Insert body text here ...
NEVER GIVE BREAD AND MILK as hedgehogs cannot tolerate the lactose and will present with serious and life threatening illness, but make sure there is always a fresh supply of water to drink.
These suggestions apply to juvenile and adult hogs but not Hoglets (babies) who will require specialist care/feeding with possibly half hourly feeds.
Hedgehogs are fussy eaters and prefer a good brand of tinned cat or dog food (meat not fish). An adult can eat up to half a can per night plus bits and pieces such as cat or kitten biscuits. Royal Canin persian kitten seem to be popular as are Whiskas or Go Cat kitten, cooked minced beef, leftover chicken,( but no bones), cold roast potato, peanut butter (smooth or crunchy) chopped small grain bird food and nuts, never give whole nuts as these can get stuck under the pallette and cause illness. Small amounts of mealworms or plain sweet biscuits such as digestive. Also chopped apple and sultanas or mashed banana. Hedgehogs do not have large teeth so chopped, minced or mashed food is better.
A hedgehogs diet in the wild is mainly beetles, earth worms and caterpillars. When these are not available they will eat slugs & snails which carry internal parasitic worms.
Hedgehogs carry internal/parasitic worms which are not usually a threat and they cope well. HOWEVER if a hedgehog has to rely on slugs & snails which also carry parasitic worms, they can and frequently do suffer overwhelming lung worm burden. The worms tunnel into their lungs and cause respiratory problems and eventually death. This condition could be greatly reduced if hedgehogs could access more gardens and more people put out supplementary food for them particularly towards and throughout autumn when they need to build up their body weight/fat reserves for winterr hibernation; especially important for autumn juveniles, and also in spring when hedgehogs wake from their long hibernation.
Shallow plates & dishes are ideal. Welcome donations can include such items as below
Cat & Kitten Biscuits
Below is a chart of the More Natural food Menu of Hedgehogs
Contact mhr by email
You are viewing the text version of this site.
To view the full version please install the Adobe Flash Player and ensure your web browser has JavaScript enabled.
Need help? check the requirements page.