Hedgehog kills her hoglets!

[Emzyyy]

My hedgehog Nutmeg has had 3 litters of hoglets. The first one she took care of perfectly and I found homes for them. The second litter she took care of for about a week and then completly lost interest in them. The third litter the actually ate. I don't know I guess I'll have to buy a new female if I want to do anymore breeding. After the whole eating incident I'm not planning to breed her again.

 

[stuckinthecity]

Oh no!!!

I've heard of rabbits eating their kittens, but never a hedgehog! So sorry!

 

[tweetyflights]

was she disturbed in any way?

 

[redhen]

Uck!!! Whats HER problem??
Yeah... dont breed her again!!....
Maybe she needs more protein or something?? Could that be why shes eating them??
Thats Donnor family stuff there...

 

[Emzyyy]

Quote:
No, we keep her in her own room. We seperate Halwyn from her. I make sure she is fast asleep before I refill the water or food and I don't touch anything but the food bowl or the water bottle.

 

[ChickenWisperer]

Explain your breeding process. How long are they together? When do you take her out? When is she given a nesting box?

Did you ever peek in the nest once? How much noise do you make while you refill things? Are there any loud noises in the house - TV/etc? What is the temperature in the room shes in? What are you feeding her? How old is she? Does she have quality lineage? Is she healthy? Were her previous hoglets healthy? What bedding do you use for them? Do you leave the wheel or toys in her cage?

It's quite possible it's something you as the breeder are doing and not what she is/isn't doing or her nature. There's a lot of things that could be going on. I put as many waterers on and as much food as I can shove in there so I don't even have to make any noise, and I usually take my others out of the room completely so she isn't disturbed.

The hard fact of hedgehog breeding is that they often do kill and eat their hoglets if they're disturbed in any way for one to two weeks. Sometimes, they eat them even if they aren't disturbed. This fact isn't going to change just because you get a new female.

 

[chickbea]

If she did an excellent job with the first litter, then became less maternal with each consecutive litter, it sounds like some sort of a management or environmental problem...

 

[Emzyyy]

well there are two parakeets in the room hung from the ceiling but I don't see why that would stress her out? she's lived with their singing since we've had her and their not like RIGHT next to her cage or anything.

 

[ChickenWisperer]

Parakeets are noisy. And they could easily stress her enough.

 

[Orchid]

Quote:
Well, it's not what you think might stress her out, it's what she thinks stresses her out, you know? I don't mean that to sound rude. What I'm trying to say is that sometimes we as humans (or more often than sometimes) look at things more from our point of view than from the animal's point of view. I could see how the noise of parakeets, while not stressful when she doesn't have babies, could be a problem when she does.