# Too many eggs?



## akitka (Aug 10, 2018)

I heard someone say recently eggs should only be given as an occasional treat. I give them a lot because my hedgehog prefers them above everything else, and I can get him to eat significantly more bugs if they’re ground and mixed with eggs. I’d say I offer egg+bug mix every night for a week then none for a week, repeat. Could anyone give me more info on what the problem might be with frequently feeding eggs, (other then just that they should have a varied diet)? 
Thanks


----------



## Ria (Aug 30, 2018)

Too much egg can cause problems with all animals really.
Dogs for example should only have 3 eggs a week.

They contain enzyme inhibitors in the egg whites, which has potential to negativity affect digestion - this only happens in huge amounts of eggs

Eggs contain high amounts of protein which can be bad but its also a good natural source of protein so its not to terrible, too much protein can cause problems though. 

They also contain a lot of natural vitamin D which helps the calcium in the egg to be absorbed so in the sense its actually pretty good for vitamin D and calcium.

They also contain fatty acids, which is good but too much can also cause problems (I was told anyway)

They also contain a few other vitamins minerals which helps our little hogs.

Basically eggs in moderation contain health benefits, but too much can cause problems.

I think people are more scared of giving too much egg to hedgehogs than to other animals though.

Maybe do like 3-4 days of about 5-7g a week this should be fine.
Thats about 1 egg each week


----------



## Ria (Aug 30, 2018)

Sorry got me maths a bit wrong 7g of egg 4 times a week is 10g short of 1 small egg in a week.

1 small egg is around 38g and contains about 4.9g or protein.


----------



## Emc (Nov 18, 2018)

Eggs are only ~13% protein. Getting 'too much protein' from eggs is not an issue, because 13% isn't enough to raise overall protein in the diet to unsafe levels... actually, because it's only 13%, it will lower the protein in your hedgehogs diet - how much it does so depends on how much you feed. Also keep in mind that 13% protein is per 100g of egg... so, unless you're feeding your hedgehog 100g of egg in one sitting (and I doubt you are haha), it offers less protein again. Furthermore, all the 'risks' with feeding too much egg do not apply to hedgehogs unless your hedgehog is quite literally living off of chicken eggs. Just giving your hedgehog a little bit of egg mix daily isnt going to be enough to cause issues with enzyme inhibition - which, to my knowledge, is largely associated with raw eggs vs cooked. 

I feel like I say this a lot on this forum, but it's important to remember that the dose makes the poison. If you are feeding only a small amount of egg, so that he is not eating exclusively eggs and insects for a week and nothing else because he's full up on eggs, I don't see how your current diet is a problem.


----------



## Ria (Aug 30, 2018)

The enzyme inhabitation is more associated with raw eggs, but its still an issue with cooked eggs too.
But as I said this is only a problem in huge amounts like giving 1 whole medium egg (about 44g) every single day.
Which with a hedgehog I doubt would ever happen, but its still a fact that should be known.

7g of egg 7 times a week is going be a bit more than 1 medium egg in one week.
Theres no problem with that. 

10g of egg 7 times a week is just under 2 medium eggs in one week.
Which is still okay, especially if your doing this every other week over every week.

Too much egg would be giving well over 100g of egg in 1 week so say 20g of egg 7 times a week that's 140g of egg in one week, which is roughly just over 3 medium eggs in one week. If thats bad for a dog I cant imagine it being good for a small animal like a hedgehog.
This goes for cooked or raw eggs.

In 44g of egg there is 5.7g of protein
You can turn that into percentages if you want to. And you can work out the protein percentages for everything if you want to.


----------



## belties (Oct 2, 2018)

It would be far better to offer the egg / insect meal every other or every third night than every night for a week then skipping a week. With everything moderation is usually best and would be less likely to cause digestion problems. Hedgehogs can be fussy about their food and changeing the diet every week can cause issues. Most do not do well with constant change.


----------



## Emc (Nov 18, 2018)

Yeah, I was just making a point that you can't get too much protein from eggs, because they dont contain enough protein to push the percentage of their diet into unsafe levels.

