picky eater?

[dreemilyn]

Scout, my hedgehog, will not eat fruits or vegetables. However he loves his worms and any type of meat. Won't eat eggs either though..plus I used to feed him cottage cheese and now he really doesn't seem to want any part of that either. Anyone else have a picky hedgehog? Any advice on what to do (mainly for the fruit since its probably an important part of his diet)?

[PrettyHate]

My guy is also a picky eater...
He will only eat certain meats, when they are cooked certain ways. He hates meal worms, superworms, and crickets. And doesnt have alot to do with most veggies/fruits.

The only thing that Ive found to work, is just keep on trying different things. Sometimes youll be suprised with what they actually will eat!

One night Bosco gobbled down little bits of boiled potato, boiled squash and a little bit of pork chop! I never would have guessed.
He also loves blue berries :)

[Steph]

Try baby food fruits, make sure there are no sugars added and no preservatives. It needs to be a natural baby food. Hedgehogs are interesting in that something they don't like one night they will love another. If he refuses something once then wait a couple of weeks and try again. He may surprise you and decide he likes it after all!


My hedgies favorite fruits are:
Mangos
Kiwi
Bananas (a favorite of all my hedgies)
Strawberries
Melons (whatever I can get that's decent and in season or that comes in fresh frozen mixtures)
Rasberries, Blueberries, etc...
Pineapple
Peaches
Nectarines
Pears

I think there are a couple more but they elude me at the moment. If they don't like something once I wait a while and try it again. I have to use fresh frozen fruits a lot because we can't get decent produce but 2 months out of the year so I buy what I can find. Most of my hedgies love the combinations in baby foods like Tropical Fruit Medley

I don't feed citrus fruits, e.g. oranges, grapefruits, etc... but very rarely in small quantities and I don't feed hard fruits like apples. Make sure you never give your hedgies anything with a pit or seeds in it, if you feed a pitted or seeded fruit remove the pit/seeds first.

My hedgies all love yogurt as well so I have been thinking I would experiment with a smoothie type thing and see how that goes. I only feed low fat plain organic yogurt though.

I hope that helps!!

Oh, and if they're on a good staple food they don't necessarily "need" fruits, we don't really know all of the specifics of their natural diet so we mimic it as best we can and many hedgehogs do just fine on just a staple food so if he is getting a good quality staple don't sweat the fruit overly much if he won't eat it. :)

[Steph]

My guy is also a picky eater...
He will only eat certain meats, when they are cooked certain ways. He hates meal worms, superworms, and crickets. And doesnt have alot to do with most veggies/fruits.

The only thing that Ive found to work, is just keep on trying different things. Sometimes youll be suprised with what they actually will eat!

One night Bosco gobbled down little bits of boiled potato, boiled squash and a little bit of pork chop! I never would have guessed.
He also loves blue berries :)
Superworms are carnivores so if you give them to him he could actually get bitten by his food, that could be why he doesn't like them, they are mean little things!!

[Love4Hedgies]

My girls are both very picky. They don'things and hope I find something eep trying new things and hope I find something they like! Good luck! :)

[emskie]

Popple will only eat cat food. We've tried various veggies, fruits, crickets, mealworms, and meats with no success. We've even tried the soft cat foods and baby foods. When we first got him he ate whatever we gave him (b/c the stupid pet store fed him mealworms, lettuce, and bannanas... that's it), but once we started on csfcls, nothing else was good enough for him! We have only found a couple other cat foods he'll eat... but most of them we put into the mix and he simply flicks them out of his bowl, making quite a mess!! silly boy :)

[PrettyHate]

Superworms are carnivores so if you give them to him he could actually get bitten by his food, that could be why he doesn't like them, they are mean little things!!

I always crush the head, or drop the worm into boiling water to kill it before feeding them. Keeps them from biting and/or crawling away!

[Badger]

I'm bumping up this thread because I'm having trouble with a picky eater too and was wondering if anyone has more suggestions. The only two things she'll eat are mealworms and her staple Royal Canin Slim 38.

Things she will NOT eat include: bananas, baby food fruit, oranges, strawberries, grapes, kiwi, raspberry, apple, pear, spinach, broccoli, cooked carrots, peas, potato, squash, sweet potato, yogurt, eggs, pasta, cheerios, rice, chicken, baby food meat sticks, turkey, tuna, cottage cheese, freeze dried mealies, crickets. She ate mango twice but won't take it anymore. :banghead:

This is after multiple offers of each.
How bad would it be to give up trying to offer her treats?

[lyndaj]

I read this thread with great interest. My previous hedgies were very picky and we're trying not to have the same thing happen with the boys.

At any rate, I can just see Samhain's thoughts when he sees yoghurt.... "mmmm, looks yummy, but I think I will anoint myself with it instead!" :laugh:


Gonna give yoghurt a try when the boys get up.

[glamgal]

Juni loves mealworms, crickets and his cat food (royal canin slim 37)...the only two other things I've been able to get him to eat are a couple of kernels of corn (fresh frozen, but thawed)...and a couple of pieces of lean cooked beef...I've tried many different fruits and veggies and can't get him to eat any of them. Tonight I gave him a little chicken and he wouldn't eat that either. Just gotta keep trying I guess :) He's worth it!