food? bedding? HELP!!!

[mommy2ryan]

I just about drove myself nuts tring to figure out food and bedding. I went with Carefresh ultra but wonder if this is better than yesterday's news?

Also I know you are supposed mix 3 or so foods, any suggestions on what to mix?

[Nancy]

Check out my site, I have information about food, cages and bedding.

Half way down this page is food recommendations. My gang get Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul Lite, Royal Canin slim, First Mate, and at times, Eukanuba and Nutrience.

TheHedgieDen care page (http://www.freewebs.com/thehedgieden/hedgehogcare.htm)

[PrettyHate]

Are you planning on using carefresh or yesturdays news to cover the entire cage floor? If so you may consider going with liners instead, and then just filling a litter box with the chosen " litter". I use YN on all of my boys, and I really like it.

As far as foods go, look for something that is:

-low in fat - around 10% give or take is ideal.
-high in protein - 30% give or take
-high in fiber - hedgies need about 15% of their diet to be fiber

-DOES NOT contain- BHA, BHT or Ethoxyquin (agents that are used to preserve certain things in foods- but have been linked to cancer)
-DOES NOT contain- by-products
-DOES NOT contain- bone meal, meat meal etc. Meat meal means that it can be any kind of meat. Cow, dog, cat, road kill- Im not even kidding.

-DOES contain- ______ meal. Chicken meal, lamb meal, fish meal, turkey meal etc. The difference between chicken meal and just ordinary chicken is that the chicken in the meal is cooked first and then weighted which means it has lost a large % of water and fat (about 66%)- therefore you are getting more chicken (or whatever meat it is) in your food.

Foods that would be a good choice are-

-Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul
-Wellness
-Wysong
-Royal Canin Lite 37
-Royal Canin Mini Special 30 (dog)
-Buffalo Blue
-Innova

and so on.

Also keep in mind that dog food in alot of ways is better for hedgies than cat food is. Dog food contains more fiber (something that cats dont need, but dogs do) and it also contains less Vitamin A (something dogs dont need, and cats do). Hedgies need a higher amount of fiber in their diet, and a lesser amount of Vit A. Too much Vit A in a hedgies diet can lead to Vitamin A Toxicity which is associated with liver problems- and hedgies are prone to liver problems (fatty liver disease). For those reasons, I add some dog food into my hedgies mix to help even things out.

The main reason why alot of people dont add the dog food into their mix is because they cant find kibbles that are small enough for their hedgies to handle. Look for " mini" kibbles (such as the RC Mini Special 30) or puppy kibbles (watch out for the fat though!). If need be you can always break them up into smaller more manageable pieces.

[Le'ah]

teasels mom, i just wanted to let you know that you have a fantastic caresheet and i have printed all 10 pages to put in my "hedgie-care folder" so that when i do get another hedgie (i haven't had one in quite a while), i will be ready. thank you so much!

[Nancy]

teasels mom, i just wanted to let you know that you have a fantastic caresheet and i have printed all 10 pages to put in my "hedgie-care folder" so that when i do get another hedgie (i haven't had one in quite a while), i will be ready. thank you so much!

Thanks. I've got more stuff to put on if my darn computer would ever get fixed so I have it more than 2 days between repairs. :laugh:

[tijya]

I too have found your site very informative. You did a really good job!

[mommy2ryan]

thanks for all the advice!

[Ododad]

"Are you planning on using carefresh or yesturdays news to cover the entire cage floor? If so you may consider going with liners instead, and then just filling a litter box with the chosen " litter"."

I totally agree here. I used to use Aspen for bedding. I followed Teaselsmom's advice and switched to liners. I wish I had done it a long time ago. Liners are the way to go!
Prettyhate knows her food, I always follow her suggestions on food issues.

[Sylverwynde]

I've been reading about the liners, but I'm still not quite sure what they are. Maybe I'm just still asleep.... But can someone explain to me what they are, how they're made, and maybe where I can get some to save me the trouble of making them right now? :D

[platnymbit]

Teasels_mom (Nancy) sells them..here is the link to her page on liners, hedgie bags, and other things she sells

http://www.freewebs.com/thehedgieden/accessoriesforsale.htm