# Underweight hedgehog, not gaining weight



## euniceraymond (Nov 6, 2014)

I have a hedgehog which im not sure of her age, i've been feeding her iams kitten food:
Crude Protein, minimum	33.00 %
Crude Fat, minimum	21.00 %
been feeding her this for the past week but she has only gained 20 grams, im extremely worried about her because i think shes an adult and she is weighing only 180grams. Can i feed her live mealworms? What if the mealworms carry diseases?
Please do help!


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

A picture of her from the top down of her size will definitely help us decide if she is underweight. Does she feel skinny? Is she an active wheeler? How much of her food is she eating per night? How is her water consumption? 

If she's needs some fluff on her you can feed her waxworms. These are high in fat and are a hit with most hedgies. You can most certainly feed her live mealworms as well. I have never heard of mealworms having diseases that they can pass to hedgehogs.

You can also try adding a wet food to her diet as well. It's not all about fat but about nutrition as well.


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## Prickerz (Sep 17, 2014)

I give my girl mealworms and she has never had a problem.
Iams is pretty cheap food... something else will definitely have higher nutrition and she will get more out of it other than just cheap fillers that pass right through her!


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## euniceraymond (Nov 6, 2014)

Heres a picture of her 








I went to the vet yesterday and he recommended a diet of 80% insects and roots, with 20% addiction zen kibbles. What do u think?


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I don't really like the looks of the kibble, honestly. Mainly, I don't like that soy is the second ingredient & that it has canola oil as well. There's a lot of issues with soy, especially in the US. If you're going to go with a more natural diet that's high in insects, I wouldn't want to use a food that's all grains to go with it. I'd go more with a variety of fruits & veggies, personally. (And can I just say I'm amused in a very annoyed way that a _veg_etarian food for dogs is nothing but grains and legumes? :roll

If you are interested in a more natural diet that's similar to what he's suggesting, I'd check out these threads - http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/12-diet-nutrition/23066-raw-home-cooked-diets.html and http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/12-diet-nutrition/72978-our-raw-adventure.html Just keep in mind that a homemade/raw diet takes quite a bit of research and more work than feeding kibble. You want to make sure it's balanced to the best of your abilities and feed a variety of things. Think it over first.

IMO, unless you're really gung-ho over the idea of getting a variety of insects & making your hedgie's food, doing lots of work to make sure it's balanced, etc., I would stick with a couple of good-quality cat & kitten foods for your hedgie.


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