What can I feed a wild hedgehog?

Hedgehogs are not commonly kept as pets, and many new parents may not have a clear idea of what types of foods are best to feed them and what foods you should avoid. We’ve researched this topic well and own several hedgehogs ourselves. We will list as many foods that they can eat as we can, as well as tell you a little about them and how to find them.

Join us while we look at the hedgehog and discuss their dietary requirements. We’ll cover how much protein and fat they need as well as what foods lead to obesity and other health problems for the hedgehog to help you maintain a healthy diet for your pet.

Foods Hedgehogs Eat in the Wild

The hedgehog is an omnivore and feeds on a variety of insects and small animals, as well as plants, berries, and vegetables. Some of the foods they like to eat in the wild are as follows.

• Baby mice
• Beetles
• Caterpillar
• Slugs
• Snails
• Worms
• Small animals
• Fruits and vegetables

Unfortunately, your pet hedgehog will not get the exercise that a wild hedgehog gets. Also, some of these foods are hard for the wild hedgehog to get, so they eat very little. Even though insects contain Chitlin, which is an important nutrient for hedgehogs, it can gain weight if fed too many, so it’s better to give these foods as treats.

You can find crickets live, freeze-dried, or canned. We recommend live crickets whenever possible because they provide mental stimulation as well as exercise while your pet is trying to catch them. Crickets provide Chitlin and are high in protein.

Mealworms are another insect you can purchase in multiple forms. Mealworms are even better than live crickets because you won’t need to worry about them jumping away, but they still move a lot and provide mental and physical stimulation for your pet. They also contain Chitlin and are high in protein.

Waxworms are quite a bit higher in fat than the crickets or mealworms, so these should be an occasional treat.

Caterpillars are another high-protein food that contain a high amount of fat. Since caterpillars are slow-moving, it’s usually fine to purchase the freeze-dried or canned versions and pass them out as treats on occasion.

Snails don’t provide Chitlin, but they are high in protein and low in fat. As treats go, snails are one of the better choices.

Related Read: Do Hedgehogs Eat Poop? What You Need to Know!

Gut Loading

Before feeding many insects to your hedgehog, we strongly recommend gut loading the insects. Gut loading is a process where you feed your insect’s nutritional meals for a few days to pack it with nutrients, which allows the insects to transfer the nutrition to your pet. Gut loading is another good reason to feed your hedgehog live insects when possible.

• TIP – Pet hedgehogs should not eat too many insects. It can cause them to become overweight. You should only provide them as a treat every other day or so.

Best Foods to Feed Pet Hedgehogs

Pet hedgehogs should eat high-quality poultry-based meals that contain 25%-35% protein and 10%-15% fat.

Hedgehog food is naturally going to be one of the best choices because it will contain the correct balance of fat and protein, as well as provide important nutrients specific to your hedgehog’s health. There are many brands of hedgehog food available, but it can difficult to find, especially if you live in a rural area.

Dry cat food is an excellent second choice, and many people recommend using cat food as their main food source due to its availability and high-quality ingredients. The thing to remember when buying cat food is to use a brand that has about 35% protein and 15% fat. You also want to make sure the first ingredient is chicken and not a meat byproduct or a carbohydrate.

Dry dog food is as good as cat food if you follow the guidelines and purchase a brand with 35% protein and 15% fat that has real chicken as its main ingredient. Compared to cat food, it’s more of a challenge to find a good brand because dog food tends to have less protein. We have found with dog food that a lot more brands contain other types of poultry like turkey and duck, which is fine.

Baby food contains high-quality ingredients. Chicken, as well as several other flavors, make a great snack. It’s difficult to find out the percentages of protein and fat, so it’s best to relegate baby food to the snack or occasional meal.

Lean meats like chicken and turkey can make a great snack, and since there is little fat, it will help you keep from putting weight on your pet. You cannot feed a hedgehog a diet of lean meat exclusively because they need other nutrients, but it does make a great addition to your pet’s diet. Be careful to fully cook the meat before feeding it to remove any harmful bacteria.

Hardboiled and scrambled eggs are high in fat but also high in protein and make a great treat from time to time. You can make them healthier by removing the yolk before serving.

All life needs plenty of clean water to stay healthy, and the hedgehog is no different. We recommend you always keep a constant flow of clean water within the hedgehogs reach so they can stay hydrated at will, reducing urinary tract infections and other problems associated with dehydration.

