Since childhood, every child knows a hedgehog from a cartoon character, where he stocks up on apples and mushrooms for the winter. In fact, hedgehogs do not make any preparations for the winter. Both in the wild and at home, they accumulate fat from spring to autumn in order to overwinter. To do this, they need to eat a lot.

The hedgehog is the most common animal, its habitat is the territory of Europe, Siberia, Asia Minor, Kazakhstan, China. They eat a wide variety of food, it all depends on their habitat.

Usually hedgehogs live in forests, parks, but very often they can wander into a country house or a residential sector. hedgehogs absolutely not afraid of people and therefore they often suffer, becoming victims of dogs - in this case, even their thorns do not help them. Very often these animals die under the wheels of cars.

Hedgehog food in nature

First of all, hedgehogs are insectivorous animals. In nature, they eat:

• insects and their larvae;
• slugs;
• earthworms.

They can also catch mice (in the wild - voles). They can catch frogs and snakes, but only when they are inactive. Hedgehogs love to eat eggs or chicks, but they can catch more active animals. In addition to all living creatures, hedgehogs like to eat fruits and berries.

In addition to beetles and ordinary snakes, hedgehogs can eat very poisonous individuals - vipers, blister beetles, May beetles, hairy ground beetles. After such a meal, the animal does not die and it does not feel bad, since its body is resistant to various poisons.

What does a hedgehog eat at home?

At home, the hedgehog usually eats what his owner eats. But you should not feed him like that, food from the table is very harmful to this animal. If he dies early, then no owner will understand why this happened. The best food for a home hedgehog is special feed. But in our country they are almost impossible to buy, so you can replace them with cat food, and then only for the first time. Then it is worth compiling a special menu for this prickly pet.

List of foods that you can feed a hedgehog at home:

• chicken offal;
• lean boiled meat - chicken, turkey;
• a small amount of fruit - pear, apple, strawberry, raspberry;
• some vegetables - cucumbers, sweet peppers, carrots, pumpkins;
• live insects;
• raw chicken or quail egg - once a week.

It should be ensured that all food was fresh and warm(room temperature). After eating, all leftover food must be removed so that the hedgehog does not get poisoned by spoiled foods.

In no case should you give hedgehogs:

• garlic, onion;
• citrus fruits, pineapple and all exotic fruits;
• dried fruits, as they are poorly digested;
• grapes - can choke on the seeds;
• nuts, seeds - can cause indigestion;
• milk;
• fast food products.

The fact that hedgehogs love milk is a common myth. Milk is contraindicated for them because their body does not absorb lactose at all. The life expectancy of hedgehogs is usually 5-6 years, while a milk-drinking hedgehog has only 1 year.

Most importantly, the hedgehog should always have fresh drinking water. It should be remembered that hedgehogs are predators and therefore should always eat food of animal origin, which is rich in proteins.

Where do hedgehogs live?

In the world there are 23 species of representatives of this class, they are distributed throughout the globe, and in Russia - almost everywhere. Hedgehogs do not live only in South America, Australia, Madagascar and Antarctica.

Their settlements can be found under tree roots, in thorny bushes, in a pile of brushwood or in an abandoned rodent hole. Hedgehogs live individually and protect their lumpy areas. In such areas, hedgehogs build separate nests, which are lined inside with moss, dry leaves and grass.

Hedgehogs go hunting at night, and during the day they go to sleep in a shelter, curled up in a ball. With the onset of winter cold - the period: the end of September, the beginning of October to April, when the air temperature rises above +15 degrees, hedgehogs hibernate. The heart rate and respiratory activity at this time are greatly reduced. If the animal did not manage to accumulate fat during the summer period, then during hibernation it will surely die of starvation.

In unfavorable years during hibernation up to 45% of adults die and up to 80% of young hedgehogs. In nature, hedgehogs live from 3 to 7 years, and at home, their life expectancy increases to 15 years.

Anyone who loves animals does not refuse to keep hedgehogs, especially since it is not difficult.

