What can I feed
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.
Apples, bananas, berries, and melons are popular choices among hedgehogs. 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.
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.
Some things your pet may enjoy include balls, small cars and trucks, and stuffed animals. You can also offer him DIY toys. For instance, the cardboard tubes from toilet-paper rolls make great chew toys. (It's probably worth noting that hedgehogs seem to prefer bright colors.)
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.
Pet hedgehogs have an average life span of four to six years and weigh about a pound. Most owners will feed them a low-fat dry cat food supplemented with vegetables, mealworms, and crickets, and keep them in a large, flat-bottomed cage.
Being omnivores, hedgehogs can enjoy a variety of fruits and vegetables. They also eat insects, making them both an omnivore and an insectivore. Therefore, hedgehogs can be happy with a variety of foods, and that includes broccoli.
Grapes and avocados are toxic to hedgehogs. While some people give crushed peanuts to their hedgies, nuts and raisins are generally considered a choking hazard as they get stuck on the roof of their mouth. Avoid giving your pet hedgehog insects you've caught yourself as they might have digested toxins.
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.
What about peanuts and sunflower seeds? High in energy, protein and other nutrients, nuts and seeds are safe for hedgehogs when – like mealworms – they're part of a mixture with an acceptable calcium/phosphorus ratio overall. Again, we only recommend giving them as part of a nutritionally balanced diet.
They like to fill their stomachs twice each night. An adult hedgehog needs around 130 calories a day to survive. To get this, they will eat roughly 75grams, or 3 ounces, of food a night. To put this in perspective, hedgehogs eat about 8% of their body weight each night.
Cat and dog food has been scientifically balanced to be safe and nutritious, and contains no ingredients that are harmful to hedgehogs. Although both dog and cat food are perfect supplementary foods for hedgehogs, because they have small mouths the tiny size of kitten biscuits is ideal.
Feeding hedgehogs in your garden should only be a supplement to their natural diet, or to help them during the harder Winter months, so it is important to not offer too much of any one type of food.
Every hedgehog has a unique personality, but most aren't interested in human affection. Caretakers note that it takes a lot of time and effort to get a hedgehog to tolerate being held. Like porcupines, hedgehogs have sharp, prickly quills that they use to fend off predators.
Four-toed hedgehogs (African Pygmy hedgehogs) may legally be kept as pets. Australia: All hedgehogs are classified as exotic pets that are illegal to import.
Bonding with your hedgehog helps to create an attachment between you and your pet. The more the attachment develops between you and your hedgehog, the more you will grow to love and enjoy your pet. Some hedgehogs will bond to their owners for life (HHC).
Hedgehogs are sensitive to temperature changes. The ideal range is between 75°F and 85°F. However, they will tolerate temperatures between 72°F and 90°F. Hedgehogs can go into a hibernation-like state of inactivity when temperatures are too hot or too cold.
Hedgehogs need environmental temperatures between 70 and 80 degrees. Keep your hedgehog's cage away from drafts, direct sunlight, or cold areas. You may want to provide your hedgehog with a small warm spot in his cage where he can go to get warm but would also be able to get away from if he feels too warm.
A thick layer of bedding, fleece pieces, snuggle sacks are good items for a hedgehog to cuddle up in. The ambient room temp should be no lower than 72 degrees; Pet Warming Pad under a corner of the cage are fine so they can get up against it or away from it if needed.
Essential Oils: I have been advised that oils that are considered "hot" are toxic to hedgehogs. Oils that are considered hot: Cassia, Cinnamon Bark, Clove, Hyssop, Lemongrass, Ocotea, Oregano, Peppermint, Thieves, and Thyme. These are often contained in blends.
Hedgehogs are definitely more active at night than they are during the day. During the day, they like to do most of their sleeping. And at night they like to do most of their playing, AND rearranging of their cage.