Hedgehog Food

Ever wondered what to feed your hedgehog?

Most hedgehog breeders will agree that you shouldn’t be feeding your hedgie pre-packaged “hedgehog food”.

There are lots of reasons hedgehog food isn’t the best, mostly because they are often made with poor-quality ingredients which have low nutritional value.

Interestingly, there are a few brands of cat food which seem to be a better fit for hedgies.

Both Gadget and Mignonne have done really well with Blue Buffalo Adult Indoor Health Chicken & Brown Rice.

This variety has “LifeSource Bits®” with more good stuff in them. Mignonne LOVED them. Gadget leaves them to the last and only eats them if she has run out of all the rest of the kibble. LOL!

Why we chose Blue Buffalo Indoor Health Cat food for our Hedgehogs

We chose this variety of food for a few reasons:

• It fits the nutritional guidelines discussed on Hedgehog Central’s “Beginner’s Guide to Hedgehog Nutrition“, with a good balance of protein, fat, crude fiber, and quality ingredients.
• It is locally available for easy pickup. We shop at Homes Alive in Lethbridge, and they stock the smaller size.
• We can get it in 3-lb bags, rather than 7 to 25 lbs bags. Even the 3-lb bag lasts us a long time.

Each breeder and vet seems to have their favourite brand of food for hedgehogs. As long as you find a quality food that fits within the nutritional recommendations for hedgies, and that your hedgehog likes to eat, your hedgehog will do fine!

Recommendations for Nutrition in Hedgehog Food

I have a note I keep in my phone that reminds me of the nutritional levels and ingredients I’m looking for in a quality food (based on the info listed on Nutrition at HedgehogCentral), in case I find a new brand to check out:

• Protein: 28-35%
• Fat: 10-15% for adult hedgehog; 15%+ for babies; 15-20% for runner-type hedgies;
• Fiber: as high as you can find!
• named meats, meat meals, and fats
• meat or meat meal as the FIRST ingredient
• only 1 or 2 grains
• more than one protein source
• no corn, wheat, brewer’s rice, cellulose, food dyes, BHA, BHT, Ethoxyquin, unnamed meats or meat meals or fats, by-products.

If Gadget’s needs change, I’ll change her food to meet those needs. She also gets live meal worms as a treat from time to time which helps to add variety.  All in all, she is doing well and seems quite happy with Blue Buffalo for now – except for the LifeSource Bits. LOL!