The hedgehog is the most common animal onthe planet, especially in Russia. It happens that even an ordinary city dweller can see this creature without going out into the countryside, because sometimes a hedgehog can be found even in a city. And how can you get past this funny animal? I would like to take him to his home, so that he would please every day with his sweet look.
Tearing an animal away from nature is notquite a good thing, but for that matter, you need to create all the conditions for the maintenance of your new pet. First of all, you need to know what a hedgehog eats. You can not fully provide him with the diet, which he adhered to in nature, but you can try to get closer to this.
What does a hedgehog eat?
If you disassemble the classification of hedgehogs, you can immediatelysee that they belong to the Insectivorous order. From here we make a logical conclusion: their main food is insects of various kinds, and not fruits and mushrooms, as children's fairy tales tell us. The list of what the hedgehog eats includes also small rodents and frogs, worms, mollusks, lizards. Sometimes they get more difficult food, such as eggs of birds, even the chicks themselves. A surprising fact is that hedgehogs eat snakes.
Hedgehog content in captivity
What hedgehogs eat in nature, and what they getto feed them are completely different things. After all, where will you find a bird's nest that your pet would gladly destroy if it eats raw eggs? Of course, based on this, hedgehogs can be fed quite successfully with chicken eggs. Worms, larvae and other insects that are eaten by these animals can easily be found at any pet store. In addition, your hedgehog will not refuse from minced meat.
Everyone has heard about the hedgehogs favorite treat - milk.Do not forget about this fact, indulge your pets! Another tasty hedgehog for nectar is honey. In addition, it can act as a medicine for the immunity of your pet. To sum up the weight of all the food that a hedgehog consumes per day, you get about 200 grams of various foods.
Hibernation feeding
These little creatures eat disproportionately many.On average, their daily rate is at least 60 May beetles. Therefore, feed your pet well, it is especially important to feed it abundantly before hibernation. Hedgehogs at this time of year hibernate, therefore, to survive the winter, the animal needs to gain considerable weight - at least 700 grams.
Without fail, let your home hedgehog go into hibernation, otherwise the animal will get tired of constant winter activity and will soon die. Therefore, provide him with all the conditions for hibernation:
- hedgehog weight should be more than 700 grams;
- temperature - from 0 ° C to 5 ° C;
- put a lot of dry moss and leaves in the cage.
In general, answering the question of what a hedgehog eats, we can say that he, like a man, is omnivorous, especially since he has such a feature as resistance to poisons.