The hedgehog easily adapts to life next to a person and very often it is kept as a pet. Even the Romans in the IV century. BC e. they grew hedgehogs for meat, they baked it in clay along with needles. Hedgehog skins were widely used for leather dressing.

The common hedgehog is useful in exterminating harmful insects and harmful in that eats chicks and bird eggs that nest on the ground.

Also, this prickly animal can be a carrier of such diseases as: salmonellosis, fever, rabies. On their skin, fleas and ticks start in large numbers. The study of ticks proved that ticks feed on hedgehogs in all phases of their development. From ticks that have climbed between the needles, the hedgehog is not able to get rid of.

Very often today in the apartments of the metropolis you can meet a small hedgehog as a pet, many choose an African hedgehog or an ordinary forest dweller. We talked in detail about how to keep a domestic hedgehog. But often, after a small forest dweller gets into an apartment, breeders have a question: how to feed a hedgehog at home? Let's take a closer look at the topic of feeding a domestic hedgehog.

natural habitat

To decide what to feed a hedgehog at home, you should know what these animals eat in the wild, and, based on this knowledge, draw up a pet's diet.

These small animals in the natural nature feed on insects, beetles, larvae, small mice and rats, frogs, chicks or bird eggs that are found on the ground, as well as fruits and berries. Thus, we can say that the hedgehog is an omnivore, but you need to feed the hedgehog at home thoughtfully, choosing the most healthy food for your pet. Only in this case your pet will live a long life without any diseases and pathologies.

Nutrition at home

In home conditions, it is best to follow a close-to-natural diet, supplementing it with dry food and mixtures. As a dry food, you should choose premium cat food, which includes meat products. And food, which is dominated by products containing starch (corn, potatoes), is better not to use.

Meat this is the product that should be fed to the domestic hedgehog in the first place. It is best to offer your pet raw, lean meat.

It could be:

• chicken,
• beef,
• nutria,
• rabbit meat,
• duck or turkey.

In addition to meat dishes, offal can be offered to the hedgehog: the liver and heart are best suited for this purpose.

Sometimes you can feed the hedgehog with fish, but not as a main dish. You need to understand that in their natural habitat, hedgehogs do not eat fish, and therefore in captivity they can do without this product without any problems. But if you have an irresistible desire to feed the hedgehog with fish, you should choose species comparable to meat. For example, it can be horse mackerel or mackerel. Exactly like meat, fish should be disinfected by boiling for a couple of minutes in boiling water without salt and spices.

Insects are the main food in the natural habitat of hedgehogs, therefore, along with meat, you should feed the hedgehog with insects. It is best to purchase such food in specialized stores.

It can be:

• grasshoppers,
• crickets,
• cockroaches,
• flour worms and other food insects.

Vegetables fruits

In their natural habitat, hedgehogs also eat plant foods, so you can feed a wild hedgehog, just like a domestic hedgehog, with fruits and vegetables. Of course, this should not be the main food, but as supplements, once every two days you can offer your pet:

• apples,
• pears,
• banana,
• melon,
• peach,
• apricot,
• strawberry,
• strawberry,
• raspberries
• cherries and cherries.

In the summer season, it is best to feed the hedgehog at home with vegetables from your own garden, such as: cucumber, zucchini, lettuce. But it is better to refrain from onions or garlic.

And what else?

It is permissible to feed a small hedgehog with milk, but you should not give milk to an adult. Recent studies in this area have revealed that adult hedgehogs do not tolerate this product.
You can feed a hedgehog at home with eggs, both chicken and goose, turkey or quail. You can give an egg both raw and boiled two to three times a week.

What is contraindicated?

What can't be fed to hedgehogs? First of all, households trying to feed the hedgehog with food from the common table will be a great danger to your pet. Under no circumstances should you do this. Salty, peppery food is extremely dangerous for your prickly friend. It is highly recommended not to offer greasy and fried food to the hedgehog.

The list of prohibited products includes:

• Dairy products (cottage cheese, cheese, sour cream) and milk
• Dried fruits, including raisins
• Citrus fruits, their peel and seeds
• Seeds in any form, nuts, almonds
• Onion, garlic, horseradish, pepper
• Crackers, dried fish, chips, biscuits
• Sausage, smoked meats, sausages

Feed your prickly friend only healthy foods and your pet will live a long and carefree life.

