# Is he eating too much?



## HockeyHedgehog (May 20, 2018)

Hi all!

I brought my baby boy Emmett home about 3 weeks ago, and he's pretty much doing great! He is progressing well with bonding and eats well - _very_ well! He eats I and Love and You Chicken and Duck formula and 8-10 mealworms. I've heard you're supposed to free-feed kibble, and that two tablespoons is a good place to start. We began with that and he ate most with 3-5 pieces left over. Then he started eating all of those two scoops and all his mealworms, so I moved him up to two and a half scoops. He then ate all THAT and I have bumped him up to three. The 8-10 mealworms nightly has stayed consistent. He is eating ALL of three scoops, which seems like a lot to me. Maybe it's because he's growing, but it just seems like an awful lot of food to serve a baby hog!

I'm torn as to what to do now. Do I give him 4 scoops nightly so that he can eat all he wants? Do I keep him at three so he doesn't gain too much weight? Should I move back down to two? Should I just cut the number of mealworms? I don't want my baby to be overweight, but I also don't want him to be hungry, either...

Thanks all!


----------



## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

Baby hedgehogs shouldn't ever have their food intake restricted. If you feel he's eating to much and you're worried he'll become overweight then you can hide the food around the cage to make him work a bit more for it.


----------



## richardbird (Apr 30, 2017)

don't feed him more than 20 mealworms, 10-15 is good and the kibble you should probably stay with for a few more months, also i forgot how to post could u help


----------



## richardbird (Apr 30, 2017)

I found out how never mind, just make sure you also give him lots of water, i give it to mine in a dish, he doesn't like it out of a dispenser or bottle. I know it's not really part of this, but hand feed him his treats, he gets to know and like you better.


----------



## Askeptosaurus (Nov 10, 2015)

Monitor his weight. Normal adults can range between 300-430grams(it obviously varies from one hog to another so you still have to examine your individual animal to know if they're overweight or not) but as long as he's not pushing too far north of 400 his weight is fine. Feed him what he wants and don't worry about his weight until his weight actually looks concerning.


----------



## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

Hedgehogs can weigh well over 400 grams and not be overweight. You can go by weight but by how they look and if they can ball up tightly.


----------

