Picky hedgehog!

[acidrainx]

Hello all

This is a last resort as I have run out of options and am not sure what to do next. So my little Sniffles is EXTREMELY picky. When I first got him he was on a Royal Canin Kitten 36 diet. I kept feeding him that until about a month ago and I would also feed him 8 in 1 hedgehog diet once in a while for variety. The other day I went to go buy more Kitten 36 and they had changed the formula! Sniffles doesn't even bother smelling it and I figured maybe he wasn't hungry, but the next morning, I realized he hadn't eaten, which worried me. So I went through all the kitten, cat and hedgehog food I had around to see if he would eat any of them. Thankfully, he ate the 8 in 1. About 2 days ago, we finished the box of 8 in 1 and I bought another. They changed the formula and (you guessed it) he won't even smell it. I don't know what to do... HELP

[Tamsyn]

From what I've read on here, these sorts of things are a big reason why it's recommended to feed hedgehogs a staple diet that is a mix of a few different kinds of food at once, that way you still have some food you know the hedgehog will eat if something happens to one of the formulas. I believe this is called a "hunger strike".

People who actually own hedgehogs and haven't just been reading about them for a month like me should have more practical advice, but I imagine the first goal should be to find something your hedgehog will eat. If you buy food from Petco, their store policy should allow you to bring it back if your hedgehog won't eat it. From there, find one or two more foods that also pass the test and mix everything together and feed that to your hedgehog. That way, in the future, it's not so much of an emergency if something changes.

I've read a lot of posts on here about formulas changing without warning and the hedgehog refusing to eat the new formula, so it's a very common problem. The stickies on this board are a great read for a crash course in hedgie nutrition!

[Lilysmommy]

While you're looking for dry foods he'll eat, try getting some canned food today and see if he'll eat that. He might find that more appealing and he needs to eat something. Has it been the two days since you ran out of 8 in 1 that he hasn't eaten? If so, I would offer him some of the canned food tonight & if he doesn't give it a try on his own, then I'd go ahead and syringe-feed him some tonight. You can water it down a bit and make sure it's chopped up well with a spoon or something. Run it through the syringe once into a bowl to make sure it won't get plugged up. Get as much as you can into him, then leave him a variety of options in his cage for tonight - a couple dry foods, the wet food, etc. If he doesn't eat on his own, you'll need to keep syringe-feeding him until you find something he'll eat. There's more advice on syringing here - https://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forum...ng-sticky.html

Good luck, and I hope you can find something he'll eat quickly!

[acidrainx]

I used to feed him a blend, but company after company changed their formulations :/ so now I'm stuck. We don't have petco here, but I will ask our local petstore on their return policy.

[acidrainx]

Originally Posted by Lilysmommy

While you're looking for dry foods he'll eat, try getting some canned food today and see if he'll eat that. He might find that more appealing and he needs to eat something. Has it been the two days since you ran out of 8 in 1 that he hasn't eaten? If so, I would offer him some of the canned food tonight & if he doesn't give it a try on his own, then I'd go ahead and syringe-feed him some tonight. You can water it down a bit and make sure it's chopped up well with a spoon or something. Run it through the syringe once into a bowl to make sure it won't get plugged up. Get as much as you can into him, then leave him a variety of options in his cage for tonight - a couple dry foods, the wet food, etc. If he doesn't eat on his own, you'll need to keep syringe-feeding him until you find something he'll eat. There's more advice on syringing here - https://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forum...ng-sticky.html

Good luck, and I hope you can find something he'll eat quickly!

Thanks for the advice! I will try wet food. Any recommendations for the kind? He's eaten some carrots (which he loves) and I ran out yesterday morning I think (I had mix what was left of the old with some of the new batch).

[Lilysmommy]

A pate or minced style is going to be best for syringe-feeding. It's best to get one of the decent brands (Blue Buffalo, Innova, Chicken Soup, etc.) if you can find them. You could also try seeing if the store has Royal Canin canned food in pate style, since he previously liked one of their foods. Royal Canin isn't a great brand, but obviously right it's more important to get any food into him!

If you want something just to put out & see if he'll eat on his own, Wellness Health Indulgence might be something to try as well. They wouldn't work for syringe-feeding since they're little chunks of meat in gravy, but Lily went completely bonkers for them. So they might be worth grabbing one or two flavors to see if he's enticed as well.

Good luck! I hope you can find something for your picky little guy...I swear hedgehogs just like to drive their owners crazy for the fun of it.