The food of a mammal must contain all the necessary elements for life, energy replenishment and cell growth. This is difficult to achieve with any one type of diet, so it is necessary to combine all acceptable products to answer the question: "How to feed a hedgehog at home."

The diet of a domestic hedgehog should include:

vegetable and animal fats,

carbohydrates,

• vitamins,

  calcium, sodium, iron and other essential elements

In this article, we have to find out the best way to feed a hedgehog at home. Consider the main types of products most commonly used at home for feeding a hedgehog.

The optimal hedgehog diet at home

Meat

Eating a mammal can be quite different products. The best product for feeding a hedgehog is home-cooked liver. Also, such types of offal as the heart, spleen and tongues of carcasses of domestic animals are not inferior in usefulness. The meat can be either raw or scalded, or cooked at home. It must be remembered that it is better to feed the hedgehog at room temperature.

Answering the question “What to feed a hedgehog?”, It should be noted that minced meat mixed with buckwheat or rice will be an excellent option for the full nutrition of your mammal.

Fish

Fish is traditionally considered a fairly affordable and valuable product for the hedgehog. Can be used at home for feeding unsalted and fresh fish. It is necessary to avoid salty and not quite fresh fish products, which can cause irreparable harm to the hedgehog.

The best types of fish for feeding a hedgehog can be recognized as horse mackerel and mackerel. It is necessary to avoid carp, pike, pollock, crucian carp in the diet. These fish can cause beriberi and anemia in hedgehogs when eaten frequently in large quantities. Therefore, you should not get carried away with this food.

Insects

It is necessary to give the hedgehog food to which he is accustomed in captivity. In particular, these are:

• caterpillars,
• mice,
• earthworms,
• bloodworm,
• snails,
• frogs.

animal feed

Animal foods are also suitable for a hedgehog's diet at home. They include bone, blood and fish meal.

Other types of food

With great pleasure, hedgehogs lap milk with soaked white bread, eat cottage cheese, eggs and even boiled potatoes. Sheep's and goat's milk is preferable to cow's in this case. This is because cow's milk, when consumed in large quantities, can harm the hedgehog and affect intestinal diseases.

apple slices, as complementary foods, at home are also of interest to the hedgehog. Various juices from vegetables and fruits can also take their rightful place in determining complementary foods. An example of a fortified diet is a mixture of raw carrots with crushed breadcrumbs and an egg. How to feed a hedgehog, each owner determines independently. You can also experiment with other foods to see what fruits and vegetables your pet hedgehog prefers.

As practice shows, hedgehogs eat food for cats and dogs with great pleasure. However, one must be careful with this type of food and, if possible, not get carried away with it. The hedgehog diet should contain a large amount of protein and a minimum amount of fat. Then the mammal will feel in good shape, delighting his master.

An obligatory component in determining food for a hedgehog at home is the presence of drinking water. After all, water is the basis of life for all living beings.

Hedgehog feeding rate

And most importantly, you should never overfeed hedgehogs! The optimal measure of feed per day is 100 grams per 800-900 grams of hedgehog weight. It is better to feed the mammal twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, gradually adding new types of foods to the hedgehog's diet. This will avoid the occurrence of an allergy to a new food, and if it occurs, the reason for the hedgehog's poor health will be clear.

It is also necessary to remember that each mammal is unique, and therefore the preferences of different hedgehogs can be completely different. The optimal ratio of the diet is achieved by trial, resulting in an acceptable choice of products for feeding at home.

When thinking about the question of how to feed a hedgehog, it must be remembered that at home it is quite difficult to provide the hedgehog with all the necessary trace elements and nutrients. It is much easier for him to extract all this in his natural environment. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly introduce variety into the diet of a mammal, supplementing its food with new products.

As a result of this, one can hope for a long, long and healthy life of a hedgehog at home.

The hedgehog is a funny and intelligent animal that naturally lives in wooded areas. However, today a large number of people keep these living creatures at home. It is difficult to call a hedgehog an unpretentious pet, because it needs not only comfortable living conditions, but also proper nutrition. How to feed a hedgehog to keep the animal healthy?

