# Not eating live worms or other "treats"



## linda9 (Nov 26, 2010)

I've had my hedgehog for a while now, and I've tried all sorts of treats for him and he just refuse to eat anything. The only thing he's sort of "liked" was the zoo med's can of worms, except it went bad after a week in the fridge. I did notice there was another post that said to freeze it, so I might try that. However, I've read that freezed or dried worms doesn't have as much nutrients as live ones, so I went and bought a little tub of the squirmy live worms. Now he refuses to have one even if it isn't moving. He just sniffs it, licks his mouth, then walk away. 

Can I just freeze the live ones I have now? Since he ate the canned worms, will he eat the frozen worms too?

The following's what I've tried:
Apples,
Pears,
Papaya,
Cilantro - he had a tiny bit when I first gave it to him, then he just didn't eat it anymore
Honeydew (the green ones)
Banana (I tried regular ones and some black pieces thinking maybe it'll taste sweeter)
chopped boiled eggs - He didn't eat it at first, but after leaving it in his bowl for the night, I found it was gone by the morning. But I remember reading somewhere that if they don't eat the food in the first 15 minutes, remove it.

I really wish he would eat the live worms, is there anything I can do to the worm to make him eat it? I tried putting it with his regular food, but he just ate around it. Can I feed anything to the worm to make them "yummier"? 

Lastly, how much less healthy is the canned/freezed/dried worms? I'm really squirmy, so I'd prefer those, but I also don't want to sacrifice my hedgie's health for my own little fear of worms.


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

No help here for snacks...Snarf and I have tried everything. He recently started eating dried apples (BF thought of it, so Snarf loves them :roll: )

I HATE bugs and will not, under ANY circumstances!!!! touch a mealie. Those weird little feet - only under their front-end??? What's THAT about?? And the way they slither....EEWWWWW....but it has been suggested before to - I am quoting = NOT MY IDEA!!!! - rub the lmealies over their lips and gums so they know what they taste like. I almost barfed just typing this. Some people cut off the head first so they taste better. I'm going to hurl, I swear.

When I saw this I told Snarf "Sorry 'bout your luck, pal, but if it ever comes down to me rubbing mealies on you, you're going hungry."

Just something I saw and wanted to pass along......Gawd I'm glad it's you and not me. :evil:


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

Ya... smooshing a mealie to get all their juices leaking and out is one way to entice a hedgie to eat a mealie. Thank heavens my boy always ate them up from the very beginning. 

As for nutritional value, I'm clueless. My boy has always had live.


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## linda9 (Nov 26, 2010)

Haha MissC! You made me laugh. I'm with you in that I will never *touch* a mealie with my bare hands. I saw someone at the pet store do it.. it just grossed me out. I use chopsticks so my hand is nice and far away from the worms themselves. :lol: 

What I have tried is just stab the worm with the chopstick... (EW, I know). They're quite resistent little creatures, they kinda stretched out more as I poked it, imagine one of those long balloons filed with some air, and as you squeeze the middle, the ends stick out a bit more.. That was the worm. Anyway, eventually I broke it in half, and offered to my Ledgie. This is when he sniffed it, happily put it in his mouth, then some how slid the worm out from under his mouth so it was hiding underneath him. Of course, I had no idea, so I gave him another one that wasn't chopped up. He did the same thing! When he moved from his position, I saw the two dead worms, so I gave up and left them in his food bowl...


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

linda9 said:


> What I have tried is just stab the worm with the chopstick... (EW, I know). They're quite resistent little creatures, they kinda stretched out more as I poked it, imagine one of those long balloons filed with some air, and as you squeeze the middle, the ends stick out a bit more.. That was the worm.


 :shock:

TMI...TMI...TMI !!!!
eeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww


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