Why my African hedgehog drops

Do you have a hedgehog as a pet? Then you may already know several things about your needs, basic care and possible health problems.For example, one thing that usually attracts us a lot of attention and that can get us worried, is the fall of your puas.

Have you noticed that you ever dropped a lot? Do you know what it is due to and what you can do about it?

If you want to know why my African hedgehog drops its prongs, possible causes and treatment, from ExpertAnimal we encourage you to continue reading this article where you will find the answers.

Why do my hedgehog drop the spikes? What should I do?

Are you lately worried that your little one has a lot of fists and you have noticed that the floor is full of them in his house? Do you see any part that has been completely stripped? Quiet, because this has several possible reasons and they all have some remedy.

These varied motives range from a normal change of the puas due to the growth of our African hedgehog, to possible problems due to fungi, mites or bacteria.Therefore, we have to look at various factors and symptoms such as, for example, see if the fallen puas have follicle or not, if the hedgehog has no prongs or if we know that it fell one does not get a new one , if it scratches much more than normal, if we see dry skin, if it is very stressed and many other things that can guide us to know if it is a normal process or if we are facing a problem to be treated.

Next, we will describe the main causes and their possible treatments.But first, from Animal Expert, we must remind you of the importance of periodically visiting your trusted veterinarian to keep an adequate control of the health of your little friend and Also go to this professional whenever you detect any sign of discomfort or something out of normal in the behavior of your hedgehog.

Quilling or change of spikes

If your hedgehog is a few months old, you notice that the spikes are falling and that these have follicle, most likely it is a molt of puas, also known as quilling in English.

It is a completely natural process in them, since they make this change several times from the first or second month of life, until they get the final puas.Still, it is It is possible that adults will ever change some more loose picks.A pick that shows a follicle indicates that it is healthy and that after its fall another new pick should come out that takes its place.In general, the process of changing the puzzles along from the life of a hedgehog follow the following steps:

First quilling or shedding of puas: It usually occurs at four weeks of life, thus changing the nest puas for youth calls.
Second quilling : Normally it starts at six weeks.This time the first change in the color of the puas occurs.
Third quilling : It begins between the eighth and ninth week of the hedgehog's life.There is a second color change, leaving the youthful color behind to take the adult color.
Fourth quilling : This occurs between the twelfth and the twentieth week of life.In this phase the puas are changed to a firmer and thicker than those that remain as an adult, already with their color and its definitive structure.That is why this phase is also known as adult quilling .

When we observe that this happens to our little hedgehog, we should not always be alarmed and when we see that there is a normal rhythm and new puas keep coming out.

Other causes and possible treatments

As we have said before, there are many causes of the fall of the spikes in a hedgehog.We have already talked about the most natural reason and that should not worry, the quilling or mute of puas.But, among other factors, if we observe that several puas fall together, that the fallen puas have no follicle, that in the area where the quill has fallen they do not come out more, that our hedgehog is being peeled, we observe wounds, dandruff or scabs, skin irritation, etc., then we must think about other causes.

If our African hedgehog has abnormally fallen spikes (a lot and outside times of changes) Together with any of the symptoms mentioned above, we must go quickly to our veterinarian, as it will be necessary to assess their condition to rule out possible problems and diseases, diagnose the cause of the problem and start an appropriate treatment as soon as possible.Now we will discuss possible causes of fall of the spikes that indicate some type of illness or problem in our small partner and some possible reinforcement treatment:

Stress: The fall of the spikes can be a side effect of stress.Only the veterinarian can confirm it after checking if the environment in which the hedgehog lives can cause stress and after eliminating other possible causes through laboratory tests and tests.After stressing, we must correct the environment of our hedgehog, whether it be your shed and objects that you use, such as your diet or your daily activities.After a while of correcting the wrong points in your environment, we will see that the stress is passing and the spikes are recovering.

Fungi: We will see some scabs and scaling around the base of the spikes.We will observe areas with low density of spikes and the skin of our hedgehog It will be obscured in some parts.The veterinarian will perform the appropriate tests, mainly a fungal culture from a sample of the hedgehog's skin, to confirm or rule out this skin condition.After confirming it, we can prescribe the most indicated for the type of Fungi that the skin of our little one presents.The treatment for fungi is usually long and is usually based on special antifungal shampoos and oral antifungals.We must return to the veterinarian to check the progress of the treatment and see if Little by little, the new puas are coming out.

Mites: The appearance of hedgehogs in the hedgehogs is quite common, especially in a poorly controlled environment.The presence of these small arachnids in the The skin of our little ones with spikes can be a serious problem if it is not detected soon because they can make the hedgehogs end up suffering from scabies.They usually appear when the hedgehog's defenses, that is to say its immune system, are low.This detriment of the defenses can be caused by some other main disease or also by stress.If we observe these symptoms in our pet we must take it to the veterinarian to confirm us if it is deacaros and prescribe the best treatment to start it as soon as possible.In these cases antiparasitic drugs such as Stronghold are prescribed.We must remember that a hedgehog is a very small animal, so In case we take care of the doses to be administered, we must be very careful with these and always follow the advice of the specialist veterinarian to avoid an overdose.It is vital that the treatment is carried out completely, that is, as long as the veterinarian and if possible a few more days even if our hedgehog seems already cured, because the scabies and losacaros are very persistent and can spread quickly again.After doing it properly and go to the necessary veterinary reviews, we will see how losacaros disappear, the hedgehog stops scratching and your skin is recovering little by little.

What to do to avoid these problems on the skin of our little friend

The most important thing to avoid these cutaneous conditions that cause the fall of our hedgehog's spikes outside the stages of change of these, is to keep their environment clean and adequate to their needs.The enclosure must be well ventilated or the cage in which the hedgehog usually inhabits, it is also necessary to disinfect that area, change the chips or the material that we are using from the bed or base of the soil every few days, while also removing all the remains of urine and feces Just as the enclosure or the cage is cleaned every little time, it must also be done with the accessories and toys used by our small companion.The veterinarian will have to indicate the cleaning that we should use.In addition, it is really important to maintain both internal and external deworming of our African hedgehog.If we have several hedgehogs and one of them has fungi or mites, it is vital that the treatment is also performed other individuals even if they do not show symptoms yet.

It is very important too, especially if we normally take our hedgehog to the field or other areas away from home, so that we know how to properly bathe a hedgehog as this will avoid many possible skin problems and puas among others.Besides, other factors that must be kept in mind are the daily activity and feeding of the African hedgehog.

This article is merely informative, at ExpertAnimal.com we have no power to prescribe veterinary treatments or make any type of diagnosis.We love you to take your pet to the veterinarian in the event that he presents any type of condition or discomfort.

If you want to read more articles similar to Because my African hedgehog drops his teeth-Causes and treatment , we recommend that you enter our Other health problems section.

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