# Hedgie mainly eating mealworms



## zx10_Vic (Jun 8, 2016)

Hey guys, I've recently became a new hedgehog owner, I've had him for a bout 3-4 weeks now and I've had no trouble with him. I bought him from an exotic pet store and I bought the same food that they were giving the hedgies they had just for the simplicity of not changing his food. The food is Exotic Nutrition: Hedgehog complete and the formula contains freeze-dried meal worms. Well I've noticed that when I refill his bowl, the first night he completely eats the worms (around 5-10 worms depending how many worms I get in the scoop) and doesn't touch the pellets, and the second night he will only eat a tiny tiny bit, and so forth until I fill his bowl. I've read that too much mealworms is unhealthy so should I maybe switch to another source of food or just pick out the meal worms from his bowl? Thanks for the help/ advice in advance


----------



## Artemis-Ichiro (Jan 22, 2016)

Hedgehog food is considered garbage. 
Read the new sticky of recommended foods and find a mix that will work for you. Make the change slowly and give him either live worms or canned but not freeze dried because they can cause impactation. 

A lot of hedgies that are on hedgehog food won't touch it again when they are given high quality cat food. 

Also, you need to change the food and water daily and wash the bowls with water and soap. 

Give him a decent amount of food each night and see how much he eats and adjust as needed to avoid wasting it. Ichiro eats between 0.3 to 0.6 oz a night, sometimes leaving few kibbles, so I put 0.6 oz every night and change it daily.


----------



## Hedgehog Swag (Feb 19, 2016)

From reading post on diet it seems each little hedgie has their own preferences. Scrizzie only eats live insects and fruit. There are some great places on-line to get live insects that are pretty reasonable. May want to check out super worms (Scrizzies favorite), crickets, and dubai roaches.


----------



## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

Hedgehog Swag said:


> From reading post on diet it seems each little hedgie has their own preferences. Scrizzie only eats live insects and fruit. There are some great places on-line to get live insects that are pretty reasonable. May want to check out super worms (Scrizzies favorite), crickets, and dubai roaches.


You really need to find something else to feed because insects and fruit is not a sufficient, balanced diet and your hedgehog is at risk of getting several nutrient deficiencies.


----------



## Hedgehog Swag (Feb 19, 2016)

Draenog said:


> You really need to find something else to feed because insects and fruit is not a sufficient, balanced diet and your hedgehog is at risk of getting several nutrient deficiencies.


We have started mixing small amounts of veggies into her banana so she cant tell but other than that very comfortable with her all natural diet. Personally would never feed her anything out of a can as we try our best to keep it natural and as much to their native diet as possible.


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

The problem with this is our uncertainty of their native diet. Not to mention that in the wild, their diet consists of more than a few types of bugs and some fruit, as far as we do know. If they feel they're lacking a nutrient in the wild, they can fix it on their own, by finding the right food or other way to supplement. They can't do that in captivity when we're controlling what food they get and when. That's why we need to know what we're giving them has everything they need. 

I'm a huge fan of natural/raw diets and I don't hide that. But commercial foods are not all bad, and quite frankly, the worst thing you can feed your pet is an unbalanced diet. A raw diet with a limited variety that you don't know provides the necessary nutrients isn't better than feeding from a can. 

And I've been meaning to make a note of this on Bindi's diet thread, but I might as well say here - I'm actually considering trying to add a canned food to her diet as she's stopped eating her veggies and I'm not comfortable with her eating mainly meat and insects, even with the variety of insects she gets.

Edit: Sorry for the derailing, OP. I agree with Artemis, you should read the stickies and look for a new food to switch your hedgie to.

Edited again because I meant to mention that the risk of deficiency is much higher with a young, growing hedgehog. Their needs are higher and more specific than an adult that isn't growing anymore.


----------



## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

Hedgehog Swag said:


> We have started mixing small amounts of veggies into her banana so she cant tell but other than that very comfortable with her all natural diet. Personally would never feed her anything out of a can as we try our best to keep it natural and as much to their native diet as possible.


Lilysmommy already covered most of it but I'd like to point out banana isn't a natural diet either. In captivity they most likely will have to eat some "unnatural" things.

I am a big fan of raw diets which is one of the reasons I feed my hedgehogs primarily raw, but it's more balanced and with a lot more variety than what yours is getting. And even then I do not feel comfortable cutting back on cat food completely - my animals still get some kibble, because I like to keep them healthy and right now there is, unfortunately, no other option. We do not know enough about hedgehog nutrition to just give them a couple of worms and a bit of fruit and call it a suitable diet. It really isn't good for your hedgehog at all - an all cat food diet with high quality cat food is probably even better than what you are feeding now.
The few insect species available as feeders are in no way sufficient enough to form a complete, balanced diet for a hedgehog, not even if you add a few veggies and fruits (which is something they most likely barely eat in the wild anyway and might not even be able to digest very well).


----------



## Hedgehog Swag (Feb 19, 2016)

I have gone through so many sites looking at diets and nutrition among other things. Two things pop out - for every opinion there is an opposite opinion on virtually every topic from diet to housing to toys. Second no one really has a clue scientifically about what is or is not healthy. You see on here the bashing of hedgehog food and dried meal worms. You go onto other sites that is all nutrition for exotic animals and the hedgehog diet will include dried mealworms. Do I think a hedgehog in the wild has the thought process to seek a variety of food to balance their meals. No. Do I think the less grains/carbs an animal digested is beneficial - yes. I base my opinion on what I learned several years back working with a nutritionist and put simply fat does not cause fat - carbs cause fat. If people think it is wise to serve canned food I respect that as well.