Hedgehogs can eat most berries, and they are fond of apples. You can also find that your hedgehog likes bananas, cherries, peaches, watermelon, papaya, and kiwi. Fruits do provide plenty of vitamins and minerals important to your hedgehog’s health, but they are also high in sugar, so you need to give them in moderation.

Hedgehogs like vegetables, but they have a bit of difficulty digesting them, so if you do give your pet veggies, cut them into small pieces first. If the vegetable is hard like carrots or broccoli, cook it a bit first to soften it a little. Vegetables your hedgehog can eat include broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, corn,  green peppers, and peas.

• Related read: Can Hedgehogs Eat Celery? What You Need To Know!

The 6 Foods Hedgehogs Should Avoid

Here are a few of the foods you should avoid giving your hedgehog.

• Avocado – Avocado is toxic, and you should never feed it to your hedgehog.
• Grapes – Grapes are also toxic to hedgehogs and should not them to your pet.
• All Dried Fruits – Dried fruits of any kind are a potential choking hazard.
• Potatoes – Potatoes provide no nutritional value to your hedgehog but are high in calories and carbohydrates, which can lead to obesity. Starchy vegetables are also hard for your hedgehog to digest.
• Raw meat – Raw meat of any kind can carry dangerous bacteria like E Coli and Salmonella, and you should never feed it to
• Milk – Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant, so a diet that contains milk can lead to diarrhea. Some people suggest that yogurt may not cause the same reaction as milk, but it’s probably best to avoid it altogether unless it’s something your hedgehog enjoys.

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Summary

Of the 14 foods we have listed as safe to feed your hedgehog, most would agree the high-quality cat food is the best choice as it’s inexpensive, easy to find, and contains all of the necessary ingredients in the proper ratios. If you have access and unlimited funds, hedgehog food is the obvious choice. Hedgehogs enjoy a varied meal, so you may want to stock up on several of these items. Keep a constant watch over your pet’s weight because hedgehogs love to eat and can quickly become obese.

We hope you have enjoyed reading over our short look into the diet of the exotic hedgehog. If you have found this information useful and it has helped you decide on a diet for your pet, please share these 14 things you can feed a hedgehog as well as which foods to avoid on Facebook and Twitter.

We’ve reviewed some of the best gear for hedgehogs, see our top picks here:

Featured Image: Best dog photo, Shutterstock

In the UK, we have been feeding hedgehogs in our gardens for decades. People started out offering them bread and milk, which the hogs gobbled down happily even though it was bad for them. Now there is a whole range of proprietary hedgehog foods on the market, some rescuers swear by cat food, and you can even find recipes for homemade hedgehog food on the internet. So what is the best thing to feed hedgehogs in your garden? Let’s take a look.

What to Feed Wild Hedgehogs In Your Garden

Hedgehogs are insectivores; their main food in the wild is insects and other invertebrates such as snails, worms and slugs. But they are also opportunistic eaters. This means they will eat pretty much anything they can get their snouts into, whether it’s good for them or not.

If you put food out for hedgehogs, chances are they will take it, so it’s important to offer food that is good for them. 

But before we dive into which foods to offer to your hogs and which to avoid, let’s quickly remind ourselves of just why we are feeding hedgehogs in the first place. 

Why Feed Hedgehogs?

Many of us feed birds in our gardens because we enjoy watching them at the table and on the feeders. 

This isn’t the case with hedgehogs. Hedgehogs are nocturnal and generally feed when we are sleeping. So unless you have a night camera, you are not likely to see them feeding. 

But feeding hedgehogs is important. Hedgehogs in the UK are in big trouble mainly due to the loss of their natural habitat and the food that goes with it. In our countryside numbers and in disastrous decline. 

But in towns and cities, hedgehog populations are starting to stabilize, and there is even early evidence of recovery in some areas. 

And one of the main reasons for this is that more and more people are feeding hedgehogs and making their gardens hedgehog-friendly.

Loss of habitat and increasing use of pesticides means that, even though they forage all night, it’s difficult for hedgehogs to find the food they need from natural sources. 

The supplementary food we offer in our gardens doesn’t mean hedgehogs don’t still forage naturally; it just tops them up. Think of it as replacing the food humans have stolen from hedgehogs by destroying their natural food sources. 

