Picking out a quality food mix for your new hedgehog is one of the most important steps in keeping your hedgehog healthy and ensuring a long lifespan! There are a dizzying amount of kibbles and food mixes available and I have spent hours reading ingredient lists at the pet store and have clocked even more hours combing the internet for the best brands. There are a few key nutritional factors to keep in mind when shopping for the right food for your hedgehog!
The vast majority of hedgehog owners choose to feed their pets cat food instead of hedgehog-specific kibbles. Unfortunately, most hedgehog mixes are chock full of low-quality filler ingredients. I have found one solitary hedgehog food that passed my rigourous list of requirements (keep reading to see which one).
All other hedgehog foods for sale such as Mazuri, Exotic Nutrition, and Sunseed Vita as are to be blunt, junk food. One of the largest hedgehog brands that pet stores carry, Vitakraft VitaSmart, recently had a recall due to salmonella. Don’t be led astray by a happy hedgehog on the front of the bag, always judge a food by the ingredient list!
Look for the following nutritional percentages when choosing a brand of dry kibble:
- Protein: 28%-35%
- Fat: 10%-15%
- Fiber: as high as possible!
And avoid unhealthy plant protein filler ingredients such as:
- Corn and cornmeal
- Peas, pea-protein, and pea powder
- Tomato Pomace
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Hedgehog Precision
Hedgehog Precision is high-quality kibble mix that was created by West Coast Hedgehogs in 2018 to help fulfill the desperate need for a nutritionally complete hedgehog diet, this is something the hedgie community has desperately lacked for many years!
Hedgehog Precision makes a standard, weight control, and high-calorie formula so you will be able to pick a diet that’s perfectly suited to your hedgie’s nutritional needs. These are priced at $14 for 1lb of kibble which may seem high, but keep in mind that this is one of the very few kibbles that is primarily composed of insects which is exactly what we are looking for in a hedgehog diet!
Guaranteed Analysis of the standard recipe:
Moisture (max): 8%
Crude Protein (min): 30%
Crude Fat (min): 12%
Crude Fiber (max): 6%
Hedgehog Precision Standard Recipe ingredients:
Ingredients: Black soldier fly larvae meal, chicken meal, brown rice, sorghum, dehulled oats, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), natural flavors, oat fiber, beet pulp, fish oil, salt, inulin (from chicory root), chitin powder, choline chloride, yucca schidigera, minerals (zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, sodium selenite calcium iodate), vitamins (vitamin E supplement, vitamin A supplement, niacinamide, pantothenic acid, riboflavin, vitamin D3 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin B12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid), potassium chloride, propionic acid, natural antioxidants (citric acid, natural mixed tocopherols, rosemary extract).
Inception Fish, Chicken, or Turkey & Herring Recipe
Inception carries three varieties of dry cat food kibble that are all nutritionally awesome for hedgehogs. I feed our hogs Inception Fish recipe and they love it. Some owners find that their hedgehogs have particularly smelly droppings when eating a fish-based diet so if you’re worried about a smelly cage I recommend you try out one of the poultry-based diets.
I personally buy our food online from Chewy or you can also use the brand’s store finder to find somewhere close to you.
The Fish Recipe and Turkey & Herring Meal Recipe are only $12.99 for a 4lb bag and the Chicken recipe is $10.99 for the same size. All three diets are made without fillers that hedgies can’t properly digest like potato, legumes, corn, wheat, and soy.
Ingredients of the Fish Recipe:
Whitefish, Whitefish Meal, Oats, Millet, Sunflower Oil, Milo, Ground Flaxseeds, Natural Flavors, Calcium Carbonate, Tricalcium Phosphate, Choline Chloride, Taurine, Fructooligosaccharide, Salt, Dandelion Greens, Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Magnesium Proteinate, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate), Vitamins (Thiamine Mononitrate, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid)
All three recipes have identical protein, fat, and fiber percentages:
| CRUDE PROTEIN | 30% min |
| CRUDE FAT | 14% min |
| CRUDE FIBER | 7% max |
Grain-free cat food has become increasingly popular over the few years so, in turn, manufacturers have ramped up the use of alternate plant proteins to fill that gap instead of using meat-based ingredients. You will also need to watch out for high levels of peas, potatoes, and powdered cellulose as well when picking out your hedgehog’s kibble.
I strictly avoid brands with pea protein or other pea products near the top of the list, I prefer to keep these under the 5th ingredient or not used at all if possible. Corn and peas contain excess phosphorus, which decreases calcium absorption and should only be fed in small amounts. * Tomato Pomace is also a common fiber utilized in dog/cat foods and should be avoided; all tomato products are toxic for hedgehogs.
There are many brands of wet cat food that align closer to the nutritional needs of hedgehogs, but hedgehogs need the crunch of dry kibbles to help promote healthy teeth. Wet foods will also quickly spoil in the 70’+ degree cage of a hedgehog so they are not a practical choice for a staple food.
You should also bolster your hedgies diet with plenty of insects and the occasional treat! Check out my full guide on what insects and treats to feed your pet hedgehog here.
