[Dana]

OK, Nicole was kind enough to enlighten me on only giving 3x's per week, but how many? What about crickets? Are they also fatty and considered "junk food" or treats? I will look at the nutritional analysis in the meantime, but I'm curious as to what you experienced owners use as a feeding guideline.
Thank you,
Dana

 

[Lilysmommy]

Depends on how big the mealies are, really. You could feed twice as many small ones as big ones and it'd be about the same amount. And it partly depends on your hedgie, if you have a runner like Lizardgirl does, you could feed mealies probably every day and he/she wouldn't put on weight. If your hedgehog isn't a big runner though, or is prone to putting on weight easily, you wouldn't want to give mealies all the time.
For Lily, I've been feeding her a couple of mealies every day, actually, sometimes big ones, sometimes small ones, and I weigh her every few days. Her weight hasn't fluctuated much, so she seems to be fine with that, until I stop messing with her cat food and can start changing it up with other treats.

As far as I know, crickets aren't as fatty as mealworms, but I've never fed them to Lily, so I don't know how many of those to feed. They're still considered a treat like mealworms, though.

 

[Dana]

Thanks, Kelsey.

I consider these mealies small. They are thin, about an inch long, etc. I used to feed my leopard gecko some rather hefty ones. PETCO had them, too, but they looked too large and more troubling for us to feed. The boys didn't like feeding them to the gecko and we just quit when we read they should really be decapitated first so they don't injure the gecko!

Should food be always offered as it is to a cat?

Thanks,
Dana

 

[kandyhedgie]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there is a difference between mealworms and superworms. Superworms can bite so you take off their heads first... mealworms are safe. You might have been feeding the superworms to your gecko?

 

[Lilysmommy]

Yes, the ones you were feeding the geckos sound like they were superworms. Those are just mealies that were fed a growth hormone so they don't change into pupae, but keep growing. They can bite on their way down, unlike mealies, who just die passively. :lol: The mealies that are about an inch long are actually considered large for mealworms, so I would only feed either a couple a night, or let the hedgie have as many as they want once in awhile. Just keep an eye on her weight if you feed them more often, so they're not making her gain a lot of weight. I've also noticed that Lily tends to eat less kibble on the nights when she gets more mealies, kind of the equivalent of a kid filling up on chips and Twinkies rather than eat a ham sandwich and an apple.
Some people free feed. I like to keep track of how much Lily eats each night, so I count out her kibble, and count how many are left in the morning. But I always put in more than I know she'll eat in a night, in case of a sudden food binge. :lol:

 

[Dana]

Thanks my friends. I never knew about "superworms" and got them from a more exotic pet store that has since moved. The employee said that they'd sometimes change into beetles, so I figured they were normal mealworms, but truly looked like a different species of worm than what I now have. I don't believe Petco had any smaller choices for us the other day other than the superworms. There should be smaller ones?

Dana

 

[Dana]

Re: Quantity of mealworms?/Kelsey

How much kibble does your hh eat on average? My boys have kept Spikerina's bowl replenished, so I don't have any idea. I suppose I'll have to stop them from doing so and keep an eye on it all? Her notes from the care center indicated nothing about trends - some days she ate a bit, gained weight, then nothing, lost weight. Same w/ her waste - inconsistent findings.

Dana

 

[Lilysmommy]

Lily is pretty inconsistent with her kibble intake, too. I count it and it varies anywhere from in the 20s to in the 50s. Her average is about the 40s, though, which would be about a tablespoon, I believe. Her weight also fluctuates sometimes, but stays mainly around 340s (g). You just have to get to know your hedgie to know what their normal is, and it does help to keep records so you can verify if she's lost or gained a lot of weight suddenly or something else out of the norm. It helps to be able to show the vet hard evidence, too, if you suspect a problem.

 

[Dana]

Thanks for the info. I've heard that they should be weighed often to warn of illness. I'm particularly afraid of the cancers I hear about and a sudden weight loss can point to that. Tonight, I counted out 50 kibble. The boys had her dish pretty full - it's a low stainless steel container, so I'd say there were hundreds of kibble in there. I will see how she's eaten tomorrow.

Dana

 

[azyrios]

There is a very good chart you can get somewhere on the internet that's tracks food intake and weight, but i forget what it is. I personally made my own, and i'll post it when i get back home.

Vex fluctuates between 340-360g and eat between 30-50 kibble a night (He will eat all 20-25 pieces of his wellness, and then pick out certain pieces of the rest and get to roughly 35 on average)

 

[Immortalia]

Haha, mine's the opposite of yours azyrios

He'll eat all 25 pieces of his NB, and then pick at his Wellness to total around 40.

Oh, and my boy weighs ~316-337g