The food we offer in our gardens makes the difference between a hungry hog and a healthy hog: between a hog who is fit to breed and survive hibernation and one who is just too skinny to survive. 

So let’s get the feeding right. 

Proprietary Hedgehog Food

Quality, professionally made hedgehog food is the best thing you can feed to wild hedgehogs in your garden. A good quality hog food will be nutritionally balanced to offer just the kind of healthy supplement to their foraged food that hedgehogs need. 

Some manufacturers have spent years perfecting their recipes. 

At Home and Roost, we stock Spikes and Brambles hedgehog food, and we are confident that both brands offer a good nutritional balance for hedgehogs. 

Not all hog foods, however, are quite so good for our spikey friends. When you choose a hedgehog food, it’s best to check the ingredients list. 

Look for meat, usually poultry, to be the primary (first listed) ingredient in your hedgehog food. Meat should be the primary ingredient in both wet and dry foods.

There is quite a list of things you don’t want to see on the ingredients list of your food:

• Honey – bad for their teeth.
• Dried Fruit – also bad for teeth
• Sunflower hearts/seeds are high in phosphorus which can cause problems with metabolic bone disease.
• Peanuts and other nuts can also be high in phosphorus. 
• So can mealworms.
• Lots of fillers – you will see wheat and linseed listed as ingredients in many hog foods. They do not pose a health risk, but they have little nutritional value. They are cheap fillers. So your hogs will fill upon them and think they don’t need to do any more foraging that night when in fact, they haven’t eaten all the nutrients they need to survive and thrive.

Just remember that hedgehogs will happily eat a whole host of things that are pretty bad for them. So when we are providing food, it’s our job to be the nutrition police. 

Like humans, hedgehogs will often prefer the tasty bits that are bad for them to the nutritious but boring bits. So it’s best to completely avoid feeding hedgehogs things that are bad for them – even as a “little treat” or a small part of a hedgehog food. 

Wet or Dry Hedgehog Food?

Either wet or dry hedgehog food is fine. Lots of people say hedgehogs prefer the wet food. It certainly has a stronger smell and could do a better job of attracting hedgehogs to your feeding station in the first place. Of course, this also makes it more of a magnet for other animals. 

Wet food (like wet pet food) is typically about 80% water. A high water content is no bad thing as hedgehogs need their fluids. But it does mean that you will need to feed more of it to provide the same nutrition. 

Wet food does go off quicker than dry, so any leftovers will have to be thrown away each morning. If you have regular hoggy visitors, leftovers aren’t likely to be an issue through the summer months. But when you leave food out during hibernation season, just in case any hungry hogs happen to be out and about, dry is best as it can be left for several days. 

Mealworms and Black Soldier Fly Larvae or Calci-Worms

Hedgehogs love mealworms and, given the chance, will generally gobble down as many as they can get their snouts on. But mealworms have a poor calcium to phosphorus balance and can be very bad for hedgehogs, especially young hogs, causing metabolic bone disease, which is a painful and dangerous condition. 

But mealworms are a high protein food and very nutritious in some ways; they’re also an invertebrate, so close to a hedgehog’s natural diet. So hedgehog food manufacturers have looked for a safe substitute. 

They have come up with Black Soldier Fly Larvae, which are sometimes also referred to as calci-worms. Black Soldier Fly Larvae reared on their natural diet have a much better calcium to phosphorus ratio than mealworms, so they are a healthier alternative for hedgehogs. 

BUT as the demand for calci-worms grows, they are increasingly being bred on a diet of restaurant waste. As a result, there is some evidence that their calcium to phosphorus ratio may change and become less favourable for hedgehogs. 

So the jury is still out on these bugs as hedgehog food. We wouldn’t have concerns about finding them on the ingredients list of hedgehog food, but equally, we wouldn’t go out and buy a bag as hedgehog treats. 

Note: Mealworms fed as part of a balanced diet are not harmful to garden birds. 

Dog and Cat Food

Most dog and cat food is also a good choice for your hedgehogs. These pet foods tend to be meat-based, and therefore, although it isn’t specially formulated with the needs of hedgehogs in mind, it does a pretty good job of netting their dietary requirements.

You can choose wet, meaty food or crushed, dry food. Kitten and puppy food can be especially good as there is generally added calcium which helps with the calcium-phosphorus ratio. 

