My boy is the same age and is a petit size hog but his lowest weight was 260g which I thought was quite small so 174g does sound very small indeed. But I believe the best way to tell if they are underweight is there body shape rather than just looking at their weight, since all hogs come in different shapes and sizes! For example if the body caves in like this ) ( then they are underweight. If their body is more straight like this | | then they need to put on some weight. Their ideal shape is a teardrop, round around the bottom end and tear shape towards their head.

I just posted an update on my boy's weight and diet issues so you might find it useful to read. I believe taking out the wheel can have a negative effect, causing them to not eat so I would suggest putting it back in. With adding new food, I'd do it really slowly if he is a picky eater, as it caused me so many problems switching my boy's food too fast, which resulted in a food strike. Luckily for me, my boy absolutely loves insects at least! And I think this is what has helped him gain so much weight (maybe a bit too much haha, but I'm happy he's eating his whole dish of food every night now)

There are sticky posts with lots of insects information which will help you decide which ones are best in the diet and nutrition section on the forum but sounds like he could do with some of the fattier ones like mealworms, superworms and wax worms, wax worms being one of the fattiest. Also someone recommended scrabbled eggs as another food to help them put on some weight.

 

He?s starting to cave in by the hips.
And he?s got idk loose skin? Vet was an idiot and didn?t help much. She told me to feed him two or three pieces of cat kibble and five to sox meal worms a day....

 

Caving in the hips is not good. You want your hedgehog to be at a tear shape. Three kibbles? That vet is incorrect. You need to feed your hedgie a good amount of high quality cat food daily. People in the forums usually free-feed their hedgies because hedgies rarely overeat. The vet doesn't sound very good to me. I suggest you seek a new exotic vet.

 

Nearest vet that the breeder i got my other one from is like 2 hour drive there which is hard to have four hours to travel, but next time that?s where I?ll go. I was kinda pissed she said that, she also told me a bunch of other things that I don?t beleive were correct. he?s doing better today, i was free feeding him but then he stopped eating, When he wasn?t pooping. He?s ate 4 mealworms this morning as well as a lot of kibble,. Maybe he wasn?t wanting food cause he was constipated, full of life today... I think my kitchen scale is wrong cause it says 283g this morning....so I will be buying a new one tomorrow.

 

If he seems constipated get unseasoned canned pumpkin to help him get relief. It's good that you decided to free-feed him. You did the right thing. The vet doesn't seem too knowledgeable with hedgehogs. Make sure that you're changing the food and water daily. Just leave the food and water in two separate bowls. Fresh food and water must always be available for your hedgehog at all times.

 

Wow yeah that vet doesn't sound very knowledgeable, please don't take him back to her! 2-3 cat kibbles is no where near enough food, I believe they need to be eating at least 25g of food a day, but you should just free feed. You could also try moving his food bowl into his sleeping area as I found this encouraged my lazy boy to eat during the day, since he won't come out in the daylight.

Some more ways to help him relieve himself, try giving him a warm shallow bath, like a footbath ~ most hedgies will relieve themselves in the warm water. My boy always does longer poops in his footbath compared to the ones in his litter tray! ^^ Also since I feed his food as a wet mix with a little water, this helps him get more fluids in him as he barely touches his water dish. If your boy isn't a big drinker, he may be a little dehydrated which can cause constipation. Maybe you could try adding a little water to his cat kibble, this will also soften it making it easier for him to eat. I believe hedgehogs rely on getting the majority of fluids from their food source which cat food obviously lacks, so this is why it's important to feed insects where possible as part of their main diet or some veggies if they'll eat them. Also what mealworms do you use, are they freeze-dried by any chance? As freeze dried ones can cause constipation and even lead to impactation if fed too many too often so this might be the cause? Try using canned or even better live ones and I really do recommend trying to get other fattier insects to help him gain some more weight,. Really helped my boy and he loves them too ~ you can order them online or buy from pet stores.

 

He had pumpkin ( which the vet told
Me not to feed him @.@ ) he?s getting 100 kibble each night just so I can keep track of what he is eating to make sure he?s eating will probably go back to free feeding him tomorrow since he?s been doing well for two days. He gets Fresh water daily amazing how Facebook or online forums seem to help more then a vet...

 

I am feeding him live meal worms and I won?t feed frozen or dehydrated... also he does once in a while get can of juicy crickets ^ and trust me I won?t be going back to that vet.

