bloodworms & brine shrimp

[deartara]

could anyone tell me if these are good for my little pikkle... he seems to love them, i have them frozen for my fishies and i pop em in the microwave and he laps em up... i figured theyre bug-like, and low fat... any downfalls i should know about or let him enjoy??

Comments

[minnoh]

It may just be my experience with bugs raised for fish, but there seems to be less concern about any parasites/yuckies on them than insects farmed for reptiles and other pets. A lot of the pet stores I've been to that carry brine shrimp also carry feeder tanks full of diseased guppies and comet goldfish. Personally, I like being able to see the tank where the mealworms and crickets are being farmed; does it look clean? Well-kept? Would I feel comfortable feeding these to my pet?

It certainly doesn't extend to every pet store and every supplier of bloodworms and brine shrimp. However, based on what I've seen in my area, I wouldn't feed store-bought live feeders for my hedgies.

However, if you could farm them yourself, that would be amazing. I think bloodworms would be difficult/impossible to raise, from what I've seen on 'Dirty Jobs' (as if that's worth quoting as 'experience', I know). They need the mud fields, and they have those disgusting little tooth-filled mouths, etc. But it's possible to raise your own tank of brine shrimp for feeder purposes, I believe, and knowing exactly where food has come from certainly puts my mind at ease.

As for the specifics, I've heard of one hedgehog that had a severe allergic reaction to treats that contained seafood. That's as close as I can get to telling you whether the species themselves are dangerous to their health or not. :/ Sorry.

[deartara]

good point... these were prepackaged frozen at petco,but wouldnt cooking them kill any parasites and whatnot.... cuz i nuked em?? he just seems to love the mucky goop and im looking for some alternatives to meal and wax worms because theyre soooo fattening, he likes can o' crickets and ive occassionally been able to find can o shrimp which certainly didnt get him sick so hes not allergic, i got the idea upon reading about a hedgehog dried food from sunseed that was mostly seafood meal... im vegetarian so i dont have much meat around the house, i occassionally ask a neighbor for a spoon of chopmeat to cook up for him... i only give him a little of something "fresh" every day, usually about the size of nickel... but he so looks for it!

[minnoh]

Packaged frozen would still carry parasites and disease, and... I don't know, I'm torn on the microwaving portion of it. Depending on how long you cooked them, you could just be warming them up to room temperature, which wouldn't kill anything. Cooked meats have to reach a certain temperature before becoming safe for consumption; anything below that temperature isn't guaranteed to kill bacteria. So unless you're microwaving these bloodworms into shrivelled little brown strips, I still don't think it's safe. Given what was said below, I think that the parasites/bacteria arguement holds true.

And to make a hedgehog gain weight from mealworms and waxworms, you'd have to feed an awful lot of them every day. Why don't you just stick to what you know is safe? Your hedgie shouldn't be eating so many mealies that it becomes obese, and most hedgehog owners manage to feed insects without it being a problem. I just don't see the need to feed alternative bugs.

[deartara]

yeah all these comments have definitely made me think to stay away... and pikkle isnt fat, but ive read so many things about them getting overweight i worry... and when i saw on the crickets can how low in fat they were compared to the worms i figured bugs were the way to go... ill just keep my eyes open for other canned bugs that are reptile and mammal safe... thanks all!

[minnoh]

But mealworms and crickets are suggested because they're easily accessable in most areas, known to be safe, and can be farmed easily if you're interested in keeping your own feeder tank. Waxworms, butterworms, (dead) superworms and grasshoppers are also options that won't hurt your hedgehog if you decide to experiment.

If Pikkle isn't fat, don't worry about it. I think that more harm can come out of experimenting with different bugs than from sticking to the traditional mealies/crickets/etc.

[rainofbastards]

The fat content of worms is an issue, which is why hedgehogs should only be fed a small amount of worms (or crickets, etc) as a snack in addition to its primary source of food, which should be a hedgehog-specific food. So, yes, worms are fatty, but they're just a treat anyhow, so it doesn't really matter.

[minnoh]

;] Not a hedgehog-specific food. Cat-specific food, usually.

[rainofbastards]

I feed Hammy a hedgehog-specific food:



We give her the occasional cat treat here and there. But nothing wet anymore. It made her poops awful.

[minnoh]

Hedgehog-specific foods are distributed by companies that don't have your hedgehog's health in mind. I sincerely hope that someone takes a genuine interest in a quality hedgehog food and markets it, but until then, I haven't heard of a hedgehog-specific food that's actually appropriate to feed them.

You posted 8 in 1 Hedgehog Diet, I believe... hard to tell from the packaging, but that's what google brought up. The ingredients are:

Ground Corn, Meat and Bone Meal, Soybean Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Beet Pulp, Animal Fat (Preserved with Vitamin E and Citric Acid), Salt...
And it doesn't get better from there. :/

Corn is a filler. The fact that the animal meat and animal fat are from unspecified sources is really shady -- that could come from any part of any animal, and I'm sure it's not anything that humans consider edible. Soybean meal, corn gluten meal, and beet pulp are all fillers with extremely little nutritional content. A hedgehog's long-term health will be compromised on a diet like this.

There's some good information about what a hedgehog should eat on this site.

And it should be noted that although cat food isn't formulated for hedgehogs and needs to be supplemented with fresh fruits, veggies and fiber-rich cereal, it's worlds above anything on the market for hedgehogs. For example, look at the ingredients for Innova Lite:

Turkey, chicken, barley, brown rice, chicken meal, potatoes, rice, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), herring, apples, carrots...

You should notice that on a high-quality diet, your hedgehog's poops should smell a lot better than they do right now, and quills/fur become a lot nicer.

[deartara]

i live in nyc and theres this all natural pet store thats really for dogs and cats mostly but all the foods they sell are all natural mostly organic and human grade ingredients... all the big brands of catfood ive heard to feed hedgie are there royal-canin, innova, blue buffalo etc... and they give me lots of sample bags and i mix them up so he gets a good variety of protein sources lamb, chicken, fish, beef etc i try to use the lower fat higher protein ones... they love pikkle and like to feed him, hes their only hedghog customer