Strange behaviour :(

Hi all,

Had a weird situation with Rocky last night and have been up since 5am trying to sort him out
I realised during the night that he wasn't very active so I got up to check on him. Usually he gets up, wheels, eats, and naps during the night. Last night he had eaten a bit but then he buried himself under the liner and that was it. When I investigated, he was curled up in a tight ball and really huffy. I put a mealworm down and he uncurled, ate it, and balled back up when I put my hand near him. I got him out and put him on my lap and he wouldn't unball and was really huffy. I gave him another couple of mealies and he unballed, ate them, sniffed my hand, and then let me handle him normally. I put him back in his cage and he spent 2 hours running merrily in his wheel, and when I disturbed him to check the temp, he was fine with me.

It was definitely *NOT* a hibernation attempt. He is warm to the touch, his CHE is on and the temp hasn't dropped below 24. He has a light on all day too. We've had 2 hibernation attempts so I'm quite experienced in the symptoms and how to stop them (unfortunately!!)

Has anyone got any ideas? Maybe he was just in a grump? I'm really worried about the little fella!

Thanks!x

Perhaps he just was a bit grumpy. Or perhaps he was fast asleep and just woke up when you checked on him. My Brambles tends to be a bit grumpy when she is just awake. Just keep an eye on him, it might be a one of thing.

maybe something spooked him, noise or something outside. i had a similar thing which i could only put down to being scared by something. x she came round after a while and was completley normal again.

Hey, my hogs called Rocky too

I'm no expert, but my Rocky has done this similar behaviour a couple of times, usually it's when I first get him out for evening bonding time, and I'm kind of convinced its when he's been fast asleep and I've woken him up - he's always more grumpy if I wake him up than if he's woke up naturally.

He also went through 2 or 3 days where he would be fine as long as he was being handled, but if I put him down on the floor, he'd ball up really tight and would take quite a bit of gentle rocking and coaxing to get him to come out of it, but then would be fine again.

One of the times I think it was definately a loud noise outside, but maybe other times it was something the hog ears can hear better than us, or maybe a strange new smell? I do notice if he gets a bit of a scare from a noise, he does go very quiet and still and not active for quite a while before he's sure its safe again!

Thanks all for your responses! Rocky wasn't as huffy or balled up last night although he didn't eat very much but his wheel was gross this morning so I am guessing he was active!
Phew - sometimes it is so stressful being a hog parent!!

Being a hedgehog mummy or daddy can indeed be very stressfull, it would be so much easier if they could talk sometimes.