# Homemade Diet For hedgehogs, Short Tail Opossums, and More.



## Maddie The Hedgehog (Jul 28, 2012)

I wanted to share this with you guys. The breeder that i adopted her from gave me this homemade recipe. I was wondering what you guys thought of it. I remember she gave me two frozen samples pre-made that i fed to her a couple of times when she was 8 weeks old. Shes 10 months now and doing well so far. I take very good care of her.

Using a Blender or food processor add:
-One small can of chicken
- 1/2 cup mixed veggies
- 1/4 cup mixed fruits
- 1 hard boiled egg (with or without shell
- 1/4 cup cooked plain oatmeal
- 1 teaspoon reptile calcium supplement
- 1 teaspoon canola oil
- 1/2 cup freeze dried meal worms or crickets
- Add plain apple juice to help mix together (normally I add 1/2-1 cup)

Mix all together until blended well then spoon into ice cube trays. Keep frozen until you need it. Each animal gets one ice cube a night, let it sit out for about 1-2 hours before feeding them so it is not still frozen. 
This diet should be supplemented with a good pellet diet like Spikes Delight; which should be left in the cage at all times (fresh food of course everyday)

Note: I just copied everything down from the paper that she gave me. When i first fed this to Maddie, she seemed to like it a lot. I stopped feeding it to her although because i was skeptical of reptile calcium supplement thinking that it was for just reptiles?? maybe there is another option? apple juice is ok right? im sure it had to be organic most likely. overall i cant see a problem with it, whats your opinion? Also i don't want to dis anyone or this person so i'm leaving any names out just in case.


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## SpiritWolves1 (Apr 5, 2012)

I don't know much about natural diets, but spikes delight sucks, and frankly I would add more meat then veggies and fruits.


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## Maddie The Hedgehog (Jul 28, 2012)

well i know that i've read that spikes delight is not the worst commercial hedgehog food, but I've read on here that it was one of the better choices to feed your hedgehog's unlike some other commercial brands. So I don't consider it all that bad^^  but that's just me. Spikes delight is kind of expensive but a lot of the good foods are too(cat food brands for example) but i haven't fed Maddie spikes delight other than the first time i adopted her, the breeder gave her a free bag plus the homemade diet samples that was given to me.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Looks like a pretty nice recipe to me! I would do just plain cooked chicken instead of canned, but mainly because I've always read/assumed that canned food tends to have a lot of added salt and such. If it didn't, I'm sure it'd be fine. I'm glad that she specified feeding it along with a pellet diet too - I love the idea of doing a homemade soft diet as the only thing, but in reality it'd be more difficult to make sure all of the nutritional needs are being met. I'm not a fan of Spike's Delight instead of cat food either, but it is definitely one of the better hedgehog foods anyway.


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## Maddie The Hedgehog (Jul 28, 2012)

the reptile calcium stuff is ok? i do like how you can freeze this recipe so it lasts a long time! just don't let it get freezer burnt. I haven't made any of this myself yet but i should. It might be something new and refreshing for maddie since its been a while since she had it. I'm gonna have to talk my fiance to take me out of town to get the meal worms or crickets and calcium supplement. hmm my mom would kill me if i used her food processor for bugs :? haha lol....what to do?


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

Reptile calcium supplement is just a calcium supplement, nothing fancy or weird. As long as you aren't overdosing them on it, it's not harmful at all.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

:lol: Might need to get a new food processor to label for animal food! My friends have told me if we ever move in together, I'm definitely going to have a designated food processor solely for animal food, in case it ever gets bugs thrown in it.


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## Kam (Nov 7, 2012)

Neat recipe, I would think twice about the canned chicken, *chicken comes in a can*? Preservatives and salt can be very high in canned meat, as well as the Apple juice, preservatives and sugar, just throw a very ripe pear or Apple into the mix, core and seeds removed.

Although I'm just learning about hedgehog diets, but that what stands out to me in this recipe.

Best time of year for cheap secondhand kitchen appliances!


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## Maddie The Hedgehog (Jul 28, 2012)

i'll have to use a different food processor hahah :lol: im sure organic apple juice would be ok since theres no salt added(right?), but i do like the idea of just throwing a fresh apple in as well to, but im gonna have to pick some pretty good tasting apples out, they are hard to find this time of year. ive never heard of canned chicken either? hmm. Maddie did come from a pretty big town/city(compared to my town) so who knows, there might be canned chicken there. im pretty sure the can didnt have salt in it, maybe she used jar baby food and labled it as canned in the recipe?(who knows) buy maddie was vet checked before she came home so im sure the breeder knew what she was doing.


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## tigereyes319 (Nov 10, 2012)

You were asking about canned chicken. It is usually located by the tuna in stores. I use it to make chicken salad.


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