Meet Francis! The hedgehog!! Francis is sick... update.

[pkforever]

So this is Francis. I've wanted a hedgehog forever, and the pet store not to far from me got in some babies! So I went and looked. I of course wavered back and forth a bit because of the price, but as soon as they put her in my hands I was sold!!!

 

[theoldchick]

Look! A prickly possum! What do you feed her or him?

 

[chicks4kids]

How cute!! We too have been going around back and forth on getting one of these as well. There is a breeder here that sells 'em for $100. I can't commit to it yet but they sure are cute. You must see this music video.......

 

[pkforever]

I feed her a special cat food, the pet store helped me pick it out. And then fruits, veggies, and insects for treats.

That was a really cute video!!!
She was $175, but there isn't really a breeder anywhere close to me so it was a good price considering I would have had to order one of the internet then pay $200 on top of the Hedge for shipping.

 

[pkforever]

Francis started dragging her foot the day after I got her, so I took her to pet store who took her to the vet. I got a call the night that the leg wasn't broken and that she was dragging it most likely due to a neurological problem. And since she was so young, it was most likely Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome. "WHS is a chronic, progressive paralysis that typically starts with the hindquarters and progresses until the hedgehog is completely incapacitated. It has been observed to occur in hedgehogs of all ages, and this incapacity appears related to a condition called progressive mutlifocal leukencephalopathy, which is similar to the brain lesions seen in human AIDS patients."

So the pet store gave me several options, I could either take her home and keep her and let her live out her last few months, I could get half my money back, or I could trade her for another Hedgehog. I ended up trading her for one of the others that they had. I named him Hercules. He is much more active and social able and bigger in size.

Francis will be adopted out to a specialist who knows how to take care of a hedgehog with WHS.

Here is Hercules

 

[chicks4kids]

Wow, what a sad story

Hopefully Hercules isn't from the same litter and likely to have the same problems.

 

[ChickenWisperer]

How, just found this thread. Wish you had posted earlier, before you bought one. I would have warned you.

The first rule is never, never, NEVER buy a hedgehog from a petstore. NEVER. Not under any, and I mean ANY circumstances. They do not properly socialize their animals, typically do not provide adaquate care/food/housing, and they do not have quality stock. No quality breeder allows their babies to go to a petstore. Petstores charge too much for the animals they sell.

The fact that your hog had WHS is worrisome. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but be prepared to endure your new boy having WHS too. If they have them, they are from the same litter, and it is likely that he will develop it.

If the hogs breeding was so poor that they are already coming down with WHS at that age, then it is likely that cancer runs rampant in the bloodline. I reccomend you take your new boy to a vet (that is KNOWLEDGEABLE and experienced with hedgies) at least twice a year.