The assumed diversity of the white bellied hedgehog diet (to my knowledge there aren’t any studies into the stomach and faecal content of wild white bellied hogs like those for European Hedgehogs as is found here: Wildlife Online.) means that there are plenty of safe and species-appropriate options available for an owner to change what’s on offer at dinner time.
I was delighted to find that hogs can be given the ‘two ingredient’ banana pancakes; these are very easy for me to prepare because this dairy free recipe is where I start when making banana pancakes for myself.
For Chai The Hedgehog
The ingredients are simple: two eggs and one ripe banana
To prepare I used a measuring jug, a little non stick pan and because I wanted cutely shaped pancakes I used a small metallic heart-shaped cutter.
Add the eggs and slices of banana (or the whole banana if you’re feeling dangerous) to the measuring jug. A bowl is fine if you don’t have a jug, I just like pouring the mixture into the pans instead of using a spoon.
I then use a hand mixer to whiz the ingredients together and pour the mixture into the cutter which is already in the tiny pan (medium heat).
It doesn’t take long for the mixture to cook on one side. To turn I (protect your fingers it will be hot) flip the metallic cutter then use a chop stick or knife to poke the shape down the length of the cutter. Once it touches the pan, lift the cutter off and wait for a few seconds.
Repeat these steps for as many tiny pancakes as you want (you can also free pour less than a teaspoon into the pan for circular pancakes).
Using the Leftover Mixture for Me
If you don’t use all of the mixture for your hedgehog friendly pancakes, you can enjoy the rest of the mxture for yourself!
To the leftover mixture (I only used about a teaspoon or two of mixture above) I add:
1 tbsp flaxseed
2 tbsp self raising flour
1 tsp sugar
When they didn’t rise I added an additional 1/2 tsp of baking powder
I didn’t need to use the oat milk because the mixture was already at a consistency where it was easy to pour and the pancakes were rising well.
I use the hand blender which I’ve set aside to mix the new ingredients into the banana and egg mixture, and wait for my frying pan to warm up to a medium heat and melt the small amount of butter I’ve put in. Then pour the mixture into the pan and cook until done. I tend to either get my first pancake perfect or find that I need to modify the mixture based on how well the pancake has risen or cooked.
There you are!
Some tasty pancakes for your hedgehog that you can also enjoy. I tried this recipe when Chai rejected my spinach scrambled egg offering because other owners seemed to find more success with banana and egg than other mixtures.
chaihedgehog.wordpress.com 