# Good Insects and fruits/veggies for Picky eaters



## Stellara (Nov 12, 2011)

My newest little boy is now the second hedgehog I've had that refuses mealworms. He has absolutely no interest in them, whether they are crushed, wiggling, alive, dead, in his food, out of his food, fed to him by hand, etc.
The only way I have managed to get him to eat them is if I crush them up completely and mix them in with baby food so they are hidden, and even then I feel like he may not be getting all of the nutrients that he would if he ate one whole.
Since I don't have any sort of insectivore dry as part of his mix I am really set on getting him to eat at least some sort of insects. I'm wondering what others have had luck with. 

Another issue I am having is getting him to eat ANY fruits and vegetables. He will eat the scrambled egg I give him occassionally but he has not even touched or as much as "sniffed" the array of fruits/veggies he has been presented.
He loves his dry mix and eats quite a lot of it which is good, but I would REALLY like to get some fresh foods into his system.
Obviously I am the most concerned on getting him to eat his insects.
His favorite treat is canned food, beechnut chicken and chicken broth baby food (which is how I've been disguising his mealworms so far), and his newfound love is the freeze dried pure chicken treats that I give my cats (the ONLY ingredient is chicken in these and I have never seen him eat anything with as much enjoyment as these treats).
Thanks in advance for any suggestions, i apologize if there is another thread like this one but I didn't have a lot of time to search around and really want to start getting some insects into this little boy!


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## Sonics1AndOnlyGirl (May 25, 2013)

I found out my hedgie Sonic likes mushy food. I've offered him many kinds of fruits but he never eats them. I put a tiny amount of yogurt in front of him and he ate it like no tomorrow. He did the same thing with some banana baby food too. You could take fresh fruits or veggies and mash them or put them in a blender.


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## definitelydeven (Jul 8, 2013)

Peaches is the same way, she won't eat the worms or fruits really just cat food. She loves meats though and cat treats. She will only eat strawberries if I bite one in half, then she will only eat where I bit. I tried smashing them up and she seemed to like that too.
As for meal worms I got the 'mini' worms and she likes those a little more..Maybe because she's a baby? I'm not sure. She doesn't seem interested if its big.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Some hedgehogs are just weird about eating insects. :lol: You could always try different insects - some hedgehogs like crickets (you could either freeze, then thaw out to feed, or let him try hunting them in a bathtub or kiddie pool), or dubia roaches. He may be more enthusiastic about those, or he may still ignore him. Don't stress out too much if you can't get him to eat any insects...it's definitely preferred if you can get them for hedgie, but it's hard to do much about it if hedgie refuses to eat them.

For fruits & veggies, try all different forms - like the other posters have mentioned, some hedgies like them if they're mashed or in baby food/pureed form. Some like them cooked, some like them raw, etc. Try different forms, and introduce the same thing multiple times - it can take numerous times having it in front of them before they give it a taste.

One thing I found that worked very well for me (and I remember it's worked for at least one other person as well) that may work for you, since he seems to like meat... Try mixing fruits or veggies (veggies probably mix better with it) with meat. I did this by mixing up a jar of meat baby food with 3-4 veggie ones, and 1-2 fruit ones, then freezing the whole mess in ice cube trays. Lily would eat any kind of mix I gave her, as long as it had meat in it. Another person tried a similar thing - she cooked chicken with some veggies in a frying pan, to give the veggies more of the chicken's taste, and her hedgehog ate everything that way. So that might work too!

Another great treat that I found that Lily would wake up out of a dead sleep for - Wellness Healthy Indulgence packets. They're little metal foil packets of meat chunks in gravy, and the ingredients are very good. They have 5 or 6 different flavors too. I would open a packet and freeze the meat chunks on a metal pan, then put them in a baggy and only use a few at a time for treats. It's not exactly fresh food, but maybe paired with some veggies, he would then eat the veggies too, if he likes the WHI meat enough.

There's also a thread somewhere about making meatballs for hedgies, which you can put veggies in (if you search the nutrition forum for "meatballs", you should find it), so that's another idea.  Try whatever you want, and more ideas if you come up with them! Creativity may work in the long run. Just don't stress yourself out too much if he won't try anything. Some hedgies are just picky little buggers. :lol:


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## definitelydeven (Jul 8, 2013)

Ill definitely try mixing the baby foods ! Thank you so much


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## JulieAnne (Sep 3, 2012)

Great ideas! I feel bad that I don't offer treats very often . Prim LOVES scrambled eggs and will eat green bell pepper when I offer it. The issue with doing the scrambled eggs is, I obviously don't give her the whole scrambled egg so I end up freezing or refrigerating it and then forgetting all about it lol.

I need to get better about treats. I feel like a bad mama lol.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Lol, naaaah, don't feel too bad! Treats aren't essential and a lot of people end up stressing out that their hedgehog won't eat treats at all. I was pretty bad until about the last year to six months of Lily's life with giving her treats - it wasn't until I got in a schedule of giving her a cube of baby food mix each night and hiding treats around her cage that she was getting regular treats (that weren't mealworms). I wish I had started the treat-hiding sooner. We both loved that game! She got very good at hunting down all of her hidden treats, and I loved watching her make the rounds to find them all - especially loved watching her figure out her Hide-n-Go-Treat toy, heh.


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## Stellara (Nov 12, 2011)

Thank you for All the great advice everyone. I have tried baby food in fruit/veggie forms and mushed forms as well as frozen forms multiple times with no interest. 
Lilysmommy, thank you for the idea of mixing fruits/veggies IN with the meat or meat baby food. I had been doing that with the meal worms but just didn't think of it with fruits or veggies. I really think he may eat them that way so will give it a try!


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## verucacherry (Jun 18, 2013)

Lilysmommy said:


> I wish I had started the treat-hiding sooner. We both loved that game! She got very good at hunting down all of her hidden treats, and I loved watching her make the rounds to find them all - especially loved watching her figure out her Hide-n-Go-Treat toy, heh.


This is such a brilliant idea! Going to have to start doing this.

Peeberton was super picky when she was a baby. Only would eat her cat kibble, until I introduced her to plain baked chicken. That seemed to open the door to her love for mealworms. Eventually we even got her to start eating fruit..she loves any kind of melon or berry. I think they're a lot like people...they acquire tastes as they get older. Just my two cents!


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## ChestersMama (Jul 16, 2013)

*So picky!*

My little guy seems to only be interested in kibble. He is about 9 months now, so I'm hoping that he will grow to enjoy treats.. I've tried scrambled eggs, grilled chicken, watermelon, baked halibut, wet cat food, various cat treats, meal worms.. 
I am going to try baby food next I think.


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