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#1898360
Chaos11
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Hedgehog foaming 
everytime i take my hedgehog out to roam around, at some point he’ll stop and start licking his quills on the side of his body. i notice after that, that there is a thick white foam left on his quills, and sometimes on my carpet/bed (wherever he is).
Now do they just have very thick saliva, or is there some sort of problem here?
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11/14/08 11:59am
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#1898619
Angelkitty
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Message To: Chaos11 In reference to Message Id: 1898360
Hedgehog foaming
It’s call self anointing. If your hedgehog smells something he likes or if he simply comes across a smell that he is unfamiliar with, such as leather, perfume, etc., he will foam at the mouth and will then deposit this foamy saliva on his back and shoulders. In an effort to cover as much of their backs as possible with this foam, many hedgehogs will contort their bodies in such a way that they will sometimes fall over. Many hedgehogs become so engrossed with this activity that they become totally oblivious to anything going on around them! No one is really certain why hedgehogs perform this unusual behavior (more often seen in males than females) but there is no shortage of theories. One possible explanation is that they are trying to remember a particular smell by mixing it with the saliva and then depositing it on the spines. Another is that the foam acts as a repellent or toxin to a hedgehog’s enemies. Whatever the reason, though, self-anointing is a normal occurrence and is no cause for alarm
My hedgehog that I owned about about 15 years use to do this all the time. Hope this helps.
Angel 
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11/14/08 08:40pm
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#1901515
Chaos11
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Message To: Angelkitty In reference to Message Id: 1898619
Hedgehog foaming
thanks that helped a lot
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11/19/08 06:17pm
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