Hi alanfrew
Yes, you’re right the ratio from those figures I found for calci-worms are much better than mealworms.
This is some feeding information from Vale Wildlife, which includes a table of some foods (calci-worms not on there). Mealworm ratio average is calcium/phosphorous 1/20 with some as much as 1/33.
http://www.valewildlife.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Feeding-wild-hedgehogs.pdf
The ratios of some other foods are interesting, too. i.e. raw chicken and beef, which are not good.
Well done asking your food supplier for details. I don’t think it does any harm to check up on them from time to time. But maybe you need to find out where they source their calci-worms and what they’re fed on. I imagine it’s a great temptation to feed them on something like restaurant waste for financial reasons. But it’s possible there is something even worse to feed them, which might produce and even lower amount of calcium. I believe something like happened with mealworms, which may be cause of the difference in the ratio figures. But I think if they know their customers expect them to maintain a good ratio, it might encourage them to stick to decent food for them.
Although calci-worms are probably being investigated for potential human food where there may be other priorities – i.e. maybe protein content – rather than calcium/phosphorous amounts. I don’t know.
