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Is Your Hedgehog Not Drinking Water? This Might Be Why

Is Your Hedgehog Not Drinking Water? This Might Be Why

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The purpose of this blog is to share general information and is written to the author's best knowledge. It is not intended to be used in place of veterinary advice. For health concerns, please seek proper veterinary care. In addition, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Hedgehogs are fun pets to have around the house. If you don’t want a cat or a dog as a pet, but you want a small pet, then going for a hedgehog is a great idea. They are very cute creatures that will make for adorable pets. But, you should know that hedgehogs require care and attention.

If you are thinking of just leaving the hedgehog in its cage and forgetting about it, only to put food and water in its cage, you should know that the animal isn’t going to last very long. You need to make sure that you provide all the care and attention that the animal requires.

A common issue that many people face is when their hedgehog stops drinking water. This can happen due to a variety of reasons. The most common reason for this is an upset stomach. If the animal has an upset stomach, it’s really not going to drink or eat much, and you will be forced to take it to a vet.

See more on why a hedgehog isn’t eating.

However, this doesn’t happen out of the blue. If your hedgehog isn’t drinking water, you might want to consider going to a vet. Water is an essential resource for any living thing to survive, and hedgehogs need a lot of it. That’s primarily because these animals like to run around quite a lot.

But, before we consider the many reasons and look at ways to ensure that your hedgehog gets proper hydration, it’s important that you understand how to care for the animal.

Hedgehog’s Diet

Hedgehog Eating Meal Worms

Out in the wild, hedgehogs are considered omnivores. They love eating different kinds of worms from the ground, and they don’t mind occasionally munching on vegetables either.

Hedgehogs are known as insectivores in the animal kingdom, which means they love eating insects. They have a deep love for eating things that tend to crawl on the ground.

Thankfully, feeding the hedgehog isn’t a problem. You can easily get freeze-dried worms or live worms in the market, and you can feed them to the animal. Crickets and mealworms are perhaps the two most common insects that are fed to these animals.

However, if you have bought your hedgehog from a store, you should know that buying high-quality kibble is the best way to go.

Kibble is generally available at local pet stores. The kibble usually contains mashed up insects and a variety of other nutrients that the animal needs. All of the minerals and vitamins that the animal requires are mashed up in the kibble, so you don’t have to worry about changing things up too much.

Many people also don’t mind feeding kitten food to their hedgehogs, and for the most part, the animal is going to do just fine. However, consistently feeding the animal cat food is a bad idea because the food does not contain chitin or any blood in it.

Hedgehogs love blood meals, and the chitin that is found in the skin of many insects is actually a favorite.

Why Is Your Pet Not Drinking Water?

Hedgehog Drinking Water From Bottle

There can be any number of reasons why the animal might not be drinking water. For starters, did you recently change the animal’s diet?

A change in the animal’s diet could lead to a major reduction in its water intake. Hedgehogs have generally sensitive stomachs and they tend to get upset quite quickly.

A simple change in the animal’s food intake could lead to this problem. If your pet is not drinking water, you might want to consider changing the animal’s diet. This is arguably the best way to fix the problem. Many people who change their hedgehog’s diet have reported positive effects.

Furthermore, you might want to take a look at the animal’s poop. If the animal’s poop is green in color, it’s a clear sign that the animal has an upset stomach and its metabolism is suffering. This usually happens when the animal is stressed out. Take a look around the cage and try to figure out what has changed.

Hedgehogs are generally quiet animals and they don’t like lots of sounds. This could lead to serious problems, and if you have kept the cage right in the center of the house or near lots of noises, the animal is likely to get stressed out.

If your hedgehog isn’t drinking water even after changing its diet or removing sources of stress from its diet, you might want to consider going to the vet.

The vet will conduct a full health checkup and will let you know exactly what’s wrong. The vet might also recommend some medication to fix the problem. It’s highly recommended that you visit the vet at least once in a month or two to make sure that your pet is doing okay.

More importantly, the vet will recommend suitable food. In some cases, you might be asked not to feed the hedgehog the standard food, and the vet may require you to buy live mealworms or crickets to fix the animal’s stomach.

It’s important for you to take all of these things into account to ensure the animal doesn’t suffer from problems.

Exercise

Hedgehog in Running Wheel

Another important thing that you need to know is that hedgehogs need plenty of exercise. If you haven’t already put one up, you should immediately go out and buy a hamster wheel and put it in the animal’s cage.

These exercise wheels are a fantastic addition and allow the animal to run for as long as it likes.

You should know that hedgehogs like to poop whenever they can, so you are going to have to deal with this issue as well. Hedgehogs usually defecate when they are running as well, and it doesn’t take long before their paws get covered in poop and the entire exercise wheel turns brown as well.

You have to make sure that you clean the exercise wheel and the animal’s cage on a daily basis, because it won’t take long for the whole thing to get very dirty, very quickly.

Caring for the Hedgehog

Holding Balled Up Hedgehog

Hedgehogs don’t particularly need your attention, but you should know that the animal does deserve some supervision. There are plenty of instances where hedgehogs tend to build strong bonds with their owners, and it’s important that you spend some time with the animal on a daily basis.

If your hedgehog feels that it is being ignored throughout the day and is constantly caged, it’s going to get stressed out.

The best way to figure out if your hedgehog is drinking water or not is to take a clear bowl and then mark the water level when you have filled it up. Give it a day or two in the cage and then check the water level again. If the water level has decreased below the mark, you are good.

There are also going to be instances where the hedgehog will overturn the bowl as well, so you have to deal with this as well. All in all, while hedgehogs just need regular cleaning and maintenance, they make for fun pets, and as long as the pet gets its occasional bath and is cared for, you won’t have much to worry about.

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