# Really Pumped !



## BigFudge (Jul 15, 2013)

So my hedgie is a very picky eater and she pretty much dislikes all the food I put in front of her. I normally feed her Spike's Delight as her staple food but have been trying to get Penny to eat more variety. Well last night I purchased a small bottle of baby food and crushed up the Spikes and mixed them. I placed a small bowl in her cage and low an behold she smashed it all by morning! Anyone else have success with a similar mixture like this ?


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## JulieAnne (Sep 3, 2012)

Spike's Delight isn't really recommended for hedgie food. If I remember correctly it's not the worst hedgie food but a high quality cat food would be MUCH better.

My Ivy loovvveeess chicken baby food!


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## BigFudge (Jul 15, 2013)

Really ? I was under the impression it was a good choice to use. I have been wanting to pick up a good cat food and mix the two for the future though.


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## xxanniesocialxx (Jul 7, 2013)

My breeder recommends purina proplan kitten chow and it's on sale until this weekend at petsmart. Atleast in my area.


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## JulieAnne (Sep 3, 2012)

Most hedgehog foods are absolutely terrible for hedgehogs, some are ok, but none are as good as a high quality cat food.

Here is a list of dry cat foods 
http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/12-diet-nutrition/12-dry-cat-food-list.html


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## JulieAnne (Sep 3, 2012)

xxanniesocialxx said:


> My breeder recommends purina proplan kitten chow and it's on sale until this weekend at petsmart. Atleast in my area.


I just looked at that food. It is not on the list in forums and it has corn gluten in it (corn is a big no no in hedgie foods) the protein is rather high at 40% and the fiber content isn't very high at only 2%.

When choosing a food you don't want the protein to be over 35%, you want the fat to be 15% or less, and the fiber to be at least 2%.

You also want high quality ingredients with meat as the first ingredient (no animal by-products. You want it to specify what kind of meat ie. chicken, turkey, duck etc).

Some things to avoid in food are:
Corn, BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin, and any kind of sweetner.

The link I gave above has a bunch of foods to choose from.

It would also be a good idea to make a mix of 3-4 different foods to make sure there is variety and hedgie gets all the nutrients it needs .

I hope this helped


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## JulieAnne (Sep 3, 2012)

BigFudge said:


> Really ? I was under the impression it was a good choice to use. I have been wanting to pick up a good cat food and mix the two for the future though.


I will say, you COULD use it in a mix, although personally I would completely do away with it, but that's just me.

If you do decide to do it in a mix, I would recommend adding 2 more foods, along with the hedgehog food. Spike's is one of the "better" hedgehog foods, but it certainly cannot give them all their nutrients alone.


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## BigFudge (Jul 15, 2013)

hmmm thanks for the posts, what are your opinions are having a couple of separate dishes each containing a different food ? The cage has the space so that is not an issue.


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## JulieAnne (Sep 3, 2012)

I've never heard of anyone doing that. I would just mix them together and feed them in the same bowl. Of course, you'll want to introduce the foods gradually, and one at a time.


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