No Sleep for the Weary

It's 5:20AM and technically Tuesday morning. However, I haven't gone to bed yet and Monday needs a blog entery, So in my world it's still Monday. I was doing my last hedgehog check of the night when something looked off in Mokie's cage. She started out with 6 babies and one was still born. It was her first litter, so I didn't want to bother her too much. As a breeder, you need to walk a very thin line of checking in on the mother hedgehogs to make sure they are raising the babies (that they have milk and are allowing the babies to feed and also that he babies don't get kicked out of the nest accidentally) and leaving them alone so they don't freak out and kill the litter. Mokie was born here and is familiar with me, so I can take more liberties then someone may be able to with a different hedgehog.

So, something seemed wrong and I peeked into the nest (My breeder Spidey sense was tingling). What I found was Mokie standing over 4 dead babies and 1 skinny baby girl with a concave stomach that looked yellowish and barely alive. Mokie appeared as if she was trying to protect her nest, so I'm guessing that either her milk didn't come in or she couldn't figure out how to relax and feed the babies. She wanted to be a mom and some of the hormones were there, but it was her first litter and she wasn't getting it right.So I pulled the live baby from her nest and did a hand feeding.

The baby did well and took the replacement milk hungrily. I'm taking that as a good sign. I also got urine and a tiny bit of feces when I stimulated her (you need to stimulate the muscles because the babies can't potty on their own), so I'm guessing she had eaten at some point. After stimulating, she took a little more food and then I marked her with some nail polish. I slipped her in with Sake's litter (born yesterday), so hopefully Sake will accept her.

I will have to keep a close eye on her over the next few days, and I will probably have to do some more supplementing. I don't know if this baby is going to make it and I'm not gonna get my hopes up. She was really emaciated by the time I found her. I'll keep you posted.

-K