How much should I feed my hedgie?

[gam29]

I've had my hedgie for a few weeks now and I'm unsure how much I should be feeding him. It looks like he is gaining a little weight though. I originally was feeding him the food that I purchased from the store where I got him. That food was called pretty pets and I read all the bad things people had to say about it, so I went out and got some royal canin light 37 which is supposed to be better for him. about how much per day should i be feeding him? up to this point, i've just filled up his bowl and let him eat as much as he wants, but something tells me that this probably isn't good for him because he is gaining a little bit of weight. your help would be very much appreciated

[Nancy]

I personally believe in freefeeding all my gang. Babies especially should be free fed as their growing bodies need food for proper growth.
If he is a baby, gaining weight is a good thing and if an adult, just make sure he isn't becoming fat. Exercise is the most important thing for keeping them a healthy weight. Make sure he has a properly sized wheel and gets out of cage time regularly. :)

[hemi_mygirl]

I freefed my hedgehog until she turned about 6 months old, and I figured out she only ate about a tablespoon of food for night. Since she won't eat the same food two nights in a row (it has to be fresh nightly), I was wasting alot by freefeeding. So now, I give her a tablespoon and a little extra, in case she's extra hungry one night. Whatever she doesn't eat (which is usually about 10 kibbles), I give to our puppy, who sure doesn't complain.

[Nancy]

Freefeeding doesn't mean filling the dish full. Free feeding means that the animal is not limited in how much he'es allowed to eat.

I freefeed but never fill the dishes up. I know approximately how much each hog eats and I give a bit more than that. Some of them the food doesn't even cover the bottom of the bowl and there is a few kibble left each morning. Others require a bit more or they'd run out. I don't waste alot of food. :)

[hemi_mygirl]

Oh, then I do that. When I first got her, I wasn't sure of how much she ate, so I filled the bowl and counted kibbles. She seemed underweight when I got her. It seemed weird that a 3 month old hedgehog would barely be 6 ounces.

Now, since I've got her eating habits down, not alot of food is wasted either. :)

[HedgeMom]

It seemed weird that a 3 month old hedgehog would barely be 6 ounces.



Age and size don't go hand in hand, just FYI. Faerie will be a year old in May and weighs a little over 8 ounces. 240 grams of healthy hedgehog.

[hemi_mygirl]

I know that now, but when I first got her, I couldn't really find anything based on normal sizes of a hedgehog. I researched everything else I could get my hands on, but normal sizes for a hedgehog...zilch.

[HedgeMom]

Because there is no "normal" size. Some are wee, some are gigantic. All are normal.

[HamorHollow]

If your hedgehog is young, underweight or thin, or very active, then I recommend free feeding.

For older hedgehogs, over weight, or inactive, you want to cut down the amount of food they eat. Usually about 1.5T/ day is sufficient, but it varies by hedgehogs and by size.

If your hedgehog is so big that s/he can't ball, then it is time it limit food and encourage activity. Switching to a miX that contains light food is a good idea too.