Hedgehogs are known to enjoy a varied diet. These pets love to eat many food items, but sometimes, they are not actually safe for hedgehogs. But what about nuts and seeds? And more especially, can hedgehogs eat peanuts or not?
Hedgehogs can eat peanuts and enjoy them while doing so but avoid salted, seasoned or spiced peanuts.
Peanuts are popular among hedgehogs because they are fatty. Hedgehogs like eating peanuts. You can give peanuts to your hedgehog occasionally as a treat.
However, feeding too many peanuts can lead your hedgehog to gain weight. Therefore, you would help if you gave peanuts to your hedgehog only in moderation.
Are Nuts Good for Hedgehogs?
Hedgehogs consume a lot of different nuts in the wild. However, are nuts good for them?
Nuts cannot be good for hedgehogs if fed excessively. Nuts contain a large percentage of fat that can cause hedgehogs to gain weight. Hedgehogs are already prone to gaining weight because of their small size.
If you feed many nuts to your hedgehog, it may become obese and gain diseases such as diabetes. Hedgehogs require protein in their diet rather than fat which nuts contain.
Can Hedgehogs Eat Nuts and Seeds?
As aforementioned, hedgehogs in the wild eat nuts and seeds. However, we do not know what quantity of nuts and seeds these hedgehogs eat.
As a pet parent, one is required to be careful about the number of nuts and seeds you incorporate in your hedgehog’s diet.
As nuts are particularly fatty, they should be given occasionally in small amounts. However, if your hedgehog is already fat, it would be best to avoid giving nuts completely.
You must ensure that you crush the nuts first before giving them to your hedgehog. Hedgehogs have small mouths and are likely to choke on nuts. Therefore, by crushing the nut, your hedgehog can easily chew and swallow it.
You may have seen hedgehogs under birdhouses in your garden. Hedgehogs are drawn towards seeds, and you can certainly give your pet some seeds to munch on. The most common and delicious seed is sunflower seeds. You can also give other kinds of birdseed to your hedgehog.
As with everything, you should give your hedgehog seeds occasionally. Nuts and seeds are not harmful to hedgehogs if you practice moderation and give them occasionally.
Can Hedgehogs Eat Peanut Butter?
As hedgehogs like eating peanuts, you may wonder if they also like peanut butter?
Some hedgehogs may like peanut butter, while some will not. Peanut butter is a famous spread made from ground peanuts. While peanut butter may add delicious flavourings to our food, it can never be too good for hedgehogs.
You can give peanut butter to hedgehogs but only as an occasional treat. Peanut butter contains additives, salt, and sugar that can harm hedgehogs if fed in big quantities. Also, while peanut butter is rich in the nutrients required by hedgehogs, it is too rich.
In addition to this, you cannot rely on peanut butter to be your hedgehog’s entire meal.
Is Peanut Butter Harmful to Hedgehogs?
If you decide to feed peanut butter to your hedgehog, you must remember a few risks attached to it.
Peanut butter contains a lot of calories.
As hedgehogs have small bodies, they do not require so many calories. If your hedgehog begins to consume a lot of peanut butter, it may gain unnecessary calories. In case of being unable to burn these calories, your hedgehog can become lazy and fat.
There are toxins present in some peanuts, and hence in peanut butter. These toxins can be harmful to your hedgehog’s health by damaging the liver.
Peanut butter also has high sugar content. As hedgehogs are not used to eating sweet things, their body cannot digest sugar. Therefore, a small amount of peanut butter on certain occasions will not harm your hedgehog. However, feeding peanut butter to your hedgehog frequently can cause digestive issues and diarrhoea.
In addition to this, your hedgehog can also develop diabetes in the long run.
Peanut butter has a sticky and thick texture. Due to the stickiness of the peanut butter, it can easily be a choking hazard for hedgehogs. Hedgehogs have small mouths and cannot chew properly, while peanut butter requires a lot of chewing.
Therefore, peanut butter can get stuck to your hedgehog’s mouth and even in their teeth.
If you do not remove the peanut butter from your hedgehog’s mouth, it can stay there and lead to dental disease. You should also avoid giving the crunchy peanut butter as it can get stuck in the hedgehog’s throat.
Be mindful about giving peanut butter to your hedgehog as a treat.
Can Hoglets Eat Peanut Butter?
Hoglets look adorable with their tiny noses and ears. With such cute pets in your possession, you may want to sneak in treats all the time. However, hoglets only require milk as their source of nourishment.
After three weeks of feeding on milk, you can introduce other foods in the hoglet’s diet.
However, hoglets are much more sensitive than hedgehogs. Therefore, you must avoid giving peanut butter to hoglets because it can put their lives in danger.
Summary
Hedgehogs enjoy a varied diet; therefore, as humans, we wonder if they can enjoy the same foods that we do. Along with protein, hedgehogs also consume plants and nuts in the wild. Hedgehogs enjoy eating peanuts because they contain a lot of fat content.
However, due to the high amount of fat found in peanuts, it is not the best idea to feed them frequently.
It is safe for hedgehogs to eat nuts and seeds if they are fed in moderation.
Hedgehogs are small animals that are prone to gaining weight. It would help if you gave crushed nuts to your hedgehog to avoid it choking. You can give peanut butter to your hedgehog as an occasional treat.