Its recommended that a hedgehogs diet be 25-35% protein, so say 30% average. Lets say your average hedgehog eats 10g of food per day. 10g x 30% = 3g of protein per day required. 

In one tablespoon of boiled egg, there is 1.1g of protein. You could safely feed a hedgehog 3 tablespoons (and some) and you wouldn't be in danger of protein overload. Obviously, protein isnt the only thing to be concerned about. Just because we can feed a hedgehog 3 tablespoons of egg, doesn't mean we should - they'd fill up on it, and eat nothing else, and it would be an imbalanced diet. My own hedgehog gets 10g of egg 1-2 times a week, but thats just my own personal preference. I wouldn't feed my hedgehog 10g of egg per day, because I know she'd eat that alone and like, nothing else. I think if youre gonna do it daily, closer to a teaspoon (5g? give or take) would be safer from a balanced diet point of view - but thats just my preference. 

Side note; you could safely feed a dog more than 3 eggs per week. To really see negative diet impacts from feeding an animal like a dog eggs, you would really, really have to over do it by like, feeding 10+ eggs a day. Many raw feeders feed a couple eggs to their dog - and do it daily at that. < A much bigger animal with different dietary needs, obviously. I just wanted to address that point haha.


----------



## Ria (Aug 30, 2018)

I wasnt comparing dogs to hedgehogs but feeding a dog an egg every day of the week their whole life can actually cause pretty bad health problems, 3 eggs in a week is safer and keeps their diet balanced 

And obviously for any animal to get too much protein from an egg would mean they are having LOADS of egg.

People are told that eggs are "high protein" most people dont actually look to see how much there is and then eggs are told to be fed only once a week max.

Eggs are obviously a great natural source of protein, and you would have to be giving a whole lot of egg to get too much protein from an egg - Mix that with loads of other protein it can be pretty easy with egg every day.

I never said getting too much from protein with egg was an easy thing. But its not impossible. 

Egg have a lot of benefits, but its healthier in moderation than every day of the week.


----------



## Emc (Nov 18, 2018)

I won't get into dogs, because I don't want to drag this off topic, so maybe that's a conversation for another day haha.

In anyways; 100g of egg is still only 13% protein. Most feeder insects are between 15-20% protein. The protein content of an egg won't put any strain on a hedgehogs kidneys, because they're only 13% and a hedgehog is capable of handling much more than that.

It quite literally is impossible to get too much protein from an egg if we're talking protein overload. Adding eggs (amount depending of course), will *lower* the protein % of a hedgehogs diet; it will not increase it, regardless of how much egg you add.

Eggs are not protein boosters. They're considering "high protein" because most of their calories comes from protein. Somewhere along the way, someone interpreted that as eggs = protein boosters, when this isn't actually the case. They're fairly low in protein; certainly nothing that would cause concern for an animal like a hedgehog.

It can be a complicated topic, and using a dry diet in comparison like I did previously wasn't the greatest of examples haha. But yeah; there's a lot of misinformation/misunderstanding as far as eggs are concerned. They're fine to add to your hogs diet as a source of protein, but they should be added carefully - because contrary to popular belief, they'll drop the overall protein of your hedgehogs diet vs increase it like many believe.


----------



## Ria (Aug 30, 2018)

With egg it may be impossible for a hedgehog to get to much protein with egg
But its not going to decrease protein that much either - especially with small amounts 
And too much egg is still bad.
I think 1 egg or between 1 and 2 eggs per week is enough for a hedgehog while keeping the diet balanced out ofcourse

So 5g of egg daily (35g per week) or 10g of egg 3 times a week (30g per week) are the two best ways of using egg in a hedgehogs diet for having it balanced. And not being worried about using too much egg in their diet.

Eggs are also great for giving energy.


----------



## akitka (Aug 10, 2018)

Thanks for the eggcelent answers everyone! The reason I have been doing week on /week off was because I make a bug/egg/occasional veggies mix and freeze it into weekly portion sizes. I think to be safe I’m going to start freezing it into smaller portions so that I can offer a smaller serving, 1 night on/ 1 night off or 1 on /2 off to be safe. He does tend to fill up on the egg when I offer it, and ignore the kibble.


----------

