Hi julesford
When feeding hedgehogs, it’s sometimes a good idea to think what you would feed children. i.e. would you feed them lumps of fat – hopefully not. So I would cut out the suet pellets. Also don’t stick to one food type i.e. suet pellets, calci-worms, etc. unless it is a properly formulated hedgehog food, i.e. as you suggested Spikes or cat/dog food. Calci-worms are probably o.k. in small amounts, and o.k. in a properly formulated mix, but not as a main source of food. The best things you can feed are cat/dog/hedgehog food. It is best to stick to those and try to prevent cats from getting at the food. There are loads of ideas on the Forum, and photos section about how to deter cats. Hogs don’t need ‘treats’. It is a treat to them that they are getting some food provided at all. The way I see it, if we are going to encourage the hogs to come to us for food, then that food needs to be the best we can manage i.e. cat/dog/hedgehog food.
Being fairly new to the Forum you may have missed all the information about mealworms. They are not good for hogs and have very little nutritional value for them. They have an imbalance of calcium and phosphorous which can lead to calcium being leached from the bones of the hogs. Unfortunately, hogs love them and can become addicted, so you may need to reduce them gradually. It is especially important at this time of year, when young hoglets are around. Feeding mealworms to hogs can lead to metabolic bone disease.
You may find you need to change their diet gradually, hogs become used to eating what you have given them in the past and don’t always want to change immediately. But stick to it, if they are hungry they will begin to eat the stuff that’s better for them.
Good luck and happy hog watching.
