# How do I feed a meal worm to my Hedgehog?



## Jaylene (Dec 14, 2012)

How do I feed meal worms to her? I just go her last night and she hasn't been exposed to any kind of snack yet. Not sure how or what to do. Please Help. 
:mrgreen: 

Jaylene


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## ktdid (Aug 7, 2012)

Just put it near her face. Either in your hand or a pair of tweezers/chopsticks if you don't want to touch them, or just set it down in front of her. When she smells it she is pretty much guaranteed to gobble it up.


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## Jaylene (Dec 14, 2012)

Does your hedgie like them? I don't mind touching them. I kinda wanna give them to her while i hold her so she knows im a good guy.  lol


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## eskye (Oct 5, 2012)

I just hold them out to mine in my hands. The boy can nip me sometimes on accident in his mealworm fervor, so I'll hold it under his nose with my fingertips. They smell them pretty well, they always know when I have some. I also put frozen ones under their food in their dish sometimes, or just let the live ones loose in their cage. I've never had a problem feeding them worms - if yours likes them, he'll take it straight away.


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## momIImany (Oct 14, 2012)

I put mine in a small snack bowl for her when she is sitting on my lap. That way she associates my lap (on a blanket) with a treat. I also use tweezers instead of my fingers so my fingers don't get licked and bitten - mistaken for more mealworms.


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## Folly (Oct 7, 2012)

I just pick them up with chopsticks and put it near Buffy's face so she can grab it :> she's sort of violent about the way she eats them and I don't want my fingers near her like that XD plus, they're sort of gross and wiggly...
If you just got your hedgehog though, you may want to just set a mealworm on the ground by her and let her find it herself. Some hedgehogs are really not okay with having things put near their faces at first. Buffy used to huff up as soon as the chopsticks got within an inch of her nose until she got more comfortable with me.


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## Sugargliderlove (May 27, 2012)

I use tweezers so that my fingers dont get bit and nibbled on.


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

Its better to use chopsticks, tweezers or put them down for them so that your hedgie doesn't associate your fingers with food, which can lead to biting.


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## Jaylene (Dec 14, 2012)

Thanks everyone. I tried to find mealworms and had no luck. lol So i just bought some carrots and frozen strawberries and some cat moist treats.

Thanks
Jaylene


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## Sugargliderlove (May 27, 2012)

Check your local pet store. i know petco and petsmart have them. I get superworms. there is a website you can order mealworms from alot of people in the ugar glider community get their mealies from her. http://vita-mealie.weebly.com/index.html


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## eskye (Oct 5, 2012)

You can order them online easily. But make sure that wherever you get them from, you gut-load them first. They're basically cardboard if you feed them straight from the pet store tin.


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## lilythehedgie (Sep 20, 2012)

I get a little plastic container of from Petsmart and throw them in the freezer overnight. Then I use tweezers and just drop one in front of Lily's nose and she eats them. They eat the mealworms in seconds though. :lol:


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## Avarris (Dec 3, 2012)

Most of the Petstores also carry feeding tongs for feeding crickets or mealies for reptiles. I have a pair. We picked up crickets today for our reptiles and I was curious how Pippin would react to a cricket.... So, caught my little cricket by the butt, and held it there in the tweezers in front of her bag. She came out for a sniff and the cricket moved its legs like it was trying to stand on Pippins nose and she backed off. She gave it another sniff and came out and tore its head off. :shock: It literally made a popping sound and she came back out to finish the cricket off. It shocked me how "viciously" she came after that cricket and made such short work of it. After the shock wore off we couldn't help but to sit there and laugh about it. I guess we'll be adding a few more crickets to our order, since she apparently likes them. Even if the eating part looks violent. :lol:


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## eskye (Oct 5, 2012)

lilythehedgie said:


> I get a little plastic container of from Petsmart and throw them in the freezer overnight. Then I use tweezers and just drop one in front of Lily's nose and she eats them. They eat the mealworms in seconds though. :lol:


You really ought to gutload them at least one feeding before you freeze them, especially ones from companies like Petsmart. Who knows how long they've really been in those containers? They've got nothing in their gut, and with feeding insects, what's in their stomach is just as important as the insect itself.


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## Avarris (Dec 3, 2012)

eskye said:


> lilythehedgie said:
> 
> 
> > I get a little plastic container of from Petsmart and throw them in the freezer overnight. Then I use tweezers and just drop one in front of Lily's nose and she eats them. They eat the mealworms in seconds though. :lol:
> ...


:seconded!


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## Folly (Oct 7, 2012)

Question: what's gutloading? O_O


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## eskye (Oct 5, 2012)

Folly said:


> Question: what's gutloading? O_O


Conveniently, I have just written a post for it in the nutrition section. It is feeding your insects with highly nutritious and vitamin packed food prior to feeding them to your animal to maximize the nutritious content received.


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## lilythehedgie (Sep 20, 2012)

eskye said:


> lilythehedgie said:
> 
> 
> > I get a little plastic container of from Petsmart and throw them in the freezer overnight. Then I use tweezers and just drop one in front of Lily's nose and she eats them. They eat the mealworms in seconds though. :lol:
> ...


Sorry, I forgot to add the gutloading part  . Totally slipped my mind! When I bring them home, I gutload them THEN throw them in the freezer. Sorry my brain was running on empty when I wrote that :lol:


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