# Freeze dried bugs



## Hedgielovers12 (Jul 25, 2017)

hi, so my hedgehog cant chew due to teeth issues, she has to have mush, which means she cant eat bugs, recently ive just been putting live bugs that i froze and killed (meal worms and crickets) into a coffee grinder with her kibble, i was wondering if freeze dried is good because i feel like it would be easier just to get freeze dried ones and grind them up to a powder and just decide which bugs i want to feed that day rather then making a bunch of different batches which i need quite a lot of bugs for considering they are live, anyways, ive heard about compactions with freeze dried bugs, is this still a risk if im just grinding them up? and is it nearly as nutritious as just freezing live bugs, and when i freeze the mealworms i have to pick them out one by one which can get kind of a lot to do overtime.


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## holiday (Jun 18, 2020)

*Teeth Issues and Bugs*

Hi! So I do not know a lot abut freeze dried bugs. However, it seems you are willing to handle live bugs, put them in your freezer, and put them in your coffee grinder, meaning you are not very squeamish. I would buy powder crickets and meal worms. WARNING: depending on which brand you buy, powder bugs can stink! This technique also works for a stubborn eater. Sprinkle the powder on you hedgie's food. This should help get the nutrients, without the hassle.

NEVER, EVER EVER get cricket or meal work powder that talks about or is called the following:

anything that say "protein", "flour", "power", or "Non GMO". These are made for humans

make sure any food you give IS crickets or meal worms not MADE to feed crickets or meal worms.

something just saying cricket powder is made for humans

I would recommend something made for reptiles.


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## Ria (Aug 30, 2018)

Freeze dried has been frozen and dried out meaning they are as notorious as normal dried insects - theres nothing left.

If your freezing them yourself from live, then its just plain frozen theres no drying part which means they dont really loose any nutrients.

Ready made powders arent that great either, they bake them in an over and then turn them into a powder, this means they are still losing nutrients - they dont loose as much as the dried/freeze dried ones though.

Canned insects are also cooked to kill, so they again loose some nutrients ' nit as much as dried or freeze dried and canned insects make a great treat here and there, but should never be staple.

So the way you are doing it is the most healthy way.
Mealworms are treat insects so you may be able to get away with not having them.

Dont bother with batching them up. Just put them into one tub and pick out what ones you want that night - or have the insects in their own tubs and do it that way. Putting it into one tub makes it easier for sorting plus takes up less space.


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