat came out. So we assumed that the cat had eaten the mouse.

Devastated, my aunt went to sleep that night but found she could still hear her poor little friend's squeaking, even though he was gone. She didn't think anything of it until the next night when she heard it again. Then she realized that she wasn't imagining it, but that there actually was a mouse squeaking in the room. So, she dashed out of be and tried to follow the noise. It was coming from the garbage can. It was one of those garbage cans that has little plastic bars running the length of it, so that there were open gaps between them. The poor little mouse had been jammed between the garbage bag and the garbage can bars....

Unfortunately the mouse had sustained such damage that he had to be put down....

pamm013 · 04-18-2004, 01:10 AM

Im glad mom and baby are okay!!! that is definately a scare...

I had that happen with a chinchilla... I went to the movies with a friend.. we came back.. and I asked her if she wanted to feel the baby move.. she said sure.. so I opened up the cage.. let her feel.. then told her to hurry up cause I had to go to the bathroom really bad... so I closed the cage.. went potty.. walked her out.. went to bed.. Andy woke up the next morning and went in to check on Isabella.. since she was getting close to her due date (we werent exactly sure when that was) and he came back in the bedroom and asked me where Isabella was.. I said.. she is in her cage.. he said no shes not... so I got up and ran in there.. I couldnt find her... finally I heard some noise coming from behind the entertainment center... there she was... but she was bloody.. I picked her up.. and she felt deflated.. so I freaked. I thought for sure that the baby was gone.. I looked further where she was and seen this bloody blob on the floor.. I hadnt had a kit before.. so I didnt know what one would look like after it was born. then Andy said to just look more... he tilted the EC backward.. and I looked underneath it.. and lo and behold.. there was a little baby... lol...... that was scary!!!

fertmom · 04-18-2004, 09:27 AM

I am so glad the hedgies had a happy ending to their story! How do you suppose mama hedgie got out in the first place? and got the baby out too?

michelle · 04-18-2004, 11:05 AM

I had taken Mama's wheel out to clean it and forgot to put it back in, so she decided to go look for it. Most of my hedgehogs have the ability to poke the lids of their cages with their nose if they try hard enough, but they don't do it unless they have a good reason to want out. I don't know how the baby managed to climb out.. the mama must have given her a boost. From now on, I'm keeping the dresser pulled out so she can't get stuck there again.

clearjade · 04-19-2004, 11:34 AM

Gosh, that is a scary experience. Good to hear everything turned out ok!

Lixx · 04-19-2004, 06:59 PM

Thank god they are okay!

fertmom · 04-19-2004, 10:58 PM

Michelle, I know what you mean, the only time Nutmeg climbed out of her cage ( a herculean effort using the blanket from the bed up the side of a large rubbermaid crate) was when the wheel was out for cleaning and was accidentally left out over night. She went looking for it! We found her in the other hedgie cage with a wheel snuggled in with our other female in her hedge bag. Since then we have re done their cages and they live together in a 3 bin connected system.

fertmom · 04-19-2004, 10:58 PM

Michelle, I know what you mean, the only time Nutmeg climbed out of her cage ( a herculean effort using the blanket from the bed up the side of a large rubbermaid crate) was when the wheel was out for cleaning and was accidentally left out over night. She went looking for it! We found her in the other hedgie cage with a wheel snuggled in with our other female in her hedge bag. Since then we have re done their cages and they live together in a 3 bin connected system.

michelle · 04-22-2004, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Something similar to this happened to my aunt

Lol.. at first I thought you were going to say your aunt escaped and got stuck behind a dresser!