How your hedgehog combats food waste

If you've purchased food or treats from us, you have directly helped divert valuable food materials from going to waste. 

While insects are the best thing we can feed our hedgies, they are also the best animals we can raise that actually benefit our planet! Pound per pound, insects take only a tiny fraction of land, water, energy and food compared to any other creature we farm. Plus, they often are consuming food that would otherwise go to waste, rather than requiring crops to be grown and processed to feed them. 

The black soldier fly larvae that are the main ingredient in our staple diets, and that we sell a dried version of as treats, are a remarkably efficient, healthy and wholesome "grub" that hedgies love. The farms that raise them convert thousands of tons of pre-consumer food waste from landfills into high quality proteins that are so much better for our planet. 

We've farmed a variety of insects over the years, but currently focus on Blaptica dubia - a species of slow, flightless, and docile cockroach that are one of the tastiest things known to hedgehogs. They are widely regarded as one of the best feeder insects in the exotic pet world. Our facility to farm dubia roaches allows us to contribute locally to reducing food waste as well - we partner with grocery stores and utilize perfectly good produce that isn't up to spec for consumers. The bananas pictured above all would have gone in the trash if we didn't take them - they were going to be tossed simply because they got a bit brown. Thankfully, our bugs don't mind one bit!

Thanks to your purchases, we are able to support insect agriculture that improves our hedgehogs' health as well as the health of our planet. <3