----------



## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

Hedgehog Swag said:


> I have gone through so many sites looking at diets and nutrition among other things. Two things pop out - for every opinion there is an opposite opinion on virtually every topic from diet to housing to toys. Second no one really has a clue scientifically about what is or is not healthy. You see on here the bashing of hedgehog food and dried meal worms. You go onto other sites that is all nutrition for exotic animals and the hedgehog diet will include dried mealworms. Do I think a hedgehog in the wild has the thought process to seek aa variety of food to balance their meals. No. Do I think the less grains/carbs an animal digested is beneficial - yes. I base my opinion on what I learned several years back working with a nutritionist and put simply fat does not cause fat - carbs cause fat. If people think it is wise to serve canned food I respect that as well.


I'm sorry, this has nothing to do with bashing, not liking certain opinions, etc. This has to do with basic nutrition and common sense. In the wild there live hundreds of invertebrates. Do hedgehogs think "I haven't eaten this one since two days, maybe I should pick this one instead of the other"? No, of course they don't. The thing is they have this massive variety of insects on their platter, among other things. In captivity, people rarely feed more than 5 different insect species. Right now there simply isn't a way to come close to what they would get in the wild.

This isn't an opinion -- it's a fact. And as much as I dislike it, because I would love to be able to feed my hedgehog a wider variety and all natural/raw foods, I have to acknowledge we can't currently give that to them. So we have to make up for it by choosing what is available now, even if it might not be perfect for them.

There are plenty of foods out there who do not have grains in them, or at least not much of it. Also, hedgehogs aren't humans. What makes us fat doesn't need to make them fat. With hedgehogs obesity is likely to be linked to a lack of fibre (since cat food is relatively low in fibre compared to a hedgehogs' natural diet).

Nothing is worse than an imbalanced diet when we're talking nutrition. And feeding only insects and a bit of fruit is, even with the little we know about hedgehog nutrition now, not a suitable balanced diet.

If you want to continue a diet without any kibble/cat food at all, I really recommend to look in to hedgehog nutrition to at least try to make the diet as balanced as possible.


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Agreed wholeheartedly with everything Draenog stated.



> Second no one really has a clue scientifically about what is or is not healthy.


True and not true. Yes, we have almost no scientific studies on hedgehogs, their nutrition, their care, etc. I know at least one person who's hoping to work on that, so that may change in the future, especially since they're currently popular & may stay popular. However, we do have anecdotal evidence on a lot of things that strongly suggest whether or not something is healthy or not healthy for hedgehogs. Example, wheels with any kind of opening in their running surface are very much not healthy due to the high risk of catching nails/toes/etc. and injuring the hedgehog. Yeah, no scientific studies showing that. We didn't need them, we have experience from long-time owners & breeders. And food-wise, while we only have a loose idea of what's required for hedgehogs, we know the basics of what every animal needs in terms of vitamins & minerals, we know that hedgehogs at least fit into the range of what's appropriate for cats & dogs, and we know the results of a deficiency from any of those vitamins & minerals. When feeding a raw diet, unless you have looked up every item & done the calculations to ensure that every vitamin & mineral is accounted for in sufficient amounts, variety is absolutely necessary & a key part of the diet to ensure that all of the nutrients are present in sufficient amounts & preferably from various sources in case of any conflicting reactions between nutrients that prevent absorption and/or utilization.

Frankly, I have no use for "opinions" from people who insist that something is safe just because THEY haven't experienced the problem yet - if they're ignoring the numerous other incidents someone else had with the item, method, etc., then their opinion is bad and they're needlessly endangering their animal. You're allowed your opinion. And others are allowed to point out that you're wrong & potentially harming your animal.


----------



## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

With lesser hedgehog tenrecs, who are not hedgehogs but very similar diet-wise, it is common to feed primarily insects; quite a lot of people do not feed additional cat food (often because tenrecs can be really picky and tend to ignore kibble).
And guess what? Calcium deficiencies as well as others are common too. Each year there are tenrecs born with crooked legs, or they develop them during growth, because of unbalanced diets.

Nutrition is important. We might not know a lot about hedgehog nutrition but we know enough to state, as a fact and not an opinion, that a diet of just insects and a little fruit isn't a proper diet. There has been research done into hedgehog nutrition, esp. for the European hedgehog, and it shows us a wide variety of foods.


----------



## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

Nutrition is an evolving issue. Partially because it is with other animals that have been in captivity for a very long time. Also with hedgehogs not being domesticated we have a huge learning curve. 
Even in the wild, their diets may not be "balanced". But life expectancy would be less. Nutrition should play a role in this.


----------



## GsMom (Mar 12, 2016)

Hedgehog Swag said:


> I base my opinion on what I learned several years back working with a nutritionist and put simply fat does not cause fat - carbs cause fat.


As much as I hate to play Captain Obvious - you do realize that, nutritionally, a banana is 93% carb, right? And that its carb content comes primarily from sugar?

You're not gaining ground by hiding veggies in the banana. It's kind of like a coworker of mine who used to go to Burger King and order the Double Whopper combo meal, with a Diet Coke. I kept telling her.. a Diet Coke ain't gonna fix that.


----------



## Ozzmae (Apr 12, 2017)

I've read that they are mostly found in garbage dumps, so I think they eat a lot of different things tbh


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Please check dates on threads. This one is from nearly a year ago.


----------

