Pudding' Week 1 - Almost!

Name: Puddin'
D.O.B: 18/07/2010
Colour: Heavy Chocolate Flake

Weight: 303 grammes

Well, Puddin' Features landed last Wednesday, I thought I'd give her some time to settle in and then see where we go. When I first met her, when Helen and I went to collect her, I thought she seemed to be a bit thin, she seems to have a very long body. I still think she might be a bit bony but given time hopefully this will change. She is such a lovely colour and seems to have the longest spines ever! Especially to the sides of her reverse Mohican! She is a stunning looking lady like.

Here's a little bit that I've observed during her first week with us;

Feeding:
Puddin' really does love her food, polishes the lot off. Having been told not to give her too many mealies for fear of her only having a preference to them, I have only given her about 6 over the past week as a little treat when getting her out. She loves a good old variety so far including... Chicken, sweetcorn, peas, biscuits. She's a bit of a messy eater, I'm going to try and watch her sometime as I'm sure she must take everything out of her bowl first to eat it!

Exercise:
When I first got her home, she was soooo active, she just kept running around and once she was on that wheel, she never stopped! I could even hear her from downstairs whenever she stopped to change direction. This went on most of the night too. Since then, she seems to have quietened down a bit. Not sure if hedgehogs can have a nervous energy or not, maybe this is why she seems thin, if she runs around like this all the time!

Handling:
Puddin' is a right little Miss Huffy, she properly huffs and pops when you first go get her out. Reminds me of when i first got Ernie Holt. She also dive bombs you with her best head but too! Once she is out, she's quite active. I've let her have a good run around and willl focus on handling her more over the coming weeks. For now I carry her around in her bonding bag so that she makes it her own, gets used to it, and to me also!

Health:
As I said, she's eating a well varied diet so I'm pleased about that. Apart from looking quite long bodied, she appears to look okay when you are looking at her. However, after handling her or after shes been in her bonding bag, there is quite a lot of dried, flaky skin in there which must be coming from her tummy, but I can't really tell by looking. I have also noticed a number of quills over the week in her bedding and bonding bag, I would say there has been around 10 altogether. She isn't scratching or anything so don't think its anything to do with mites. Not sure if it could be a sign of stress? I've had a good nose around the forum, am I best adding oil into her diet or into a shallow bath? Any advice will be well received.

It's really interesting getting to know another little prickly personality, I can see similarities to when I first got Ernie, but can also see two completely different personalities.

Will update more next week folks, but if you could let me know about the flaky skin and quill loss, that would be most appreciated.

Xoxox

Glad to see that she has kept up with her eating - she went completely off her food and didn't eat for a few days and this was one of my worries and a reason why I didn't want you to feed too many mealies incase she ignored her food.

She has been treated for mites - flaked skin - not had a good start so improvement in her diet should help - try a little oil on her feed - not keen on bathing them and I think it may stress her more.

Huffy - she should settle down, she is what I would class to be as a runner - don't think she has had as much handling with her past owner but she will come out Mel - and once she does she is brilliant.

I use Ark Vits on my food twice a week - can post some over to you Mel to add to her food.

she sounds fab mel....she is a beautiful colour!!

honey-dew has a long body, i thought she was a skinny minnie....but lou put my mind at rest!! get some pics on of your hoggies!!

Pudding was born on the 18/7 /2010 and she is a heavy chocolate flake although she was registered as a brown .x

Thanks ladies, oil in her food sounds good and easier to me... Which one shall I use? Let me know when you've time for a cuppa Helen, and I'll nip across for the Ark Vits, I can see if there is anything else I can order from you beforehand too then.

Tayer, I need to get my photo bucket thing on the go again and upload the rest of my Ernie pictures... Been meaning to do this but I'm rubbish!

It's a pity that when you register babies, you can't update later as they do seem to change colour with age don't they? Ernie seems a lot lighter now I reckon from his first photies that we saw of him.

xoxox

ernie if he seems lighter could have flaked mel .x

She sounds lovely Mel, glad she is settling in so well xx

Thanks Janey xx

I'll get some decent foties up Lou so you can see xx

xoxox

Any time to suit you Mel - can fit in pretty much any time xx

Just a short post to say that I've not given an update on Puddin for a while... Shall make the time... Possibly tomorrow or Monday to sit down and pop a few photies up of her and give an update... It's the refresher course in uploading of photies I keep not makin time for! I'm crap aren't I?!

xoxox

I was wondering how she was getting on, it will be great to see some pictures of her . Are you keeping her or will she be rehomed? X

I've not put in an adoption request yet Jo... But looks like I probably will. I'll obviously do it properly like, through the rescue. She us a lovely and funny character... She's definitely not a snuggly hog, she'd rather be left alone... Only thing is, leave her alone and all the work that's gone into her so far will be undone... She just needs time... She's a funny eater too.... However... I've discovered out of all the biscuits I've tried her on, GoCat rocks for her! She's a tough cookie when it comes to veg though and I'm scared about giving her mealworms!

xoxox

Isn't it funny how they have such different characters, I have Dennis who is great , a bit huffy but all noise... He never balls up. Then I have Davina ... Miss cuddles , she just loves being cuddled. But my new baby dorris she is a right miss..... So full of energy , very chilled but also quite adventurous ..... She just can't keep still!!! Lol.
I look forward to seeing photos of pudding.... If I remember rightly she is a very lovely looking hoggie :-) x

She is a beauty Jo... Out of my 3.... They are all completely different although they do ave one huge thing in common... They've eaten their way into my heart and found their own little speck!
xoxox

Mel if you want to email me the pictures across then i can upload them for you . I think rehoming her now would only set her back she has had 4 homes in such a short time .. and she is settled with you Mel . Would be lovely if you adopted her .x