What does a hedgehog eat in nature?

Despite the cute appearance, hedgehog is a predator, so he eats not only plant foods, but also various insects, worms, snakes, snails and even mice. Hedgehogs can destroy ground bird nests in order to feast on chicks or eggs. Under natural conditions, the hedgehog also eats berries and fruits.

Hedgehogs are often referred to as forest orderlies because they clean up carrion by eating the carcasses of small animals.

Hedgehog in the house

Before analyzing the nutritional features of a hedgehog, it is necessary to consider the general rules for keeping this animal at home:

Hedgehog food at home

A hedgehog can be called an omnivorous pet with an excellent appetite. At home, a spiny rodent eats meat, dairy products, cereals and plant foods. The hedgehog is not used to denying itself an abundance of food, but this does not mean that the animal needs to be overfed. Eating too much can be detrimental to your hedgehog's health, therefore, the owner of a forest animal must make sure that his pet eats not only qualitatively, but also balanced.

How to feed a hedgehog at home (product list):

• cereals;
• pasta;
• fresh meat;
• bread;
• animal feed (bone, blood meal);
• live insects;
• fish.

You can also feed the rodent high quality dry cat food, but in this case, you need to carefully study the composition of the food. The basic components of the food should be vegetables and meat, while starch, sugar and salt in the food for the hedgehog should not be at all.

How to feed a hedgehog at home:

It is believed that it is useful to feed a domesticated hedgehog with dairy products, namely cow's milk. In fact, this is an erroneous opinion, since it has been proven by modern veterinarians that cow's milk is too fatty and heavy food for a small animal. The same applies to kefir, cream, cottage cheese.

Hedgehog in the country: what to feed

Often, dacha owners talk about the fact that hedgehogs visit their backyard from time to time. Therefore, people have a question about what you can feed a hedgehog in the country. In this case, the animal can be given any food without sugar, salt and dyes. It is also recommended to refrain from feeding the hedgehog with milk.

Weight norm

A person who keeps a hedgehog at home should remember that in spring and summer the rodent is actively gaining body weight. The fat reserve helps the hedgehog to maintain the strength of the body during hibernation. But it is worth remembering that excess weight can be harmful to the health of the hedgehog, so its body weight must be constantly monitored. Ideally, a hedgehog should weigh 800 grams (plus or minus 100 grams). By winter, the hedgehog hibernates, and this happens in the middle or at the end of October.

Most of us are accustomed to close proximity to our feathered and four-legged friends. People willingly share shelter with parrots and canaries, cats and dogs, ferrets and decorative rodents.

There will be a place next to a person for hedgehogs - prickly small and agile forest dwellers, which, with proper care, care and affection, can become wonderful pets. But about everything in order, and, speaking about how to keep a hedgehog at home, first of all, you should find out where hedgehogs generally come from in the homes of modern animal lovers.

Acquisition issue

Catch hedgehog in a forest or a park is a simple matter. These funny animals fall into the hands of people thanks to their instinctive defensive strategy - not to run away, but to curl up in a ball and stick out their needles. This can scare away a forest predator, but not a person ... However, is it worth keeping a hedgehog caught in this way at home?

Another less extreme way to get a hedgehog is to buy from a breeder. Nowadays, in large cities of Russia, there are entire societies of hedgehog lovers. By purchasing a hedgehog from domesticated parents, the buyer can enlist the seller's guarantee about the good health of the animal, its positive heredity and human orientation. Hedgehogs, unlike most other wild animals, are quite easily adapted to life in captivity and quickly get used to people. Therefore, already the first generation of hedgehogs born from domesticated parents will know the person and trust him.

You should definitely not fall for the cheap offers of Bird Market sellers. Hedgehogs bought there often turn out to be terminally ill and potentially dangerous to people and other pets.

