Some safe veggies include asparagus, bell pepper, cucumber, green beans, zucchini, and radishes. You can also offer small amounts of corn and peas on occasion.
Leave out foods like tinned dog or cat food and crushed cat or dog biscuits. Supply good quality, meaty hedgehog food from wildlife food suppliers. Never feed hedgehogs milk or bread - milk can cause diarrhoea and bread isn't very nutritious.
Should I feed vegetables to my hedgehogs? Hedgehogs do not generally feed on any vegetable matter but do ingest some greens incidentally while feeding on worms and other invertebrates. They do not make a nutritional contribution and do not need to be provided.
Yes, Hedgehogs Can Eat Broccoli
The thicker stalks of the broccoli plant are also safe for hedgehogs to eat, although they're a little tougher and may not appeal as much to your pet. Petkeen.com recommends you avoid feeding your hedgehog raw broccoli, but boiled and steamed vegetables are completely okay.
Vegetables: Fresh tomatoes, fresh green beans, and cooked squash are some options that your hedgehog may enjoy. Starchy vegetables, such as corn, potatoes, and carrots should be avoided as well as dried vegetables.
Hedgehogs mainly eat creepy crawlies
The most important invertebrates in their diet are worms, beetles, slugs, caterpillars, earwigs and millipedes. As well as these, they also eat a wide range of other insects.
The most popular insects of hedgehogs and hedgehog owners are mealworms, wax worms, silk worms and crickets. Treats can include live, canned or freeze dried crickets, mealworms (only one or two per day), wax worms or other insects.
Cooked and fresh
They may also appreciate fresh vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, mashed potato, peas, sweetcorn, mashed swede. Some fruits are also suitable such as apple, apricot, banana, mango, melon, and strawberries.
Each serving should consist of one cricket or large mealworm or two to three medium sized mealworms. If you elect not to feed live, dry insect food can make up 15 to 25% of your hedgehog's daily meal. To avoid overfeeding, live food and dry insect food should not be given together on the same day.
Hedgehogs are active during the night, so the best time to put out food is just after dusk, when they are starting to search for food. The Autumn and Winter months are the most important for them to find food to put on enough weight before hibernation, so always make sure you put out food at this time of year.
In the wild, hedgehogs eat a diverse selection of insects as well as some plant material and, very occasionally, small or baby mammals (like pinkie mice). Hedgehogs are nocturnal and usually eat at night.
Hedgehog Bottom Hot Feeding Tip
Put out a dish of cat biscuits, hedgehog biscuits or meaty dog food each night along with a dish of fresh water. If there are hedgehogs around they will come to know where there is a reliable source of food.
Dark, Green and Leafy
Veterinarian-recommended hedgehog fruit and veggie mixes are based on nutritious greens. Kale, romaine or leaf lettuces and collard greens are all good choices. Iceberg lettuce has no place in a pet's diet -- it's mostly water and has very low nutrient content.
Besides poor calcium:phosphorus ratio grub, another big no-no is dairy. Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant. Milk and cheese will give them bad diarrhoea and can lead to serious illness as well.
Can hedgehogs eat tuna? Yes, only if the tuna is freshed, unseasoned and no oil drizzled on it. Canned tuna that is usually drenched in oil is a strict NO for your hedgehogs. As canned tuna is being preserved with a high salt content, it might not be ideal for your hedgehog in terms of its health.
It can be a great way to help some of the wildlife in your garden, as the decaying pumpkin can be a nutritious snack for birds, squirrels, foxes and even badgers. However, the same can't be said for hedgehogs, as pumpkins can be harmful – and potentially fatal – for these spiny mammals.
Insects are a favorite for hedgehogs. You can offer live bugs, which will also give your tiny buddy the chance to 'hunt' his dinner. Frozen ones are fine as well. Mealworms, wax worms, silk worms and crickets are all good options.
Hedgehogs are lactose-intolerant and will have stomach problems after consuming most dairy products, though occasional plain lowfat yogurt (yogurt contains bacteria that naturally process lactose) or cottage cheese seem to be well tolerated. Sugar intake should be restricted to fruits, avoid any treat with added sugar.
The worst foods are mealworms, sunflower hearts, peanuts and oats. Eating these foods forces the hedgehogs body to make up for the lack of calcium in it's bloodstream by taking it from the bones. The bones will become weak and painful, and prone to breaks.
Talking to your hedgehog while holding, snuggling, bathing, and other enjoyable activities will help your hedgehog associate the sound of your voice with comfort and enjoyment. Over the years we have found the radio and music very soothing for a variety of different animals.
Tea Tree oil/ Eucalyptus/Thieves - this includes: tea tree shampoo, tea tree oil, tea tree sprays and anything tea tree. Even Candles inhaled can harm your hedgehog!
We see hedgehogs coming in from gardens where people consistently feed them and they are overweight and their prickles are thinning.” It's hedgehog inequality! That's basically right. Too much food can also stop them hibernating, which messes up their breeding cycles.