What About Fish Flavour Cat Food?

There is lots of talk of fish-based pet foods being poisonous for hedgehogs, so should you avoid it?

There are a couple of points here. First, lots of fish flavoured cat food doesn’t actually contain all that much fish; the clue is in the “fish flavour” label. 

Secondly, there doesn’t seem to be much hard scientific evidence that fish is bad for hedgehogs. 

However, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence from rescuers that feeding fish flavour cat food to hedgehogs does cause truly horrendous smelling poop and farts. If it’s making them smell that bad, it’s probably better for all concerned to avoid fish flavours!

DIY Hedgehog Food?

There are quite a few recipes for homemade hog food around on the internet. Whilst you can prepare a feast for your garden birds from things you might have in the kitchen, we wouldn’t advise you to try this for hedgehogs. 

Many of the recipes you’ll find are muesli-type mixtures of nuts, grains and dried fruit. As we’ve seen, these ingredients aren’t good for hedgehogs. So we would suggest you stick to a hedgehog, dog or cat food.

What Not To Feed Hedgehogs

We touched on some of the things that you shouldn’t be feeding hedgehogs earlier in this article. But here’s a more complete list and some background on why these foods are bad for hogs.

Milk and Dairy. 

Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant, and whilst a little cheese won’t do them any harm (most of the lactose disappears in the cheese-making process), milk can make them quite ill. 

Bread, cakes, pasta, rice. 

These are high carbohydrate food, and the hedgehog’s natural diet is high protein, low carb. Hogs will happily snaffle up many of these foods. They will get full and feel like they don’t need to forage and eat anymore when they haven’t had the nutrition they need for the night.

Mealworms, Peanuts and Sunflower Seeds/Hearts. 

As we’ve seen, these all have an unhealthy calcium to phosphorus ratio and can lead to metabolic bone disease. Don’t panic if you see a hedgehog having a go at some of your bird food, but these certainly aren’t ingredients you should be choosing to offer your hedgehogs. 

Honey and dried fruit. 

Hedgehogs often have a sweet tooth, but eating too much of these foods can lead to them having no teeth at all. Avoid. 

How Much To Feed?

If you offer dry hedgehog food or crushed dry dog or cat biscuits to hedgehogs visiting your garden, aim for around an ounce or 25 grams per hog per night. 

Twenty-five grams is about one-third of the 75 grams of food that hedgehogs eat most nights.

You may want to increase the quantity in the autumn on the build-up to hibernation when hogs are working hard to put on weight. 

If you have a hog in your care, who is not foraging independently, you will also need to increase the quantity and provide 3 to 4 ounces of food per day. 

Also, if you are offering wet food, remember this has a high water content, so you may want to provide a little more. 

Always offer water alongside the food you provide for hedgehogs in your garden. 

Consider a Feeding Station

The food you put out for hedgehogs will be attractive to other animals, including cats, dogs, foxes and badgers. 

Some people won’t mind offering a meal of other wildlife (or even the local cats!), but if you want to give the hedgehogs a good chance of having the food to themselves, consider setting up a hedgehog feeding station. 

A hedgehog house or feeding station is designed to allow the hedgehog, who is small and quite bendy, to access the food whilst keeping larger animals out. It also offers your hedgies some protection from predators and bad weather whilst they eat.

You can buy a feeding station here. Or check out our instructions on how to build your own hedgehog feeding station here.

Choosing the Right Food For Hedgehogs

Hedgehogs in the UK are in trouble. When we feed hedgehogs in our gardens, we are making an important contribution to the survival and recovery of the species. 

So it’s vital that we offer hogs the right food. Food that is actively good for them provides the nutritional balance they need and won’t make them ill. 

Luckily choosing the right food for hedgehogs in our gardens is pretty straightforward. 

We won’t go far wrong if we stick to hedgehog food with a high meat content or cat/dog food. 

Don’t worry that your hedgehogs will be bored by the same old bowl of biscuits every night. They won’t; they can find plenty of exciting little morsels when they are out foraging. The food we provide is just topping them up: making sure they are healthy, not hungry, and fit to face all the challenges the natural world has for them. 

Thanks for reading! We hope you enjoyed this article and found it helpful. If you have questions or suggestions, we would love to hear them. Leave us a comment below.