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Feeding and Nutrition

General Nutrition

Reptileszz

User

Posts: 29

Whole food/insects? - 2008/05/11 06:58 Hi all, I just picked up my new baby hedgie from Kelly at Hamor Hollow yesterday. Her name is Shelby and she is awesome. So well adjusted. Currently she is eating Kelly's diet which I don't have a problem with.

What I cannot seem to wrap my head around is all this cat food with insects as a treat. I just dont get why there isnt more feeding of a variety of insects. Is it because insects are messier and harder to obtain?

I have mealworms, superworms, crickets and 2 species of tropical roach here that I feed my reptiles. I really want to feed more insects and less cat food but am afraid of... not sure what I'm afraid of, bad nutrition? But they eat insects in the wild... For the reptiles we dust the insects with calcium and we feed the insects good stuff prior to feeding out (gutloading). Wouldnt this be a good thing to feed hedgies?

Julie, I see that you have been experimenting with more whole foods. Can you elaborate any?

Thank you!

Carole

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saabgirl9000

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Posts: 605

Re:Whole food/insects? - 2008/05/11 08:51 It is okay to feed your hedgie insects, but most of them are very high in fat and should not be fed too often. I usually give my hedgie about 3 mealworms a night. Mealworms are like potatoe chips to us, we can eat them but we shouldn't eat too many! Also if you have superworms you need to cut the head off of them before feeding. They can actually eat the insides of your hedgie is you don't do this!

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dzmeadows

Admin

Posts: 976

Re:Whole food/insects? - 2008/05/11 20:01 Wild hedgehogs travel large distances to hunt their meals, which are often rather scanty. Thus, less food, more exercise. Pet hedgehogs (even the wheel junkies) tend to get less exercise than their wild relatives, making it necessary for them to have a less concentrated diet. Think, professional athlete vs professional couch potato. Dietary needs are quite different.
Becca

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Hedgehogmadhatter

User

Posts: 489

Re:Whole food/insects? - 2008/05/11 21:18 While our adorable prickly buddies are officially classified as insectivores they are really omnivore opportunistic feeders. In the wild they will eats snakes, birds, lizards, some carrion, bugs and whatever they can find. Also as pets they don't get the same amount of exercise so that's why we feed them cat food. Also there is no good 'hedgehog' food just yet.

~Sara “The fox has many tricks, and the hedgehog only one, but that is the best of all”

Archilochus (Greek lyric poet and soldier, 675-635bc)

There's no love like HEDGEHOG love!

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Maggieb

User

Posts: 71

Re:Whole food/insects? - 2008/05/12 09:03 Carole,

What the others said is very true, especially so of what Sara said. I didn't know all of this with my first hedgie. It was after I lost her because of a tumor last October that I did extensive research, and I mean everything and everyone (online) that I could find. The ingredients you should and shouldn't have in the cat/dog food and numerous treats that were good and bad for different reasons, as well. I only knew about the high quality cat food and meal worms (which I was told of and was only aware of the Super Meal worms). I was completely enlightened!!!
Maybe I could locate and post some of those sites.
Hope this was helpful

Marjorie, South Carolina
I'm head-over-heels with my hedgehogs!

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