Both. It is to do with the Calcium Phosphorous ratio. Please read the article above. Added to that, hedgehogs, and more so, the hoglets, can apparently get a bit addicted to them and not want to eat anything else. This would just compound the problem. A few included with a balanced diet are probably ok, but presenting large quantities of, only, mealworms to hedgehogs is not good news for them. Perhaps one of the very best things we can do for hedgehogs is to try to improve their habitat for them so they can find their own wild food. This would consist of a variety of things.
I know there has been some publicity recently about mealworms or insects generally as a source of protein for humans, but I don’t think anyone is suggesting that humans should eat them to the exclusion of anything else. Before you say it, I know what we provide is only supposed to be supplementary feeding for hedgehogs, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t make it as nutritionally good for them as we can.