So, hedgehog at home. What will he need first? Of course, the shelter. It is not recommended to let the new tenant freely explore the apartment. The hedgehog can get tangled in the wires, climb into places where he can’t get out himself, injure himself or ruin valuables. Therefore, the hedgehog is best placed in a cage, preferably a metal or wooden one with a pull-out tray. The option with an aquarium can only be temporary, since the microclimate behind solid glass is detrimental to hedgehogs.

As bedding, it is best to use ordinary disposable diapers for people or animals. They absorb well and are convenient to collect pet waste from them. Do not use if the hedgehog loves to dig. You can use a filler in the form of compressed paper (paper flakes), it also absorbs and absorbs unpleasant odors well. The filler layer should be several centimeters. There should also be plastic bowls with food and pneumatic drinkers. Hedgehogs do not eat mushrooms and apples at all, but meat and insects. Hedgehogs are carnivores. Therefore, the bulk of their diet should be raw chopped meat.

In nature, hedgehogs also willingly eat snails, caterpillars, all kinds of beetles and earthworms, so after a walk in the forest it is quite possible to treat your pet to its natural food. A good substitute for it can be, for example, a bloodworm. Someone is ready to feed their pets and mice, although there is no great need for this, because at home hedgehogs get everything they need from insects, meat, and boiled liver. By getting a pet hedgehog, its owner can simultaneously acquire useful contacts and set up the process of supplying crickets and cockroaches for his pet.

However, a hedgehog will not refuse a carrot or an apple either, and rumors about the passionate love of hedgehogs for milk are by no means exaggerated, but it is dangerous for them! They do not digest lactose. It is advisable to clean the cage and feeding area daily to avoid dirt and unpleasant odors.

Anyone who decides to have a hedgehog in their home should know a few facts about the life of these cute, but not the easiest animals to keep at home:

Hedgehogs are predators, as mentioned above. Proper nutrition is the key to health and long life.

Hedgehogs are loners. When keeping more than one hedgehog at home, they should be placed in separate cages. The exceptions are young animals and heterosexual couples during the breeding season.

Hedgehogs breed in the spring, shortly after leaving hibernation, but in captivity it is not so easy to get offspring from them. To do this, you need to correctly choose the appropriate period and bring individuals of different sexes together. Hedgehogs are polygamous, “breaking up relationships” does not cause stress for them.

Hibernation is one of the most important things a hedgehog owner should keep in mind, but this is NOT the case for their African cousins. Hedgehogs go into hibernation in the autumn after they have accumulated sufficient fat reserves. Therefore, during this period, the hedgehog must be intensively fed. The arrival of hibernation time (approximately the end of October - the beginning of November) is characterized by periods of lethargy and stupor, noticing which, the owner must provide his pet with a secluded place where the air temperature does not exceed 5 degrees Celsius (for example, on a loggia, in a barn, in an attic or in the garage). Having piled a bunch of dry leaves, straw, hay, sawdust and rags, you can make a nest for the hedgehog in which he will sleep until spring. In warm weather, hedgehogs do not hibernate, but this has a detrimental effect on their health, and by spring, animals that do not hibernate often die. Hibernation is the most mysterious adaptive manifestation in hedgehogs, which under extreme conditions can last over 200 days!

The hedgehog is a nocturnal resident, and, unlike, for example, cats, they do not adapt to the regimen of their owners. While the owners are sleeping sweetly, the hedgehog is busy with his own business, and this is another reason not to let the hedgehog run freely around the house. At least at night.

hedgehog Can give:
Lean boiled meat cooked without spices or salt (chicken breast - 1 tablespoon, finely chopped).
Chicken necks, also without salt and spices (1-2 pieces per animal).
Fruits and berries: apples, pears, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries.
Vegetables: carrots, cucumber, bell peppers, spinach, zucchini, pumpkin.
Quail egg: raw (once a week).
Live food: crickets, zoophobuses, cockroaches, grasshoppers, worms, caterpillars. If you are afraid of living insects or are afraid that they may scatter, then they can be frozen. Before giving the hedgehog insects, they must be thawed to room temperature.

Definitely a running wheel. A hedgehog running wheel must have a solid surface and a diameter of at least 30 centimeters. When using the lattice wheel, the hedgehog can break its legs while running.