A'lamode Has No Milk

A'lamode had 4 chocolate uber pinto babies on Sept 1st. I noticed right away that she was having some trouble keeping them in her nest, and I had to put babies back in on 3 occasions. One of the babies was an incredibly tiny runt and from day 1 I knew that it would be unlikely that me would make it. The other 3 were big and healthy looking. I noticed yesterday that the runt was looking bad and had no milk in his tummy. Since the other babies were latched onto mom and looking good, I removed the runt and hand fed him. I was fairly sure that he wouldn't make it through the night, and unfortunately he didn't.

When I checked the babies today, I found another sibling had passed away and the remaining 2 had empty bellies. They were activally latching onto mom, so I am going to assume that mom had no milk. A'lamode is a first time mom, and occasionally a hedgehog's milk just doesn't come in properly. Fortunately, I-Pod has 2 babies that are 1 day younger (but slightly bigger since they have had the benefit of her milk). I-Pod has fostered babies for me before and she's done a great job of it, so I'm hoping that she is willing and able to take on the additional babies.

The babies have been with I-Pod for about a half an hour.  Mom, the 2 fosters, and her 2 babies (a chocolate girl and a boy who appears to be an albino) are all together in the hut.  No one was latched onto mom, and I am hoping that the 2 fosters will try to eat soon.

I don't know if the 2 fosters will survive, and I am already sad about losing the other 2 siblings. It's not always easy being a breeder and you have to get used to dealing with a lot of loss. I'll keep you posted on the babies progress and maybe get some pictures to share.

**update**  I checked in on the 2 fosters after I finished this post and it appears that they have both eaten a little milk! (if you flip them over and look closely at their tummies, you can see a white spot from the milk) Props to I-Pod who will be getting plenty of treats and supplements.

In other news:

The updated FAQ is up and so are the articles I wrote on Clipping Nails and Hedgehog Toys. Big thanks to Sean for adding them.

After an unexpected layover in London, the 2 hedgehogs we sent to Finland finally arrived safely and are headed home with Iina and Krista. Hamor Hollow can now brag that our hedgehogs are in 3 different countries: US, Canada, and Finland. It took a lot of work, on both sides, to coordinate the international flight, but it was well worth it.  We wish Iina and Krista and their 2 new pals the best, and I will be writing an article for the Hamor Hollow front page to share more details of this journey.

We're looking for some new back to school themed hedgehog pictures to update Hedgehog World. Because of our big move, the theme hasn't been changed since the 4th of July (OOPSIE!).  If you've never been to Hedgehog World, head on over there and I promise that you will learn a ton. Browse the articles section and then join the forums to start chatting with us. Be sure to say "HI!" to Becca and tell her that we appreciate all the hard work she does to monitor and maintain the forums!