hedgehogs enjoy eating insects and fresh fruits and vegetables, so their diet can have a good amount of variety.
General Pet Hedgehog Food Guidelines
Hedgehogs can eat many foods, including:
- Mealworms: Live or freeze-dried mealworms are a good source of chitin for hedgehogs. Live worms also provide a good source of mental stimulation since they move around and make a hedgehog have to work a little harder to catch their food.
- Waxworms: Live waxworms are higher in fat but lower in chitin content than mealworms, so these should be saved as treats for hedgehogs.
- Crickets: Available live or freeze-dried, crickets provide chitin as well as mental stimulation for a hedgehog. As with other insects, gut-loading should be done before feeding crickets to your hedgehog to ensure they are loaded with nutrition.
- Invertebrates: A variety of invertebrates, such as beetles, earwigs, caterpillars, earthworms, millipedes, and fly larvae, are also part of a hedgehog’s natural diet, so you can use these to provide variety and nutrition.
- Fruits: Dried fruit should be avoided, but a small amount of fresh fruit can be offered to your hedgehog as a treat. 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, as well as dried vegetables, should be avoided.
- Cooked meat: High-protein, low-fat canned dog or cat food, as well as cooked chicken, can be offered in small amounts to a pet hedgehog. Cut the meat into small pieces to ensure your hedgehog will be able to eat it easily and won’t be at risk of choking.
- Cooked eggs: An occasional bit of scrambled or hard-boiled egg is a nice treat that’s packed with protein for a hedgehog.
- Pinky mice: If you aren’t grossed out by your hedgehog eating a baby mouse, you can offer the occasional pre-killed pinky mouse as a treat.
- Hedgehog or cat kibble: This should be the bulk of your hedgehog’s diet. A high-quality cat or hedgehog kibble should contain at least 30% protein and less than 20% fat. Hedgehog food is the ideal diet if it meets these nutritional requirements, but few formulated diets are available that don’t include things like raisins and seeds, which are not recommended to feed.
What Not to Feed Hedgehogs
Some foods are toxic to hedgehogs, like avocados, or hard for them to digest, like milk. Others don’t provide enough nutrition, like celery, or contain excess nutrients, which could lead to deficiencies or imbalances.
