Food ideas
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I have many hedgehogs come and visit at night. We give them a varied diet of cat biscuits, mealworms sunflower hearts and on occasionally some peanuts. I don’t know if people have the same problem but every now and again they don’t seem to want the sunflower hearts.
I was just wondering what people feed their visitors to then get some ideas?
It must be quite a sight to have a few visitors. I get one regular but I have seen two in the garden. I leave the specific hedgehog food, cat treats & a few meal worms. I also leave a plate of cat or dog food if when I can. There is an interesting article on the dangers of too many mealworms & peanuts due to increase numbers of hedgehogs being bought into rescue centres with bone deficiencies due to too much phosphorus in the food. I couldn’t locate it but it’s in the forum somewhere. There is a what to feed hedgehog post further down too. I am just sitting outside now hoping for a visitor or two. 😃
Hi Kaitlin
I feed the hogs here pretty much what Annie said, i.e. hog food, sometimes a few kitten biscuits and a very few mealworms. I wouldn’t worry too much about them not eating sunflower hearts as they are one of the things mentioned in the article Annie refers to, which have the wrong Phosphorous/ Calcium ratio. If you have a problem with cats, there are some hog foods available which cat’s aren’t really interested in.
To save you hunting through, the article is at:
https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/forums/topic/what-to-feed-hedgehogs-the-danger-of-too-many-mealworms/Hi Annie, Thank you for the information, i’ll have a look! I have a camera trap set up in my garden so i get to see all the difference hedgehogs and their markings. In May, we could count anything more than 10 coming to visit us.
Hi Nic, Thank you for your help, i’ll get reading it now. I definitely have an issue with a neighbours cat which likes to come and help himself to the kitten biscuits i put out in the feeding station.
Do you know where i can locate the hedgehog food that cats aren’t really interested in?
I feel like i want to give the hedgehogs the best diet, and from everything i’ve been reading most of what i’m giving my hedgehogs isn’t really great for them 🙁Hi Kaitlin
I think the best thing to do is stick to some proper hedgehog food – especially if you have a problem with cats visiting. Hopefully, as they are specifically designed for hedgehogs, they will provide a good balance of nutrients. The food I use is called ‘I love hedgehogs’. The hogs here have been happily eating it for many years. Last year 12 hoglets appeared, so they seem to be doing alright on it. I get it by mail order, when I get food for the birds. Most cats don’t seem to take any notice of it. I think there is another similar type of food (with similar ingredients) made by, I think, Ark Wildlife, which apparently cats also don’t bother with. Because they are dry or semi moist foods, it is even more important to offer a bowl of water to the hogs.
I tend to put cat/kitten biscuits out only when I am watching – in a separate bowl so I can take it in – to help them keep their teeth clean! Some, though not all, of the hogs eat them. If a cat visits it is usually quite easy to scare it away. I find they don’t usually seem to try to get to the bowls if there are hogs there anyway, but the cats, being a more visual animal, are more sensitive to movement inside the house than the hogs are.
Good luck, and happy hog watching.
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