Food List and Links

FOOD:

Hedgehogs need a high quality, dry cat kibble with real meat as the main first few ingredients. You, also, don’t want the food to contain any corn, byproduct meals, artificial flavors, dyes, or legumes (peas, lentils, chickpeas, etc) in at least the first five ingredients of a food or high amounts of them in the food. Legumes like peas will raise the phosphorus levels in the food too much, and too much unbalanced phosphorus is bad for hedgehogs. It can inhibit calcium absorption in their bones, and can cause them to have kidney damage over time. You want to aim for a calcium to phosphorus ratio of 2:1, for instance, most foods will have a 1:1 ratio. The food needs to be within the safe fat to protein percentages too. They need a food with 30-35% protein. No more than 35% protein because too much protein from plants and other sources besides meat can cause damage to their kidneys and liver over time. Most higher protein foods are not appropriate for hedgehogs because they have too much protein from plants, etc., and not enough meat protein. The only time foods with higher protein like 40% or higher are okay is if they have mainly meat protein and 10-15% fat. The amount of fat in the food should be based on the hedgehogs size. Some hedgehogs can be on a higher fat food while others may become overweight. If the hedgehog is small, a baby, or is very active they can do fine on a food with 14-16% fat.

See Cage & Cage Accessories for Food Bowl and Watering Recommendations