# Underweight or just fine? >_>;



## shaelikestaquitos (Feb 2, 2010)

Kashi has kept a steady weight of around 300 grams for the past few weeks.

I've been giving him 6 mealies a day + all the food he wants (kitten, so full fat).

He hasn't lost weight, but I don't know if he's skinny or not >_>;
Sometimes in photos he comes off looking really skinny (loose skin), and sometimes he looks chubby like a normal hog? :/









This is a photo of him from a few nights ago...

I think he definitely looks thin in this photo... but he's kept a steady weight... I really don't know what else I can do?


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Can't really tell from that position. You need to show one from above or him walking.


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## shaelikestaquitos (Feb 2, 2010)

Nancy said:


> Can't really tell from that position. You need to show one from above or him walking.


Okay I will take a few pictures later on tonight~


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## shaelikestaquitos (Feb 2, 2010)

Here are the pictures from last night.



















Am I being paranoid or is he underweight?


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

I'm glad you posted, Shae, because he looks alot like Cholla. He's about 280 or so & just runs his heart out every night. (10 miles last night!) & I've been wondering the same thing.

If anyone suggests to you how to add a few more grams on him, I'd be inclined to try it also. 

But just looking at Kashi, he looks fine to me (as does Cholla, he just FEELS thin - but that's probably just incomparison to Zoey). He looks like the || body type to me, but I'm no expert.


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## shaelikestaquitos (Feb 2, 2010)

PJM said:


> But just looking at Kashi, he looks fine to me (as does Cholla, he just FEELS thin - but that's probably just incomparison to Zoey). He looks like the || body type to me, but I'm no expert.


Yeah, that's how I feel. He's just SO light and small, I'm worried


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## indygo88 (Aug 21, 2010)

My Cricket seems to have leveled off at between 300-310. I've noticed that it's on the low end of "normal" for a lot of people posting, but I've never thought of her as looking skinny, and the pic of Kashi looks quite similar to my girl. She runs nightly & is seemingly very healthy, so I haven't worried. (I would hope someone would chime in if I should...?!)


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

indygo88 said:


> My Cricket seems to have leveled off at between 300-310. I've noticed that it's on the low end of "normal" for a lot of people posting, but I've never thought of her as looking skinny, and the pic of Kashi looks quite similar to my girl. She runs nightly & is seemingly very healthy, so I haven't worried. (I would hope someone would chime in if I should...?!)


I just wanted to make a comment that just because they are on the smaller end of the spectrum, doesn't mean that they are looking skinny. My boy is ~320g, and he is kept on a low fat diet. Why? Because his rump is still nicely round, with that nice teardrop shape that most hedgies have. So this makes my boy the teardrop shaped, rather than runner type, even though he still wheels quite a bit nightly. 
Hedgehog weight can range from approx 200g to 1000g.

For Kashi, I think he looks fine. From many pics, I've noticed that a few "runner types" tend to have that tucked up tummy look. So if you see that, it doesn't necessarily mean that he is skinny. 
Now, since Kashi seems to be of the runner type, you can also increase his mealies intake. If memory serves, LG has Inky up to 30 mealies per day at some point(don't quote me on that lol). Actually, for maintaining a runner type, it's best to ask LG, as she has vast experience with it, and have experimented with many different foods and insects to help with maintaining weight. She's made several posts about all that she's done, so it may be worthwhile to search around, or even send her a pm. ^_^


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## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

Immortalia said:


> indygo88 said:
> 
> 
> > My Cricket seems to have leveled off at between 300-310. I've noticed that it's on the low end of "normal" for a lot of people posting, but I've never thought of her as looking skinny, and the pic of Kashi looks quite similar to my girl. She runs nightly & is seemingly very healthy, so I haven't worried. (I would hope someone would chime in if I should...?!)
> ...


i'd be interested to hear what LG has to say too.


