[Lindy]

Hi everybody!

This will be my first post, please don't be too hard on me (and on my English hihi)
I'm the new proud mommy of my sweet little Lola since December 30. So far she is amazing! Still in the middle of bonding but really can't complain! She is a true cuddler!!

When I got her 2 months ago she was about 12 weeks old and weight 250 grams. At her breeder she was on a plain kibble diet (Royal canin kitten) and mealworms every other day. So I continued with those kibbles and gave her mealies every day (like 30 or so). First couple days she didn't eat much but that's probably due to the fact that she had to get used to her new home. I've tried to make it up by given her some extra mealies and kept an eye on her weight. Also soften the kibble with some water to see if she would eat more. After the first drop in weight to 242 it came back to 252 and was stable. But to keep her there I had to feed her tons of mealies! I know she loves them but I think there is something wrong if you only can maintain the weight by feeding them in dozens (and she is not even an active runner!). She was still a baby who needed her nutrients and vitamins to grow. She wouldn't take any vegetable treats and obviously didn't get enough from her food.

So here is where my adventure starts I did my research on the internet, spend hours and hours on this forum, found the 'Pet African Hedgehog, a complete guide to care' book and just started puzzling. I've made tons of excel sheets, calculate the DMB values and started cooking (in theory :lol

I came up with 2 different menu's for Lola, put it together and she loves them both!! Finally she slowly gained weight (30 grams in 3 weeks) and getting all the things she need to grow healthy (I think and hope :smile I wanted to share this with you guys, maybe you see something that I can improve or even something that's totally wrong. Please tell me!

There are still kibbles in the mix, so even when I don't cover everything she will get it from the kibbles. I boiled the meat and all the veggies al raw. And of course she still gets her fair share amount of mealies.

I've added a print screen from the excel sheet (hope that went well :lol. The 2 mixes and how they look like All values are based on DMB. The amount of the ingredients on the left, all final percentages are at the bottom (the protein, carbs, vet, fibers, vitamines etc.). The good thing about this sheet is that all I have to do is change the amount of an ingredient and everything is changing with it. It's really fun to play with so if anybody is interested just tell me. Really everything you can think of is in those sheets, just didn't fit on the screen :lol:

http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=58658&stc=1&d=1456347521

http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=58666&stc=1&d=1456347521

http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=58674&stc=1&d=1456347521

http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=58682&stc=1&d=1456347521

I'm kinda proud of it :-D But again if anybody spots something I can do better feel free to shoot! At least it is working really well for my sweet little Lola. I know a lot of people want something different for there baby than just plain kibbles but have no clue where to start, maybe something like this can help.

Thnx for your input and sorry about the length of this post :lol:

Thnx from Lola too!!

 

[FinnickHog]

It looks pretty good! Make sure she still gets some insects like mealworms or crickets, since hedgehogs are mainly insectivores. Other than that I'd say that diet should work just fine.

 

[Draenog]

Looks nice so far but it's missing the most important ingredient - insects.
I recommend feeding a wide variety, not just mealworms, supers and crickets. That's very simple and boring for what should be the most important dietary factor. There are quite a few options, some insects are higher in fat than others, so it also depends on how your hedgehog reacts to fattier foods. I prefer low fat insects with a hard exoskeleton (chitin) for my full grown hedgehogs.

It seems regular cat food is too low in fibre for hedgehogs. Fibre can be added by feeding more insects. Vegetables are most likely not a huge part of their natural diet and I personally feed them in moderation for that reason. Undigested plant matter has been found in the faeces of wild European hedgehogs. They lack the caecum, the part of the intestines which helps digest plant matter, and might therefore not be able to fully digest vegetables successfully.
It seems fibre coming from chitin (found in insect exoskeletons) is the most effective for hedgehogs (which makes sense given insects are their main source of food in the wild).
You can read more here > http://jn.nutrition.org/content/128/12/2671S.full

I would remove the kiwi since it's quite acidic.
You might have to cook some of the harder vegetables (like carrots) because they can choke on them.

The protein percentages of your mixes is very low, suggested is between 28-35% so I would aim for about 32%.

What version of Royal Canin are/were you feeding?
What kind of meat are you feeding? Specifically designed for pets or do you just buy it at the supermarket? I recommend raw BARF diets with muscle meat, organ meat and ground bones since it is more complete. Although I occasionally use regular meat as well.

You could also add pinkies and day old chicks if you'd like, they are a big hit with most hedgehogs (f/t ones of course, not live ones!)