Aside from the variety of food sources that make up a hedgehog’s balanced diet, there are a few other components that are needed to ensure the animal’s optimal health. Providing nesting material such as shredded paper, leaves, and hay helps maintain a suitable environment. Likewise, including insects in the hedgehog’s diet is essential in providing the necessary levels of protein. In short, the balanced diet of a hedgehog is highly complex and is vastly different from the diets of other animals. From a omnivore’s perspective, hedgehogs benefit from the flexibility of a range of food sources in order to maintain their health and survive in the wild.
Ensuring that hedgehogs have access to a variety of fruits, vegetables, insects, and small vertebrates helps to provide the animal with a healthy and balanced diet. Hedgehogs are often seen as solitary animals that scurry around in gardens looking for food, but they actually live a much more interesting and complex lifestyle than many people realize. As omnivorous creatures, hedgehogs are able to consume a variety of different foods, ranging from small insects and worms to fruits and vegetables. Their foraging habits have been studied extensively in both captivity and in the wild, revealing some fascinating facts about the secret lives of these beloved critters. The diet of hedgehogs is quite diverse, which explains why they can survive in a variety of habitats.
In their natural environment, hedgehogs will feed on a variety of insects and bugs, like grubs and earthworms, as well as other small animals like frogs and lizards. They will also eat a variety of fruits, nuts, and other plant matter. In captivity, they typically eat commercially formulated hedgehog diets, but can also consume mealworms, waxworms, and smaller insects, as well as fresh fruits and vegetables such as apples, carrots, and lettuce. Hedgehogs are typically active during the night and early morning, so they often forage for food Is a hedgehog an omnivore after dark. During the day, they prefer to rest, which helps conserve their energy. They will also create nests or burrows in order to keep warm during colder months and protect themselves from predators.