# African Pygmy Hedgehogs and Mealworm



## Kelfezond (Nov 20, 2010)

Hey guys, I went a little overboard on the mealworm when I decided it'd be a fun project to breed then when we got our hedgehog and now I have hundreds of the little things! I've heard they're pretty fatty for hedgehogs so can't be fed too many how many would you say is okay to feed her? (Sorry if it sounds like I'm useless, but I am. The Hedgehog is my girlfriends I tend to stay with the leg-less animals )

Also- any other uses for mealworms? I've taken to feeding them to the birds in the garden


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## vgorst (Sep 27, 2011)

I feed between 10-20 mealworms (standard sized) to my hedgehog a day. I find it depends on how active the hedgie is (mine non-stop wheels all night and although fully grown is quite small) and the fat content of the food its given. A low fat content in the dry food means you can feed more mealies, and remember they are predominantly insectivores! You can also feed the hedgie the aliens and beetles.

Not sure what other uses there are for mealies


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## Kelfezond (Nov 20, 2010)

vgorst said:


> I feed between 10-20 mealworms (standard sized) to my hedgehog a day. I find it depends on how active the hedgie is (mine non-stop wheels all night and although fully grown is quite small) and the fat content of the food its given. A low fat content in the dry food means you can feed more mealies, and remember they are predominantly insectivores! You can also feed the hedgie the aliens and beetles.
> 
> Not sure what other uses there are for mealies


Ours is very young, only just been allowed from his mother so will have to cut that number down a bit but we might think about getting a low-fat food to allow for a more mealworm based diet  thanks!


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## ChazzieJo (Jun 14, 2012)

A hedgehogs main kibble should be low fat regardless, as you know unlike wild hedgehogs they do not hibernate, so there's so need for them to have a fatty diet. High protein, low fat, top quality cat food is what you're after.

As for mealworms, they're surprisingly low fat. You can hand feed 20-30 a day depending on how active your Hog is. As the other poster said, they are insectivores, so try to vary their diet as much as possible. Wax worms (quite fatty), crickets, mealworm beetles, cockroaches, etc, etc will all go down a treat.
:2thumb:


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## Kelfezond (Nov 20, 2010)

ChazzieJo said:


> A hedgehogs main kibble should be low fat regardless, as you know unlike wild hedgehogs they do not hibernate, so there's so need for them to have a fatty diet. High protein, low fat, top quality cat food is what you're after.
> 
> As for mealworms, they're surprisingly low fat. You can hand feed 20-30 a day depending on how active your Hog is. As the other poster said, they are insectivores, so try to vary their diet as much as possible. Wax worms (quite fatty), crickets, mealworm beetles, cockroaches, etc, etc will all go down a treat.
> :2thumb:


Wow really? I read in a few guides that you should never really feed more than 4 or 5 every other day. This is getting confusing haha


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## ChazzieJo (Jun 14, 2012)

Seriously? Insects should be their MAIN diet, they're built for it. Obviously feed accordingly to your Hogs weight, and keep an eye on it, but yeah I used to feed mine dozens of insects everyday and she loved it. You may be getting confused as you're not supposed to feed more than a few dried mealworms at a time but I wouldn't feed those anyway as they're pointless. Hardly any nutritions! 
: victory:


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## Kelfezond (Nov 20, 2010)

Ah that might be it, it said they are best for a treat but not too often 

Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 2


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