# worms in food



## TazsMom (Jun 28, 2014)

Firstly, I am ashamed that I am the worst hedgehog mommy there was. Taz is a year old, still eats kitten food- Royal Canin Spayed and Neutered. This week he stopped eating and started flipping over his food bowl into his water bowl rather than eating it (his water bowl is too heavy for him to lift) He spilled water onto his towel and some food must have gotten under the towel and tonight when cleaning his cage I discovered small white worms in the wet spilled food! Could this be why he isn't eating and drinking as much??? Could he have eaten one and gotten sick?? He drank from his water bowl tonight but I had to hold him right over it, and he ate some kibble from my hand, about 6 pieces. Mealworms he also devoured. He is peeing but not pooping as much. 
I've obviously cleaned his cage thoroughly, gotten him new towels, and am monitoring him closely.
Should I change his food? Syringe feed him? I may be being paranoid but he's our baby. 
Thank you so much in advance!


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## shinydistraction (Jul 6, 2014)

How old is the bag of food? If it's been open for a while it may have gotten stale, or the flavor changed with age and exposure to air, so a new bag may be in order. Hedgies can be picky, so if their food does not taste right, they'll protest by not eating it. It also wouldn't be a bad idea to start adding in a second food. Royal Canin isn't a terrible food, but it's not really a great food either. Lots of fillers. But anyway, the reason to start adding in a second food is to help prevent eating strikes. If he gets tired of one food, he still has the other food in his bowl.

I'm not overly worried about the little worms. Wet + kibble + time = gross things. They could be the larvae of some bugs that liked the gross mess made by the wet kibble. Flies maybe? I'm sure someone probably has an idea of what they are.


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## TazsMom (Jun 28, 2014)

Thank you!! Bingo, I just got him a bag but it's dated April 2015!! He must not have liked it, which is why he spilled it! (He's an explorer, so he's always flipping things over, that's how he got his name, Tazmanian Devil, his food bowl into his water bowl is a new trick, though. 
I will get him a new bag of RC this weekend, any other foods you suggest? I remember that about RC, but I tried other foods and it's the only one he would eat. That was months ago, so I will try other foods again. I know there are lots of threads about food here too, so I will check them out as well. 
Yeah the worms were GROSS. I felt so bad, but at least they were under the towel.


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## shinydistraction (Jul 6, 2014)

What kind of bowls does he have? Flipped over bowls are not the most fun thing to find in the morning. Maybe time to find a heavier bowl?

I'm feeding my girl Fromms Duck a la Veg. The fat is really a bit too high (18% if I'm remembering right), but Nico is a good runner and hasn't gotten chubby off of it. I've been lazy and haven't tried terribly hard to find a second food with lower fat that she'll eat. However, it's a pretty good food and she seems to like it.

But there are other great options. The big things to keep in mind are Protein 30%-35%, Fat 10%-15%, first ingredient should be a named meat or meat meal (things like "poultry" is not specific enough, should say chicken or whatever it is), no by product meals (those are things like beaks and feathers) and fillers should be at a minimum. Using those guidelines, you should be able to find at least a few different options. Hopefully little Taz with cooperate and like one!


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