# Hedgehog Newbie Diet Questions



## adehay7 (May 22, 2012)

I will be bringing home a 4month old little girl here in a day or 2 and want to switch her food to something a little better quality. She is currently being fed Iams catfood. I would prefer to use only one food if I can, so which food would you recommend? Does it matter if I use live mealworms or freeze dried? And how often should she get them? What are some other good treats/supplements and how often should I give them? 

Thanks for any feedback!

Amber


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## Guest (May 22, 2012)

There is a sticky in the diet section with a list of foods. Most recommend 2 in a mix just because then if they change formulas for one Food or it's recalled you still have something th hedgie would eat

Mealworms should be live not freeze dried and can give a few every day. Just watch fOr constipation. And there is also a lie in the diet section if you search for fruits and. Eggies you an use for treats.


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## HedgieGirl519 (Oct 21, 2011)

It is recommended to feed 2 or more foods. I prefer saying 3 or more. I use a mix of 9 foods. There are a couple reasons for feeding a mix of foods:
1) If you run out of food and cannot buy another bag for whatever reason (transportation, out of stock, etc) the hedgehog will still have something to eat that she is use to. They have sensitive stomachs and are sensitive to diet changes. 
2) Variety is best and healthiest in their diet. In the wild hedgehogs get protein from multiple different sources, not just one. So it is healthier to have that same thing in captivity. 

In a mix you want to have foods with different flavors, such as turkey, chicken and lamb.

Note: Fish makes the poop smelly. 

You want something with:
Protein: 28-34% - Higher causes health problems
Fat: 9-15% - You might need higher if she loses weight
1st Ingredient - Meat
2nd Ingredient - Meat 
You don't want by-products, corn or artificial colors. 

So it really is recommended to feed more than one food. I don't see why you only want to feed one? Remember though, you only introduce one food at a time. And don't mix the foods in the same bin. There could be a recall or one might expire first.


I mean, if you REALLY do insist on only feeding one, which is not recommended, I'd go with something with two different main protein sources. Such as:

Innova Low Fat Adult
Crude Protein (min.) 32% 
Crude Fat (min.) 8% 
Crude Fibre (max.) 5.0% 
Moisture (max.) 10% 

Turkey, Chicken, Barley, Brown Rice, Chicken Meal, Potatoes, Herring, Rice, Pea Fiber, Natural Flavors, Flaxseed, Eggs, Apples, Pumpkin, Potassium Chloride, Carrots, Herring Oil, Cranberries, Sea Salt, Cottage Cheese, Dried Chicory Root, Sunflower Oil, Alfalfa Sprouts, L-Carnitine, DL Methionine, Taurine, Direct-Fed Microbials, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, Vitamins/Minerals


Solid Gold Katz-n-Flocken
Crude Protein (min.) 34% 
Crude Fat (min.) 12% 
Crude Fibre (max.) 4.0% 
Moisture (max.) 10% 

Lamb, Chicken Meal, Peas, Brown Rice, Pea Protein, Cracked Pearled Barley, Ocean Fish Meal, Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols) , Natural Flavor, Flaxseed, Choline Chloride, dl-methionine, Taurine, Salmon Oil (source of DHA), Potassium Chloride, Dried Chicory Root, Amaranth, Parsley Flakes, Spearmint, Almond Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Sesame Oil (preserved by mixed tocopherols), Yucca Schidigera Extract, Kelp, Thyme, Blueberries, Cranberries, Apples, Lentils, Quinoa, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Calcium Panthothenate, Riboflavin, Copper Sulfate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Manganese Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Calcium Iodate, Cobalt Carbonate, Folic Acid, Sodium Selenite, Biotin, Vitamin

But again, it's recommended to feed a mixture. It's better for your hedgehog, that should come first. 


Don't use freeze-dried foods. They can cause a blockage, which isn't good. You can either feed them live or frozen. For frozen mealworms all you do is buy them live, gutload them on veggies and freeze them. Mealworms are high in fat so they should be fed in moderation. Babies can have them more often than adults. If you go with a low fat food, like the Innova listed above, you could feed more than if you went with a high fat food. I'd say do 2-5 a day. If she puts on weight, cut back to 1-2 a day or every other day. 

You can also give:
-Cooked, unseasoned meat. 
-Avoid beef, pork and processed meat (hot dogs, lunch meat) they are hard to digest. 
-Vegetables (carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, pumpkin etc.)
-If the veggies are hard they must be cooked. 
-Avoid stringy veggies like celery. 
-Fruit (mango, melon, peppers, etc.)
-Avoid citrus fruits like oranges. 

Keep in mind, some hedgehogs won't eat ANYTHING other than their kibble. If they don't take something one day, it might be their favorite food the next day. So keep trying. 

Only introduce ONE food a week. So don't introduce treats and new kibble at the same time. If something makes her sick you won't know what the culprit was. 

When switching onto a new kibble, do it slowly.
Week One: Iams
Week Two: 1/4 New, 3/4 Iams
Week Three: 1/2 New, 1/2 Iams
Week Four: All New

Make sure you buy a digital gram kitchen scale. You want to weigh her regularly and keep track of her weight. Hedgehogs hide illness very well and weight loss is a good sign of illness. 


Do you have your cage setup? And a heat and light setup?


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