[Gatrice]

My hedgehog, Holly, is a little over 4 months old now, and she has eaten her way through most of the RC Babycat 34 she had for her hoglet stage. I got a coupon from PetCo about two months ago, so before it expired I bought some of the famous Green Pea & Duck and some Blue Spa Select. At that point, I gave her one of each kibble to make sure she liked them; since she gobbled them up and proceeded to drool all over my pants and anoint us both with cat food, I assumed we were good to go. I squeezed all the air out of the bags, taped them securely shut, and stored them in a cupboard.

Now that we are beyond the return time period of the new foods, I am trying to switch her over, and she will have nothing to do with them. I have tried phasing them in (they were picked around), crushing the new food and sprinkling it over the old food (no effect), crushing the old food and sprinkling it over the new food (she hoovered up the powder and ignored the rest), and even just giving only new food in the hopes that hunger would drive her to try the new stuff (I caved and gave her some kitten food after a few hours). Yesterday I even tried rubbing the kibbles on her lips, which was ignored.

She is a super-picky hedgie who will only eat mealworms if I actually poke them in her mouth for her. I know that about her, but I also know that she can't eat kitten food forever. I really don't want to be out $30, either. What other techniques could I use to convince her to move on?

 

[Shelbys Mom]

I haven't had this problem with mine (yet)
But I read that you can store the new food in with some of the old food (kitten food) that way the new food can take on the scent and tastes of the old food.

I don't know if it would work or not.
Maybe put some in a zip lock together to see if it would work that way you wont have a lot of mixed food she wont eat if she still doesn't like it.