Food help!

[susiandfilbert]

Hi all,
My baby is almost 7 weeks old now and has been with me since last wednesday. He is still settling in and I am having problems with his food.
He just doesn't seem interested in eating.
I have tried moistening the kibble to see if that helps at all but it doesn't seem too. I have hid bits of kibble under his blanket to see if he's just shy about it and he does eat but only 3 or 4 pieces of kibble which is obviously not enough for my growing boy.
Im thinking about getting some mealworms in but have heard that it is best to hold off until they are settled, is this true? And if it is true could this case be an exception? I have tried giving him a piece of kibble either from my hand or leaving it on my lap for him to get at alone but he's just not interested, perhaps then, buying mealworms is not a good idea if he is not going to take them from me? Or can you leave live mealworms in the cage for them to find? What will happen if Filbert is still not interested? Will the worm die? or cause any harm in any way?
The food I am using is the same as the food the breeder used and the first night he ate his whole bowlfull but since then...nothing...
Should I try a diferent brand? Please help I am really worried about my baby.
He does nothing but sleep, even when I get him out he just goes straight back to sleep on me. If I leave him in the cage he sleeps...
His poops seem normal from what i've read described...

Please help! Im worried!!

:cry3:

 

[lillybug29]

nobody answered you....has he gotten any better at eating? I don't know near enough to answer you. Mace didn't eat much at all when I brought him home, and still eats less than Khaki, but he does eat.

 

[susiandfilbert]

He is eating better now, some days more than others though he never empties his bowl.
I refill every night and after perhaps 3 days I will change it out completely. I would assume this was normal.
Coincidentaly he ate a piece of kibble from my hand the other day for the first time ever which made me glow all sorts of funny colours!
I still havn't tried any meal worms as I am nervous about the above questions.

 

[Kalandra]

Do you notice any difficulty in chewing the food? Some foods are hard and for young hedgehogs, with small mouths, it can be difficult to chew.

I’ve never held off on mealworms. I don’t give but a couple when they are new, but I tend to just go ahead and start giving them to them.

Some hedgehogs do take time to settle in before they start to eat well and eat consistently. I mostly deal with adult rescues, so my experience with babies is very limited. But I can tell you with my latest rescue he didn’t really start to eat consistently until he had been here for 2 months. He had nights where he barely ate 1 gram of food.

You can leave mealworms in their cage. I started Ollie out by putting the mealworms in a food dish and leaving the dish in his cage. By morning the mealworms had disappeared. If he spills it, the mealworm will not hurt him. You’ll likely find it later crawling around under his liner.

Babies sleep a lot. Their bodies need a lot of down time to grow. Are you monitoring his weight? If not, get yourself a cheap kitchen scale that weighs down to 1 gram increments and monitor his weight. You should see weight gain at his age. It may be a slow steady gain, or you may see large sudden jumps as he has a growing spurt. If you are not seeing gain, then you have a problem.

You may want to consider trying another food. At his age, I’d suggest getting Royal Canin baby cat. Baby cat is a very very tiny kibble and is high calorie. It will help him get the calories he needs to grow. Mix it in with his old food and see if it helps.

Oh and if we miss a thread, by all means, post to it again to bump it! Do give us some time, but if its been more than 24 hours, chances are those of us who can help have missed it, and those that have read it don't know what to say.

 

[susiandfilbert]

We spoke about posible dificulty in the chewing of his food back when I first got him, probably on a similar thread. I did try moistning it but it didnt seem to make a difference. His original food was indeed the Royal Canin baby cat but when it was running out i ran to the store to get something else to mix with it so as I had read that it is better to have two brands in case you cannot get your hands on the main one.
I bought Purina One 1-12 months which is a bigger kibble but he seems to be eating it fine. I dont think it is a problem with the kibble more just a varying appetite.

I havn´t been monitoring his weight but shall start as of tomorrow! How often do you weigh yours and how often should be change, be it small or significant?

I will get some mealworm this weekend and see if he likes them as I said, he took his first piece of kibble from my hand the other day.

Until how old is he classed as a baby? When he's nearing adulthood is there anything I should be preparing for except perhaps changing his food?

Thankyou for your advice!

 

[Kalandra]

I vaguely remember talking about the baby cat and moistening, too many people, too many hedgies to keep track of! The old mind doesn’t keep up sometimes.

Before doing too much more with food, let’s see if he is growing or not. How old is he right now? I forget (see old mind ).

I weigh mine daily. I wake them first thing in the morning, check their legs, look at their faces, and in general do a health inspection, weigh them and pop them back in their cage for the day. It gives me a chance to ensure they didn’t injure themselves during the night.

Weight gain can be either. Some grow slowly and consistently, others have spurts. It will all depend on the body shape, size and in general the hedgehog.

Tylda had times where she would just suddenly leap, she would a consistent weight for a while and then suddenly gain. She put on about 200 grams between ages 4-7 months. Others grow rapidly when young then seem to stop. Tylda is a big hedgehog though, weighing in at 660 grams now.

Start weighing him, and watch his weight. I kept Tylda on the higher fat foods until she was 8 months old. She had been growing and wasn’t getting fat on it. At 8 months I started cutting back the higher fat stuff as she was starting to get pudgy.

 

[lillybug29]

how do you know when they are pudgy? Khaki is a lot bigger than Mace (we don't know mace's age, but older than quilling age; he never quilled after we got him), but she can still roll into a ball and everything. When she does, she just looks...tubby. Cracks me up.

 

[Kalandra]

Depends on the hedgehog, but some things to look for...

Fatty deposits showing up under their legs, fat building up on their shoulders (they get a bit of a hump when they are obese), ability to curl up fully. When they stand up and you look at them head on, can you see their legs, or is there a bit of a "fluffy" look under them. With Tylda, she started to look a little fluffy around her legs, and I cut back her calories. She still gets lots of eat, just an adult diet now, and has slimmed back down a bit.

 

[susiandfilbert]

He was born on the 05th of January so he is now almost 4 months old. He has grown a bit since I got him but not too much. I saw the picture of gorgeous albino moonflower and flipped! Shes the same age as Filbert and double his size!
I will weigh him when I get home and let you know.

 

[Kalandra]

Don't worry about different sizes. Tylda is 660 gram, and my other two about half her size at around 330g each. Tylda makes Tula look like a baby, yet Tula is 2.5 years old. My biggest hedgehog was 850 grams. They really do come in a wide range of sizes!

Its more important to know what is normal for him, and keep an eye on how he is doing. He may just turn out to be a small hedgehog.

 

[lillybug29]

Oh, she doesn't have the fluffy leg look. She's got the typical chicken legged look. Her quills just look like a skirt almost when she's not standing all the way.