Pinky mice - should know this but don't remember

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RaeClairmont

Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2009
Messages
5
Location
Lansing, MI
I've been reading about wild hedgehogs (Hedgehogs Dilemma by Hugh Warwick) and got the bright idea to give my hedgehog 1 or 2 day pinky mice. Only when I went to search the Chins-n-Quills forum where I'm pretty sure there was some discussion on the topic, it's gone. Previous hedgehogs in my house have not had the luxury of my current reasonable income source so I've never really looked into feeding pinkies before this time, thus I don't remember whether a pinky every now and again is a good thing or no. So, my question:

What's the story on pinkies? Safe food? Not safe? Nutritionally sound? Why? Why not?

Thank you
 
Yuck! LOL I am primarily a chinchilla breeder, so anything cute small and furry being fed to anything else is not a good thing. I thought hedgies are primarily insectivores, not carnivorous...
 
Pinkies are not fury so there is no worry there. And Courtney, pinkies are too young to survive. So if your hedgies do not eat them there is no worry of a new pet. You will just have to throw away the body. (I personally in that case would bury it.)

Being one of the ones who asked this question on cnq and fighting the position "why not," there is almost no "why not" that will satisfy you. You CAN feed them.. But now the question is why would you. If you are giving a balanced diet already there is no need to supplement with pinkies. Your hedgehog, if they do eat it, is suppose to eat everything. The skin, bones, everything. So to me, I would think you would have to watch your hedgehog to make sure everything goes down properly, with no choking and what not... While I was thinking about giving pinkies I realized I would not be able to stomach the "show."

It's completely up to you as the owner whether to feed pinkies or not. But I dont think you are going to find anyone here that will tell you, "Yes, go ahead and feed them." Especially when a lot of people on this forum have mice as pets.
 
Courtney, in case you didn't know this (or someone else didn't) a pinkie mouse is only about 1-5 days old. They have no fur, their eyes are not open and they should still be with a mother to nurse.

I don't see any need to feed pinkies to hedgehogs. There are plenty of other alternative foods that are easily fed to hedgehogs.
 
I remember reading about pinkies too... Seemed like the consensus was that it was okay to do, there weren't any major plusses or minuses regarding nutrition, but a number of people thought it was "yucky."
 
It's been a long time, but I do remember overhearing a discussion about this when feeding ferrets. Some do feed them pinkies but there was like only one place they would get them. They were shipped frozen because of some possible disease they had found with other suppliers. So maybe you could look into that and learn more.
 
For some clarity, the main reason I asked is because I'm researching the idea of a feeding a more natural diet. The basis behind the curiosity is that the last two hedgehogs I've had have both died of cancer related blockages to a part of their digestive tract (one a rather large tumor in the lower intestine, the other had a tumor that caused an intestinal blockage, but I don't remember the exact details). I have also nursed a hedgehog through a rather interesting and thankfully non-fatal allergic reaction to a very high quality food. With my new girl (btw, she's 2yrs old), I'm really thinking about how to keep her healthy enough to die of old age instead of the misery of a tumor - or at least I would like to try.

As for natural diet, much of what I've read about wild hedgehogs mentions that most of their diet comes from insects but that they will catch and eat small mammals if they can. That's what got me thinking.

Though this will likely get me bashed, I would like to try to move away from kibble as the main source of nutrition for my hedgehog. I'm simply trying to research to find out if this is possible.

Kalandra, you mention alternative foods to offer for a balanced diet. Outside of a kibble mix (which I am currently feeding, along with mealworms, crickets and tonight we try egg), and with a mind to a more natural diet, what other things would you recommend?

Thank you all for your comments.
 
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Further clarity, so I don't get flamed. The mealworms/crickets/egg/potential other are currently offered as treats in treat sized portions and will continue as such unless I can figure out a good balance with non-kibble food sources to create a scientifically based (if that is possible given that there is so little researched and reviewed information) and nutritionally sound diet.
 
People often bring up the "in the wild" argument. The specie we keep as pet is a mix (I can't remember what..) so it's now different from those in the wild, they have evolved a bit. Also in the wild, they don't live up to 8 years too, they die youn. Anyway, I'm not blaming/flaming you, just saying some things.
 
People often bring up the "in the wild" argument. The specie we keep as pet is a mix (I can't remember what..) so it's now different from those in the wild, they have evolved a bit. Also in the wild, they don't live up to 8 years too, they die youn. Anyway, I'm not blaming/flaming you, just saying some things.

Agreed, but I'm not convinced that super processed cat or dog kibble is necessarily the best even if the hybrid pricklies we keep in our homes have very little to do with "wild". Then again, I seem to have the immortal chinchilla who has been raised on high quality "nutritionally balanced" undoubtedly processed like crazy from its initial "wild" form pellets. As far as evolved goes, I do wish the pet food industry would have evolved with our hedgehogs - as of yet, there are no foods that seem to satisfy anyone, as evidenced by the forum arguments that occur over the "proper hedgehog diet."

Ah, well.
 
As far as evolved goes, I do wish the pet food industry would have evolved with our hedgehogs - as of yet, there are no foods that seem to satisfy anyone, as evidenced by the forum arguments that occur over the "proper hedgehog diet."

Ah, well.

You have to remember that hedgehogs have only been around 20.. and Im sure not quite 30 years as pets.. so there is not much research. The little that there is what owner have done themselves. Pet food industries have done "research" from maybe one or two sources. And they make what THEY believe is a balanced diet, the most cost effective they can do it.

Everything you will do with our little pricklies will be trial and error.

Another thing you have to remember is that hedgehogs are prone to cancers no matter what you feed them. Im sure poor food choices dont help. But I dont believe that food is the cause of most of their cancers.
 
I use to work in a pet store that sold feeder mice/rats. I am also a snake owner. And I also own pet mice and rats. I'm a mixed up freak, I know.

Here's my take on it...Bare with me as I get to my point..

I live in Florida. We have two types of small lizards living here. The green anole and the brown anole. The green anoles are naturally occurring here. Natural predators of small bugs. The longest they grow is about 6" and most of that is tail. Then the brown anole were introduced here from Cuba. They are bigger. Bulkier. Comparing the two to dogs....The green anole is a greyhound. The brown anole is a mastiff. The brown anoles eat bugs. But they also eat...green anoles. Now mind you, large adult green anoles will eat smaller baby green anoles, but its not often or part of their regular diet. More a last resort mixed with territory altercations. Brown anoles hunt green anoles. An adult brown anole can kill and eat an adult green anole. Its estimated in the next 50 years, green anoles may be a threatened or endangered species. Why am I going on about this when the thread is about mice....I am setting up my defense. lol

I catch brown anoles and feed them two my rat snakes. I have a corn snake and a yellow rat snake. They are both captive bred, but found naturally here in Florida. In Florida they eat mice, rats, moles, and anoles. So sometimes I catch brown anoles for two reasons. One, it helps the green anole population. Two, I'm sorry for anthropomorphizing my snakes too much, but they gotta be bored with the same meal all the time. If you had to eat chicken every day for the rest of your life, wouldn't it get to you? So I figured to simulate their natural diet, I'd catch a lizard now and then between mouse meals.

So I think the only "good" reason to feed a pinky to a hedgehog is for that same reason. Give them something different to taste now and then. I wouldn't do it often. It could be messy and gross. Its not for the squeamish. But I wouldn't do it "just because". More as stimuli for the hedgehog. I know the first time I put an anole in my snake tank, she studied it for a while before eating it. Now she eats them right away. She seems to enjoy them, so I do it as a treat...when I can catch the buggers, lol
 
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