Hi Shelagh
Really good news that you now have 3 hogs visiting. Brilliant that you have your garden linked with your neighbours – very important for the hogs, so that they can find some natural food. What we feed is only supplementary to what they can find for themselves.
Re. the feeding. You would be better off just sticking to the Spikes. Sultanas are now realised to be bad for their teeth and dried mealworms are implicated in brittle bone disease as are sunflower hearts, to a lesser extent. Hogs love dried mealworms, so may be inclined to pick them out. They are not quite so bad in very small amounts (in larger amounts the hogs may just fill themselves up with those at the expense of natural food and something better for them) but since they have very little nutritional value as well, best avoided. (You may need to reduce them gradually). Sunflower hearts are sometimes used in small numbers in proper hedgehog mixes, but where everything else is in balance. Spikes should be a balanced food for the hogs in itself, so I would save the Sultanas, mealworms and sunflower hearts for the birds – I’m sure they would appreciate them.
You may already be leaving out water as well. But I always leave water at various places in the garden every day, 24 hours a day. Just in case a dehydrated hog comes along during the day. Large plant saucers are ideal for this.
Good luck with the hogs. I hope you continue to enjoy their visits. Happy hogwatching!
