Warning - Do Not Buy These Hedgehog Homes

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This is a hedgehog home that I inherited when I brought Lou home - this is not something I would buy as to be blunt it is very badly built and very poor quality for the money

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Ill fitting door at the top which at night I make sure it is pulled together - never in a month of Sunday's did I expect to find what I did this morning.

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Look closely at the gap between the two doors by the bolts - quite spacious when you come to look at it closely isn't it??

My Lou lives in this home - only until my Dad makes my viv stacks, he has completed one and I have been replacing other equally shoddy homes with vivs - now Lou I though may have given birth yesterday, so I removed her wheel to be on the safe side - I thought I had heard squeaks but with other babies in the nest it could have been one of them - checked on her before I went to bed at midnight last night and she had not been out - so thought babies were there - got up this morning and went to check on Herby and saw Lou's leg caught in the gap between the doors in the above photo - just about the end of the heel - you could actuall see where the leg was pressed in and as it had swelled, she could not remove her leg from the gap.

I opened the doors and her leg was stuck to the side of one of them and looked horrid - I rung my vet straight away and please know that we have a very good relationship and my vet trusts and knows that I can give initial treatment at home as I have certain medications/treatments always to hand - I was told to give her Metacam (0.05) as this is an anti-inflammatory and will help to bring the swelling down.

She has had the meds and the pinched in part of her leg has filled out and after an hour she was walking and putting weight on her leg which is lucky as it means it is not broken - have to continue with the metacam twice a day and take her for a check up tomorrow.

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Her babies have not been born and I am concerned for the potential babies but mum has to come first.

When buying your homes, please check absolutely everything and do not buy these shoddy homes - not worth the risk.

shocking! I hope lou and possible babies are all ok xx

Me too Pam - she is settled in her nest box so letting her rest and will check on her throughout the day but will be going to get a viv from the shop to put her in x

my welly is in one of thse vivs will have to have a look at it x

His little feet are smaller than APH but as a climber better to check xx

Oh dear!! Glad she is on the mend now xx

I have a also bought and inherited some of these vivs and i thankfully i only have one left as i replaced the other two that i purchased ... I think its very worrying as i have big gaps in my doors also . Will be replacing as soon as possible will get \Ed to look at them .. im worried now for Ice who is in there .x

awwww poor Lou. hope she is okay. them vivs are really bad...yeah best check yours pammie as the tenrecs will squeeze in to anything and it might be his head and not his leg he sticks in first xx

I think most of them have big gaps in the doors .. dont help with the fact they are only secured by a bottom lock .x

They are disgraceful vivs, hope Lou is ok Helen, xxx

Oh no! Hope Lou's okay. I know that you've been replacing you're hoggie homes Helen, as you were worried that anythng could happen xx

xoxox

oh no helen, poor lou! glad to hear she isnt seriously hurt, what a worry for you again xxx

omg....the list goes on with these faulty vivs...helen id make a formal complaint to "whom" made these vivs....its ridiculous....!!....she is nursing mum and you dont know how long she was stuck like that....lucky she has you has her mum...!!

Oh poor Lou!!! So glad you got to her in time as we all know what hoggies can do to themselves if they want to release themselves and that doesn't bear thinking about. I hope the swelling goes down and she's OK and the babies will be OK as well. Thank goodness she hadn't had them and they had been left all night with no Mummy. The possibilities of how much worse this could have been is endless, it's bad enough about poor Lou's leg.

I also have one of these vivs. It has the gaps, it has a nail sticking INTO the viv through the door, at hog eye height. I don't use it, and it was flipping expensive, believe me, but it now sits on a shelf collecting dust as the risk of using it far outweighs the expense

This is the viv, and you can see the gaps along the bottom of the left door.
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What makes it worse is it's a hog owner/breeder who makes these vivs. They are so dangerous. If anyone has one, check it VERY carefully as like Helen you could find out the (very) hard way that it's not suitable.

Hugs to Lou, and hope you're OK as well Helen, it must have been scary finding Lou like that xxxx

tayer wrote:

omg....the list goes on with these faulty vivs...helen id make a formal complaint to "whom" made these vivs....its ridiculous....!!....she is nursing mum and you dont know how long she was stuck like that....lucky she has you has her mum...!!

I can picture the scene now Tayer - Nigel has told me to get some draught excluder and stick it down the doors as moving her into a new home if she is about to give birth would be too unsettling - going to pop to B&Q to get some.

She is in her nest box and I will check her later - hopefully with the metacam she will get some relief and the inflammation will start to go down.

Shall be having a scarificial burning at some point!

considering these are meant to be "professional" this is disgusting... could make a better job of it myself.
if these are made by a breeder it's awful they think they are acceptable. i'd send the thing back for them to deal with when you can put Lou in her new home with the pics of what has happened to her, might open their eyes to what they are selling to hog owners xxx

Would like to think so Josie - lesson learnt I can tell you as I never thought this would happen - have rung dad and asked him to get a shifty on!

Just going to take some pictures of mine too .x

Aww Helen lad Lou is ok, I almost bought those vivs last yr. it's absolutely disgraceful that people get away with selling such crap, and they not cheap either. I'd complain to whoever made them.






had to edited your swear word Leanne naughty naughty lol ..x

Yeah, you have to be careful complaining to this person. It doesn't always end well! I wasn't only sold this overly expensive, badly built viv, I was sold a ceramic heat bulb that, apart from being broken, was the wrong wattage, a ceramic bulb holder that was broken and a second hand thermostat. But I was called a liar. Even though I sent photos and sent some of the goods back for them to see. But she called me a liar and bad mouthed me.

Do you want to buy my cube??

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Leanne wrote:

Aww Helen lad Lou is ok, I almost bought those vivs last yr. it's absolutely disgraceful that people get away with selling such crap, and they not cheap either. I'd complain to whoever made them.






had to edited your swear word Leanne naughty naughty lol ..x

Sorry

Was it a bad swear word - I had ten or twelve slip out this morning!

Nellie wrote:

Do you want to buy my cube??

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Only if you buy the house with the splinters sticking out of it???

Tell you what Cathy, for the splinters I will let you have my second cube!