 

And foot baths helped him the second time the first time you could see him pushing so hard I thought he was going to prolapse !! thanks everyone for your help and suggestions. I?m looking into hunting down wax worms but I?m in a rural part of Canada so finding anything is hard up here lol

 

Aww poor thing, hopefully it eases trying all the suggestions

Do you have access to buy online as that's probably easiest then? Normally there are online live feed breeders

 

Oh that's good you've got live ones! ^^
Crickets I think are the least fattiest but still very nutritious ~ I'm yet to try them, I don't want to buy lives ones because they're noisy and jump haha, but I think I can get hold of canned ones here. I recommend superworms and wax worms to put on weight but use waxworms in moderation as they are really fatty, but sounds like he could do with it so don't worry too much. I feed x2 superworms every night (1 is like equivalent to maybe 4-5 mealies?) and this is what helped him start gaining weight, (I'm going to reduce it back down to x1 now though as he's gained so much haha and have started feeding live dubia roaches instead as of last night). Also gut load your mealworms/live insects with fruit and veggies before feeding to your boy so he gets extra nutrients

I'd also suggest weighing him every night so you can closer monitor his weight to see if he's gaining steadily. I initially was doing it once a week, but if one time they do a lot of poop they can lose like 10-15g in one day >< so I found it best to weigh each night before feeding/relieving himself.

Hope he gains weight soon ♡

 

When you're giving him a foot bath you can try to fill warm water up to the hedgehog's belly and try rubbing his belly gently.

 

I did ? he had a rock hard lump which is not longer there. He?s been pooping fine since the pumpkin. Need to plump him up.

 

I think supercricket.ca has some but it?s 20$ for 250 wax worms and I think 3-4$ for meal worms and shipping is 20$ 0_0

 

Woah that's a lot of waxworms!! I'm not sure you'll get through them tbh (if they're live) as they need to be kept in the fridge and I believe last 2-3 weeks before they die, you'll want to fatten him up gradually...

How about superworms, they'd be better for everyday feeding and still fatten him up! If it doesn't creep you out, you can start breeding them yourself if it's expensive to keep ordering them online, really easy to do! Then you'll have beetles and the pupae stage (which my boy loves as a treat). I kept 5 beetles for breeding and I have at least a hundred superworm babies now, spent at least an hour yesterday digging them out from the substrate >< think I have to feed the beetles off as they just keep breeding lol! :lol:

 

Will need a new scale as well cause I weighed him at vet yesturday and was 174/176g and then weighed him this morning he was 283g... yes I had made sure to cancel out the dish he was weighed in. So new scale for us in the future next food shop in town

 

http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/12-diet-nutrition/26025-guide-insects.html
Kelsey made an amazing post about your guide to insects. This should help you a lot.

 

Thank you :3

 

Yeah I couldn't at first but then there were times I had to when my boyfriend was away so I had to suck it up and do it haha, now I'm pretty desensitised to them . I can't pick up the beetles or roaches still lol, can just about change their bedding and food when needed :lol:

I've only bought mealies canned so not sure how to keep them, I think I read before about taking them out of the refrigerator every week or so for about 1-2 days to feed and come out of hibernation, maybe this will prevent them from dying so quickly or the fridge is too cold? Maybe I should try this with the wax worms as they also need to be kept in the fridge and die within 2-3 wks... Superworms are just kept at room temperature so easier to keep, they only morph if you separate them (unlike mealworms who I think just morph after a while if not kept in the fridge).

 

Yeah I couldn't at first but then there were times I had to when my boyfriend was away so I had to suck it up and do it haha, now I'm pretty desensitised to them

. I can't pick up the beetles or roaches still lol, can just about change their bedding and food when needed

I've only bought mealies canned so not sure how to keep them, I think I read before about taking them out of the refrigerator every week or so for about 1-2 days to feed and come out of hibernation, maybe this will prevent them from dying so quickly or the fridge is too cold? Maybe I should try this with the wax worms as they also need to be kept in the fridge and die within 2-3 wks... Superworms are just kept at room temperature so easier to keep, they only morph if you separate them (unlike mealworms who I think just morph after a while if not kept in the fridge).

If I was to keep super worms in the fridge then maybe I wouldn?t have to cut off their heads? I know I use to feed them to my frogs way back when I was like 14 but I kept them in a bucket with apple and oats.

 

Hmm possibly, I'm not really sure if they hibernate like mealies and wax worms? If you prefer to kill them, then probably best to just freeze them for a day or so and take out as and when needed, but maybe best to look it up and check. I think I'm going to have to do this with the dubia roaches as they creep me out everytime they scamper in their container when I go near it haha. My boyfriend is having to feed them every night to Yuki so far and not sure how much longer he'll do it as he finds it a pain getting them out of their small container as they huddle in the egg carton lol. But it is funny seeing Yuki try and hunt them down in a small tray, he's not the sharpest hog ><. Last night I left out an alien pupae for him and he ran past it to go scamper under his sleeping sack, after putting him back from bonding, but he got a whiff of it, knocked it off the stone in the process but then couldn't find it (it was next to his feet lol) and then panicked and ran under his bed :lol: silly but cute hog ^.^ ~ in his defense the lamp was on so maybe he couldn't see well!