# What about herbs?



## illsley (Jul 16, 2010)

So tonight while I had Smee out, I let my mom hold onto him so I could go cut up some fruit for him in the kitchen. My mom had recently been working with some herbs in her garden, and her hands smelled very herby. Smee began licking and nibbling her hands, and anointing like crazy! I have heard that they like the smell of herbs, but is it safe to feed herbs to them? If so, which ones?

I am still having trouble getting him to eat any fruits or vegetables...I'm glad he got so excited about the herb smell, but I don't want to feed him anything dangerous! Any help would be greatly appreciated


----------



## illsley (Jul 16, 2010)

Now I know nobody replied to my post, but I thought I should update since I asked my vet last time I was in about what herbs he thought were okay. 

Basically he told me that there are really no herbs that are bad for hedgies, and for the most part if they will eat some herbs it would be okay in small quantity. I trust his word, but for anyone else that ever considered trying these I thought I'd let people know what he said about it  

I did try offering Smee some oregano, since he loved the smell so much, but when presented with the actual plant he looked at me like, "the heck is this, woman?" *sigh* so picky indeed. He does like grass though, I found out. I've decided to grow a small grass pot indoors in the winter for him to nibble on


----------



## PJM (May 7, 2010)

illsley said:


> Now I know nobody replied to my post, but I thought I should update since I asked my vet last time I was in about what herbs he thought were okay.


Sorry about that. Don't know how this one got by us. There is an adorable video of a hedgie on youtube eating cilantro. I think we've had discussions about that in the past & it would be OK. I've been wanting to try it on my hedgies, just to see. I don't know of any herbs that are bad. However, I'm not quite sure about grass.
Hopefully someone else with a bit more knowledge will come on.


----------



## illsley (Jul 16, 2010)

I was told grass can't hurt, but of course if anyone has advice that would help too  I didn't see any negative effects after he ate some outside the other day, but you never know!
I have seen that cilantro video! So funny :lol:


----------



## tracie (Jun 16, 2010)

Isn't there that pet grass in the pet store that animals are supposed to be able to eat?


----------



## hercsmom (Jul 6, 2010)

We tried cilantro with Herc and he hated it! He sniffed it like crazy but wouldn't actually eat it. Herc is pretty fussy though.


----------



## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

Sweetie took my cilantro offering as a personal insult. Harvey didn't show any sign of interest either.

i do want to try some marigold--maybe put a drop in the water. it's supposed to have health benefits and i figure it's worth a try.


----------



## shaelikestaquitos (Feb 2, 2010)

hercsmom said:


> We tried cilantro with Herc and he hated it! He sniffed it like crazy but wouldn't actually eat it. Herc is pretty fussy though.





fracturedcircle said:


> Sweetie took my cilantro offering as a personal insult. Harvey didn't show any sign of interest either.


:lol: That's hilarious because Kashi took to it right away~
He started chewing furiously and then began anointing shortly after!
All this occurred on the night when I discovered hedgehogs have nipples on their shoulder


----------



## hercsmom (Jul 6, 2010)

shaelikestaquitos said:


> All this occurred on the night when I discovered hedgehogs have nipples on their shoulder


Say what?? I've never heard of this! Is it boys and girls??


----------



## alexjones18 (Sep 2, 2010)

shaelikestaquitos said:


> hercsmom said:
> 
> 
> > We tried cilantro with Herc and he hated it! He sniffed it like crazy but wouldn't actually eat it. Herc is pretty fussy though.
> ...


I just gave cilantro to my Yoshi and he actually loved it! He started like jumping to catch a bite and smelling it and took 3 or 4 bites and devoured them. I havent tried it with Mitu.. I'll let you know if she likes it too.


----------



## shaelikestaquitos (Feb 2, 2010)

hercsmom said:


> shaelikestaquitos said:
> 
> 
> > All this occurred on the night when I discovered hedgehogs have nipples on their shoulder
> ...


It's for both girls and boys, but usually with boys it's not very prominent.
The only reason why I saw it was because he was annointing :lol:



alexjones18 said:


> I just gave cilantro to my Yoshi and he actually loved it! He started like jumping to catch a bite and smelling it and took 3 or 4 bites and devoured them. I havent tried it with Mitu.. I'll let you know if she likes it too.


Yeah Kashi will eat some and also anoint with it :lol:

EDIT:

Here's a video of Kashi anointing with cilantro and my discovery of the nipple (which I feared was a skin tag or something :lol
http://tinypic.com/r/122oh1h/7


----------



## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

Delicious green froth! Om nom nom! :lol:


----------



## PJM (May 7, 2010)

:lol: Silly Kashi! If he annoints enough, he could turn into a green hedgie super-hero.


----------



## shaelikestaquitos (Feb 2, 2010)

He looks like a rabid zombie hedgie :lol:

He had that spot on his back for quite a while :roll:


----------



## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

Sweetie and Harvey really like parsley. :shock:


----------



## spastic_jedi (Nov 11, 2009)

I have trouble getting Moose to eat veggies or fruits too. He has only really taken to mashed bananas and he loves to lick, not eat, watermelon. 

I tried a few different herbs with him and he LOVES cilantro and dill. Though I only give him a little tiny piece of sprig at a time, because I don't want to over whelm him with the flavor or scent. Also, feeding them herbs provides good stimulation, like that video on youtube shows, the hedgie playing for the food. It's good for Moose to chase his food and play tug of war with me to get it, it keeps him busy and out of his boring routine. 

By getting him to eat herbs he pretty much loves anything leafy and green now, from the cilantro and dill he has been more inclined to nosh on spinach or lettuce  

The only downside... you're definitely going to end up with a green hedgie!


----------



## Tomato (Aug 8, 2010)

shaelikestaquitos said:


> Here's a video of Kashi anointing with cilantro and my discovery of the nipple (which I feared was a skin tag or something :lol
> http://tinypic.com/r/122oh1h/7


Wow, your little guy really goes crazy for cilantro!  Do hedgies annoint regularly or only for new smells?


----------



## schmelderz (Jul 7, 2010)

shaelikestaquitos said:


> Here's a video of Kashi anointing with cilantro and my discovery of the nipple (which I feared was a skin tag or something :lol
> http://tinypic.com/r/122oh1h/7


 :lol: :lol: :lol: cute


----------

