# Sticky  Herbs



## HedgeMom

I'm seeing a lot of people jumping on the "herbs are wonderful for hedgehogs" bandwagon and I'm not seeing a lot of informed information.

Not all herbs are safe.

*Parsley*
In humans, a dose of parsley is one ounce. Medicine dosages are based on the average adult male weight of 165 lbs or 2640 ounces. Which makes the ratio of parsley to bodyweight 1:2640.

A 264 gram hedgehog shouldn't have any more than 1/10th of a gram or 10milligrams of parsley.

Parsley is a diuretic and should never be used by pregnant women or animals as it can cause uterine cramping and miscarriage.

*Cilantro*

There is no known safe dosage of Cilantro. In humans it's medicinally used dried in capsules. Because the amount of volatile oils vary depending on how the plant is grown, it's hard to determine what is safe. Aromatic herbs like this can irritate the respiratory system and can cause digestive upset even though the medicinal properties are supposed to be beneficial to the digestive system. Again, considering how small a hedgehog is, very very little should be used. It can also cause spontaneous abortion and interfere with fertility.

*Basil* 
Basil is a sedative. The child's dosage of a distillation of 20g of basil leaves in 250ml of water is 2 to 3 DROPS. There are 20 drops in a ml. So there are 5000 drops in 250ml or 2500 doses of distillation. The amount of distillation for a 250 g hedgehog as compared to a 50lb child would be so infinitesimal as to be undoseable by most people.

*Clover*
Red and White Clover is relatively safe. Keep in mind that the typical human dosage is a teaspoon of the chopped leaves/plant or 4 grams making the ratio 4:73920. Yeah, that little.

Hedgehogs do not need herbs to live a long and healthy life. They are attracted to them as they are attracted to anything strongly aromatic. Because of the very small size, they should be protected from potentially overdosing on herbs. Herbs are NOT harmless. Just because it's ok in humans doesn't make it ok for hedgehogs. I can eat grapes and raw garlic and raw onions and it's all well. Given to a hedgehog they cause liver failure and hemolytic anemia.

If your hedgehog needs environmental enrichment, try some safe things. Get a few clean rocks and build a cairn. Hide mealworms and watermelon inside and around the rocks. Get a small cardboard box with a lid or a tube. Stuff it with layers of tissue with mealworms in between. Do the same thing with clean driftwood or a safe wood. Drill random holes in a dried willow branch and stuff with mealies and plug the holes with a chunk of fruit.

Use your imagination. Hedgehogs are amazing diggers and there isn't much they can't get a bug out of. And if they can't get the bug out, they'll work on it until they do. Which keeps bored hedgehogs engaged.


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## Tarynsgate

Wow, I didn't know Basil could be bad for them :S 

Thanks for the great info!


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## illsley

Thank goodness for you! I know a lot of people (myself included) have been wondering about herbs and it doesn't seem like anyone can provide a straight answer. But this is extremely helpful!


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## Rainy

Thanks for the great info. People do the same thing with vitamins and supplements which cause dangerous interactions with medications they may be on. Holistic ingredients always sound harmless, but many medicines are made from things found in nature.


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## Immortalia

Just bumping this up cause we've had an influx of new owners and soooo many other things out there say that herbs are safe. Perhaps a mod could sticky this cause it's good info.


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## GoldenEyes

Yeah I heard a lot of people feeding Cilantro to their hedgies. I was wondering what it was, I honestly dont see why you would even want to feed them herbs when you can watch them numanum on a mealworm


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## shetland

it really shocked me to see this topic with HedgeMom's name. Her wisdom lives on.


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## GoldenEyes

shetland said:


> it really shocked me to see this topic with HedgeMom's name. Her wisdom lives on.


Why what happened?


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## Hedgieonboard

GoldenEyes said:


> shetland said:
> 
> 
> 
> it really shocked me to see this topic with HedgeMom's name. Her wisdom lives on.
> 
> 
> 
> Why what happened?
Click to expand...

She passed away unfortunately


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## Lilysmommy

This was always one of the first posts that came to mind when I thought of her.  She always had such good information and almost always something new that I didn't know!


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## Nancy

I agree Shetland. I think my heart missed a beat when I saw her name come up. I think of her all the time and sometimes almost forget that she is gone.


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## amberkinn

Wow, this was so informative. Thank you! I was recently wondering myself seeing youtube videos of hedgies eating herbs and veggies, and wondering if it was safe to do so.  This was great and I hope it spreads around the web that just because you see something someone else is doing with their pet doesn't mean you should excessively do it yourself, and not aware of their health. It seems very harmless, but I'm glad I decided to wait until someone brought this topic up to try veggies myself!


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## shetland

Once again my eyes teared up seeing HedgeMom's name. She will gone a whole year soon. I miss her. I bet you have your own pet clinic in heaven HedgeMom!


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## bugster

I know this is not my buisness, but how did she die? You guys don't have to tell me. I understand.


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## Nancy

She had cancer.


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## bugster

Cancer takes to many people... thats horrible.


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## Meguana

I'm sorry to hear about hedgemom 

Does anyone know if fennel is safe?


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## MintyBanana

Wow, good to know! I had no clue that herbs could be potentially harmful for them.


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## andrewjohn1317

Thanks for share tha information


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## Ally's_Oliver

I'd never considered feeding herbs. Generally, however, if I know something is toxic for my dogs, or cats, I will not feed it to my hedgehog (like grapes, onions, chocolate-- all toxic to dogs and hogs). But thanks for the info! I'll have to do some further research!


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## officerlumpy

Let's say I put strong smelly spices in a small container so they can smell it but not eat it, things like cardamom, would that still be viable?


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## Poppy_the_hedgie

Please do not post on old threads. Start your own.  Why would a hedgehog need to just smell herbs? Just go without it.


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## Lilysmommy

You'd have to make sure they can't get the container open, but that would be fine. Just be careful with the amount & strength of the scent - hedgehogs can be pretty sensitive to things & if they really don't like a scent, they may stay in bed to try & stay away from it and not eat or run for the night.

And I'm guessing reasoning is enrichment, Poppy. Scent enrichment is a common category for providing enrichment & a lot of places will use oils, other animal bedding/feces/etc., herbs, and so on to provide a novel smell to investigate.


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## Poppy_the_hedgie

Interesting. I have never heard of smell enrichment! I learn something new everyday from you!


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## Maia0505

My breeder said that herbs are toxic to hedgehogs but I have no idea why 
I just know that they can't have them :lol:


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