need some advice please, quite worried :/

iv had her since late july and was told she was around 1 when i got her , but im not so sure how reliable that information is to be honest (long story )

she is less active early/mid evening, but when i go to bed she does come out to play, shes eating, drinking, and pooping in her wheel overnight. there is less poop than usual though, but this is probably because up to now shes usually been on the wheel from 8.30 ish. i check on her 3 times a day and she still pops and huffs as usual.

i did notice last time she was in her playpen (which is her fave thing to do in the whole wide world) that she burrowed in a corner after a while and went to sleep, which is very unusual as normally she be in there all night if i let her.
shes not a cuddley hog by nature, and that hasent changed!

try bumping general temps up to about 25-26 and see what difference that makes - if she goes downhill in the meantime or doesnt pick up then I would probably advise a vets check up just to be on the safe side - sometimes when they try to hibernate their immunity drops so can be subsceptible to say resp infections and the like - not to say that that is whats happened or anything but its something to consider - hope shes ok though - it is a worry - my 3 yr old has a tendancy to be sensitive to temps and its a real pulling hair out moment!!!

yes i think il pop up the heating tonight and get a heat mat/ thermostat tomorrow as its the one i think i feel most comfortable using, i dont know a lot about any other type of heating , how and where to set them up, ect ect.

im still in the process of finding a specialist vet, my 'normal' vet covers the basics, claw clipping cuts and scrapes and the type. i really should have found one by now so thats my own silly fault.

im not a panicky type person, but by gum this little hedgie worries me to death!! im having to learn a lot of it as i go, as i had to get her only doing 3 days research on the internet (that long story again!)
think iv been doing a pretty good job so far considering, but the heat thing is driving me mad! i really wish she could just talk and tell me if shes too hot or too cold!!
thankyou for the advice- much appriciated

Does the veterinary practice your currently at not have a different vet there that deals with exotics? I thought most practices would have had an exotic vet handy? Maybe no

I've bumped my heatmats up to 26 just to keep them slightly warmer the temps have dropped so low i think a few people are having attempted hibernation attempts ..x

jamiioo wrote:Does the veterinary practice your currently at not have a different vet there that deals with exotics? I thought most practices would have had an exotic vet handy? Maybe no

my vets exotic 'specialist' hasent dealt with aph's at all. she treats parrots lizards ect, but any animal which isnt over common such as aph's, she hasent much knowledge of. iv been thinking of changing vets for a while anyway, iv come to the conclusion over time they seem more interested in money than the animals

Ha!! Got to agree there!! Robbers!! One of my lecturers used to be a veterinary nurse and had worked in a range of practices, and she said exactly the same thing...

jamiioo wrote:Ha!! Got to agree there!! Robbers!! One of my lecturers used to be a veterinary nurse and had worked in a range of practices, and she said exactly the same thing...

they upset me quite a bit a while ago, i took in an old, and i mean OLD stray cat somebody had dumped in my garden, i had her for 6 months, and in the end the poor thing was deaf, blind, wouldnt eat, incontinent and and i believe was either in pain or very uncomfortable. it broke my heart but decided to have her put to sleep
i didnt like the way i was spoke to, and when they realised id found her as a stray the only thing they cared about was who would be paying to have her put down!!!

What jerks!! We were told a story at college by the ex-vet nurse lecturer about a stray cat that got rushed in on a friday after being hit by a car. Apparently the vets didnt hold out much hope for it so didnt really bother with it, and apparently didnt want to bother coming in through the weekend to fix it up. They temporaly fixed its leg and gave it fluids, but DIDNT ADMINISTER PAINKILLERS saying that if they did it would decrease its chance of survival??!! For what reason i do not know, but the vet nurse was working through the night and decided herself to administer painkillers to the cat, which ended up dying through the night anyway, and the vet in question told her apparently that if she didnt give it the painkillers it wouldnt have died. WTF. Apparently thats why she decided to teach animal care so she could teach by example to care for animals not to be in it for the money

There may be errors in my story, i was told ageees ago now lol