# Hedgie not eating anything but boiled chicken!!!!!!



## douglam (Feb 11, 2011)

I got my Little guy a couple of weeks ago, when I brought him home he was eating the food from the breeder, but very little. He would eat a few pieces here and there and then a lot once every few days. I have now run out of the breeders food, I was slowing mixing in my own, but he wasnt eating anything I was mixing in. He went about 3 or 4 days without eating, I was weighing the food, so I gave home some boiled chicken which he demolished, and it's the only thing he's been eating for the last few days. I have been mixing it in with the other food but he only appears to be picking the chicken out of the bowl. What can I do to get him to eat the dry food. There are 4 types of food in the mix so I find it hard to believe he hates all 4 when the other hedgie eats all 4.


----------



## megan4032 (Dec 10, 2010)

Maybe he would like chicken baby food? If he likes that you could try mixing that with ground up food.


----------



## Puffers315 (Apr 19, 2010)

Is he a baby or rehomed adult? If he's an adult I'm thinking there maybe something up with his teeth, if its a baby, very unlikely.

Do you know what the breeder was feeding him? Food change is something you do slowly, and then some hedgehogs can be very picky eaters, and will not always eat what you offer to them.

The only thing I can think of is to possibly put the kibble and chicken together in a tupperware dish and in the fridge for a few days. This will hopefully make the kibble smell strongly of the chicken and maybe will perk his interest in eating it.

Other members will be around with their own suggestions, we'll get this problem licked.


----------



## schmelderz (Jul 7, 2010)

I used to have that problem before. What I did was similar to what Puffers suggested, I crushed the pieces of kibble and mixed it with the boiled chicken. After a couple of days I started to gradually increase the ratio of kibble to chicken, left the kibble in bigger chunks until my hedgie finally got used to it.  Hope it works for you too!


----------



## douglam (Feb 11, 2011)

Thanks for the suggestion. I will try mashing the kibble into the chicken. Last night I left him with a bowl of kibble that I mixed some wet cat food into, not only to soften it but make it smell delicious and still nothing from what I can tell. What a little weasel!

Another thing is that every time I wake up at night he's running on his wheel and man does he run fast. Could it be possible that he's "forgetting" to eat because he's to preoccupied with the wheel and the chicken is just good enough not to forget about.


----------



## Judi (Jul 9, 2009)

My babies will play all night long, and then get up at some point during the day to eat. If I put something yummy in, they'll eat it instead of playing, but if it's just dry kibble, they'll wait until afternoon to eat it, then go back to sleep until about 9pm.

I would count the pieces of food you're putting in, don't feed any chicken, and 24 hours later count the food again to see if he's really not eating anything.


----------



## douglam (Feb 11, 2011)

So I hyjacked the Little guys wheel last night and he appears have eaten a decent amount, a variety of what I gave him, but I don't think it included any of the kibble, possible some of the chicken coated in ground kibble though. Slightly hard to say since he also made a mess of everything as a point to me for takin his wheel even though it was his own fault


----------



## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

You have to be careful taking the wheel from him though because hedgies can start getting into trouble when they don't have anything to release that energy on. Some will try climbing and escaping and others will tear up cages, hang from the bars, fall and get hurt on things etc.  I've heard all kinds of stories from when they don't have their wheels. I know it may be different because you are trying to get the eating issue squared away but I wanted to put it out there just in case.

I hope you guys are able to get the eating thing fixed and that he will be back to eating his food soon


----------



## douglam (Feb 11, 2011)

So I have gotten the little guy eating wellness indulgence wet food with ground kibble mixed in. Now I just have to figure out how to wean him onto whole kibble cuz by golly gee wet cat food is expensive.


----------

