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Feeding and Nutrition

General Nutrition

clutterbuster

User

Posts: 513

too much weight - 2007/08/05 10:44 I just weighed P-k and she is up to 492 grams, up thirty from a week ago. I am shocked, I expected a little drop or at least the same since I have been cutting back.

when she first arrived on April 28th she was a little butterball at 440. Her owner had been giving her a cereal bowl with probably three scoops of CSFCLS and three canned crickets a day (which I consider to be canolis) and dried mealies (potato chips). I cut her kibble in half, and down to one cricket and within a month she didn't want crickets anymore. Her weight then went down to 428.

It's been slowly creeping up. Our routine has been a little cap of dried mealies when we get her up, this allows us to hold her without us getting bitten. I've been consciously cutting back on the amount. She gets a coffee scoop of CSFCLS at night that she devours. After a night of romping on her wheel she gets a poopy paw soak every morning and one live mealie as a reward.

During the day I put in a small dish some mazuri insectivore that she does eat sometimes and about six pieces of Fromm kibble that she does consume. Intermittently over the past month I've been alternating from the dried mealies to watermelon as her get up treat.

that's her total intake for 24 hours: a few dried mealies or watermelon, a coffeescoop of CSFCLS, one live mealie, mazuri insectivore and about six pieces of Fromm kibble as daytime snack (and Fromm is 32% protein and 15% fat).

I will have John go to agway this week and get CSFCLS light, maybe that will help. Is a coffee scoop too much, she's down from three scoops but she has ballooned up, she is almost 500 grams and she isn't even 9 months old.

I know everyone will tell me to try this and that - I do not want to go through the trial and error of different foods and fruits and vegetables and she is only interested in these few things (which is a whole lot better than Max and just Iams which P-k does not get). So please don't suggest substitutions... just tell me if my cutting back more on the one scoop of CSFCLS is bad or cruel? Can she be okay at that weight?

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Stasi

Admin

Posts: 632

Re:too much weight - 2007/08/05 11:43 Joy,

Flip her over on her back. Does she ball up? If so, she's a fine weight.
Hedgehogs here get at MOST two tablespoons of my mix daily, females that are done growing and not pregnant or nursing tend to get about ONE TBSP of food a night. Treats are occasional - maybe once or twice a week. That's it.
Some hedgehogs are just big. Not overweight, just big. If she can ball up fully, she's not overweight. Stasi
Terrapin Hedgehogs
Joppa, MD
www.terrapinhedgehogs.com

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CThogs

Admin

Posts: 1559

Re:too much weight - 2007/08/05 11:46 She could be going through a growth spurt since she is not even a year old yet. How does she look-can she roll into a ball all the way? That is a more reliable predictor of overweight or not than the numbers on the scale. A hedgehog can be 500 or 600 grams and be at a good weight for them. Ann
Connecticut Hedgehogs

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clutterbuster

User

Posts: 513

Re:too much weight - 2007/08/05 12:38 growth spurt, I like that. She's almost nine months now (estimating she was born in November 2006).

She can ball up, but she can't hold it as long as she used to. She seems more solid now at 492 then she was at 440. Her legs looked like drumsticks when she ran, they don't look so meaty now.

I am not cook so help me here, a coffee scoop is how many tablespoons that I am feeding her at present? So I could give her half a scoop, right?

okay, I cut the treats and rewards in half - which is better for her the dried mealies or the live mealworms?

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HamorHollow

Admin

Posts: 2169

Re:too much weight - 2007/08/05 22:42 clutterbuster wrote:
three canned crickets a day (which I consider to be canolis) and dried mealies (potato chips).

in·sec·ti·vore (?n-s?k't?-vôr', -v?r') Pronunciation Key
n.
Any of various small, principally nocturnal mammals of the order Insectivora, characteristically feeding chiefly on insects and including the shrews, moles, and hedgehogs.
An organism that feeds mainly on insects.

Crickets are an excellent source of fiber. I believe mealies have both fiber and protein. Just because the hedgehog likes it, doesn't mean it is the equivalent of candy.

That being said, PK is eating way too much. Cut everything by *at least* half.

We do want PK to be primarely eating the kibble. The root of your food problem is that PK is getting way too much of everything, so she is filling up on the bugs and being really picky about the kibble. Think of it this way: If you are at a seafood resteraunt and you get the never-ending lobster platter (assuming you love lobster), are you going to fill up on the salad and fries or are you going to chow down on the lobster and fill up? ok, lobster = bugs. We want to limit PK's lobster so she eats her fries and salad.

Do you understand what I am saying. I think once you get it, all your past and present food issues will be clear.

-K Kelly Sosik-Hamor
Hamor Hollow Hedgehogs - a New Hampshire breeder, serving Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and any where else hedgehogs are legal. |
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