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

Trying to get a very active runner to gain weight can be near impossible. Or at least it feels that way. First thing to do is to offer higher calorie foods. I initially start out by adding a regular food instead of a lite to the diet. If that doesn't help, I try a kitten food. I have actually had a hedgehog lose weight from switching to kitten food though, so continue to monitor and remember to go slowly with any diet change.

I have also upped the number of fatty bugs, offering lots of mealworms, waxworms etc. Sometimes even that seems to go no where. 

Sometimes you just have to try different things, and do things that you may actually be scared to admit to other hedgehog owners for fear of being accused of being a bad care taker. However, when it comes to special hedgehogs sometimes you have to break the "normal rules" of hedgehog care and provide a higher calorie food. 

For example. I don't recommend Spike's Delite normally, but I will admit that I feed it to Cooper. Cooper is an extremely picky eater. I have tried normal foods, kitten foods, offering more bugs (which he won't eat more than 1.5 anyway) etc and all of them have not really helped keep weight on this boy. He drops weight fast. We received a free bag of Rice & Chicken formula with his show winnings in October. I decided to try it on him. He only gets 1/4 teaspoon of it a night, but he loves it and his weight has held steady since going on it.


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## shaelikestaquitos (Feb 2, 2010)

Immortalia said:


> For Kashi, I think he looks fine. From many pics, I've noticed that a few "runner types" tend to have that tucked up tummy look. So if you see that, it doesn't necessarily mean that he is skinny.
> Now, since Kashi seems to be of the runner type, you can also increase his mealies intake. If memory serves, LG has Inky up to 30 mealies per day at some point(don't quote me on that lol). Actually, for maintaining a runner type, it's best to ask LG, as she has vast experience with it, and have experimented with many different foods and insects to help with maintaining weight. She's made several posts about all that she's done, so it may be worthwhile to search around, or even send her a pm. ^_^


30? Wow o_o I guess we will have to wait for LG to confirm this 
I thought more than 6 wasn't recommended and could lead to kidney problems or something? Or am I wrong?



Kalandra said:


> Trying to get a very active runner to gain weight can be near impossible. Or at least it feels that way. First thing to do is to offer higher calorie foods. I initially start out by adding a regular food instead of a lite to the diet. If that doesn't help, I try a kitten food. I have actually had a hedgehog lose weight from switching to kitten food though, so continue to monitor and remember to go slowly with any diet change.
> 
> I have also upped the number of fatty bugs, offering lots of mealworms, waxworms etc. Sometimes even that seems to go no where.
> 
> ...


Kashi is on all stages food (so it's full fat) because I posted a while ago saying he was losing weight (I had been slowly switching him to the light adult formula).

Should I maybe stop feeding him mealworms and give him waxworms instead or butterworms since they're higher in fat?


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

As anyone with multiple runners has experienced, what works for one hedgehog does not work for them all. 

As Kalandra has mentioned, upping the fat content of the food is the easiest to try first. If it works, great but it may not. 

Sure they can have 30 mealies a night if they need the extra fat. The number of mealies per night needs to be increased slowly or an upset tummy may occur and even then, 30 mealies per night may not agree with all hedgehogs. Unless you have a mealworm farm, feeding than many mealies nightly is not a practical option and gets pricey if you have to buy them. It's certainly worth a try to up the mealworm amount if farming mealworms is something you want to do. 

Going from a lite food to adult is often all that is needed and as Kalandra has mentioned, sometimes a different food will work. 

For some, giving some kitten food in their mix will work. The unfortunate part of doing this is once they get kitten food in their dish, they often refuse to eat anything but. This can sometimes be solved by giving the kitten food as a treat. When you get hedgie up in the evening, give him some kitten food so that kitten food is never in his cage or food dish. Works for some. 

Keep in mind that whatever option you try, you need to do it for at least a few weeks to a month before you will know if it's going to work. Sometimes they will have an initial weight increase, only to start loosing again after a week or two.


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