# Diet for new mommy hedgie.



## Hedther27 (Dec 24, 2013)

I have mentioned here before that my Hedther gave birth to two cute babies. Since then ive tried giving her baby cat food and her old kibble. I usually give her 20 pieces of kibbles, 5 pcs baby cat food and 15 pcs her old kibble. She doesnt eat her baby cat food and im worried coz her old kibbles doesnt have much fat in it. So as an alternative i gave her 10 mealies to make up for it, she isnt constipated, poop is normal but im just worried that im giving her too much mealies and fats. Does 10 mealies a day sounds ok to you guys? I dont give them all at once, i usually give 5 in the morning, 3 in the afternoon and 2 in the evening. Thanks for any answers. :*


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Does she eat all of her kibble? 20 doesn't sound like much at all for a nursing mother. Do you free-feed her?

If you're not giving the mealworms all at once and she's not constipated, that's probably fine. What's the fat percentage of her usual food?


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## Hedther27 (Dec 24, 2013)

i give her 20 pcs in the morning, 20 in the afternoon and 20 in the evening. sometimes at midnight i also try to check if she still has food. she eats all 15 old kibbles so that makes 45 kibbles a day, roughly coz i had to add some more sometimes. her kibble is "Princess Cat Food". i usually just put food in her bowl, refill everytime i see its all her old kibble is gone, i keep 20 pcs everytime so its easier to check whether she is eating or not. i often check if its empty and refill it so its back to 20 pcs. she eats about 45-60 pcs a day. yeah she isnt constipated and she moves well, tho its quite slow or maybe she's just tired from nursing. her babies are well and they move alot, walk alot inside her "cave".
she is also a bit round, tho i cant take a picture coz im afraid i might stress or scare her or something. i just leave them be and i catch a glimpse of the babies when she is eating her mealies outside her nest or cave


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## Hedther27 (Dec 24, 2013)

the info on Princess Cat food is 31.5% protein and 8.5% fat. as you can see the fat content or percentage is very low.


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

Why are you only giving her 15 pieces of the food she likes at a time? I know you state you are giving her more later, but she should have an unlimited supply of the food she likes available to her at all times. I'd be filling her bowl and refreshening it later. 

You state she moves well, but is slow. Slow to me means she is lethargic. Lethargy isn't normal. It could be a symptom that she isn't getting enough nutrition or has a nutritional deficiency (like calcium) to support her own body and milk production. It can also be a symptom that she feels sick.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Why are you limiting her food. She should have unlimited food available at all times. She is feeding babies and she knows how much food she needs. 

Ten mealworms or more is fine as long as she is used to having 10 mealworms at one time. Otherwise too many at once can cause a tummy upset. Start slow and increase the amount. 

Moving slowly is not normal. She should be moving normally. How long has she been lethargic? How old are the babies?


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

If I had a hedgehog that recently had babies that was "moving slow" I would be very very worried about her. Moving slowly is often a sign of injury or illness.

She needs to have all the food she wants, that she will eat, right now. She should never be out of the food she will eat and should always always have some in her dish. She's trying to feed babies and limiting the food she likes is NOT good.


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## Hedther27 (Dec 24, 2013)

Im not limiting her food, I only put 20 pcs kibble to monitor her intake coz i had to count it. I increased her kibbles to 30 now. I check every hour to bring back the number of kibbles to 30 or 20. I immediately refill her bowl when all kibble is gone anyway so its like im still free feeding her.
I think she was only being cautios coz when i took her out her cage she was moving just fine.
Her babies are 1 week and 1 day old now, they're big and fat and they also like walking inside the cave or their home.
Thanks for the answers. Please tell me more. Ill try to free feed her.


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