Hi Pauline
I know you have addressed Wildlifehaven, but she is not always around and may or may not see this, or at least for a while.
I’m sorry you are taking advice from this topic, as it is, sadly, out of date. The best things to feed hedgehogs are cat/dog food, cat/kitten biscuits, or one of the many hedgehog foods available. That and water is all they need. You will find some of the hedgehog foods are less interesting to cats.
As you may have seen from the discussion above, suet pellets are high in fat and sunflower hearts are not quite as bad as mealworms, but are not particularly good for hedgehogs due to their calcium/phosphorous ratio. Neither of these provides sufficient nutrients for the hedgehogs and are best avoided unless they are part of a properly balanced hedgehog mix.
The following is an extract from previously:
[“I recently came across an extract I had copied from From Wildlife on line – European hedgehog.
http://www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/hedgehogs.html
‘Hedgehogs have a propensity for eating almost anything and will readily consume high fat foods (e.g. cat food, processed meats, etc.) put out in gardens and if offered in captivity. Hedgehog metabolism is geared to the digestion of high protein invertebrate prey and unrestricted access to high-fat foods can result in fatty liver disease, obesity and coronary complications as is seen among humans.’
Which seems to confirm the feeling I had that suet pellets are not a good idea for hogs.”]
You might like to see: https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/help-hedgehogs/feed-hedgehogs/
I’m pleased to hear that you are trying to spread the word about hedgehogs, but please spread the word about the types of food which are better for them. I hope you continue to enjoy the visits from the hedgehogs and hope that a new improved diet, which I hope you will give them, will lead to healthier hogs.
Can I refer you to https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/forums/topic/what-to-feed-hedgehogs-2018/
It would be really helpful if you could respond on that topic. The advice on this topic is, as I said, slightly out of date and I’m not sure how many people will take the time to read the full discussion which followed. So it would be good if it didn’t keep becoming too prominent. Thanks.
Happy Hog watching.
