Hedgehogs - Eating habits

We have been feeding hedgehogs on our patio with sunflower hearts for most of the summer. They generally come around 10.30 to 11.30 pm. For the last couple of nights several slugs crawled onto the patio and made for the sunflower hearts prior to 10.30. This was mass suicide as you can imagine. Why did those slugs appear just before the hedgehogs arrived? Could it be possible that hedgehogs leave a scent which attracts the slugs?

 

Please do not feed sunflower or peanuts or mealworms. They are all high in Phosphorus, low in calcium. The parathyroid tries to balance both out in the blood and takes the calcium from teeth and bones causing metabolic bone disease (MBD).

Hedgehogs - please watch

The best foods to offer are wet cat or dog foods and kitten biscuits. Avoid the cheaper brands of wet and dry foods as full of cereals and bulking agents. I use Pedigree Chum Loaf or Thrive ( cat brand ) and kitten biscuits like Thrive, Miaowing Heads. Iams, Purina Proplan, Royal Canin are other brands I know some hedgehog carers use. There are plenty of brands to choose from, just look for a meat content of 50% or more, the higher thd better. I buy in bulk as this is cheapest way. You can also offer chopped cooked chicken/ turkey, grated mild cheddar, chopped egg. I would use these foods as treats though, not to be fed every day or in large quantities.

Slugs will be attracted to most foods that are left out. Hedgehogs do leave scent trails for each other to follow, but I don't know if Slugs will follow them. I've not seen them do that here, they just hone in on stuff by smell I think - but I'm not an expert on Slug behaviour . I have feeding stations for my hedgehogs made from plastic storage boxes with a brick and tile tunnel to keep the cats and the resident rodent population out. It also keeps the foods dry. They are cheap and easy to make.

Good luck with your hoggies . You are very fortunate to have them.

 

You are correct about the mealworms but they can be fed as a treat, a few mixed in with the main food being offered is fine. I feed kitten biscuits in a small bowl with literally just 6-8 mealworms popped on top.

Most ready mixed hedgehog foods that you can will also include dried mealworms or other insects, but it is a low percentage.

You can mix a bit of product called Nutrobal in the food which is a calcium supplement

 

Hi all I feed the hedgehogs every night I have 4 to 5 coming at the moment one this years baby I feed a hard Mrs Johnsons feed good for there teeth a few sunflower hearts and very occasional treat of dried meal worms ,don't forget the water I have a pond with a shallow beech which they drink from and a bird one on the ground which they use ,both British Hedgehog Preservation Society and Hedgehog street say sunflower hearts are ok Check these sites out very informative

 

Mealworms contain nothing nutritional for hogs, especially for young hog. They are a bit like junk food for us. Some hogs don't like them some do, but they can get addicted to them and favour them over other foods. When feeding hogs in your garden you can't always know who is eating what, so adding the calcium supplement would only be beneficial to those who eat the mealies. Giving a calcium supplement to those who don't need it could do more harm than good. I personally wouldn't do this. From doing some research on MBD I found that there isn't a given quantity of mealies that have to be eaten over a certain period of time before MBD develops, so the advice given by wildlife hospitals such as Vale is to not feed them at all. I think Vale are still doing research on this, so maybe the advice will change at a later time.

 

I haven't checked the BHPS recently but last time I did it was a bit out dated on a few things. Haven't used Hedgehog Street. I use Hedgehoghelp or Vale.

I tried a couple of brands of hedgehog spefic food a few years ago but found the hogs didn't care for them. They can be surprisingly fussy with their food. I put the wet and dry foods in separate bowls.

 

Many thanks for everyone's suggestions. We'll stop feeding the sunflower hearts. There is hedgehog food supplied by Gardman which is available from most garden centres...I think we'll try that and guard it from the numerous cats who are a real pain

 

@Ian Clarke I feed any visiting hedgehogs this type of dog food which they enjoy as it is rich in gravy.I tend to sprinkle dried mealworms on the top and have used Spikes hedgehog crunchies which they enjoyed but since I ran out of them and got some cheaper ones from our local Mr Tesco I have found they eat everything else and leave the crunchies so might have to go and get some bags of Spikes

It is nice that some of us are getting these rare creatures in our gardens and good that we are all doing our bit to try and preserve them for future generations to admire

 

We have up to three still coming and as the nights draw in they are coming earlier now, about 9.30 but not always together. I put a plate of Mr Johnsons dry food out (I don't know if it is bulked up with cereal) and also some large dried 'bugs' from a bag of Wikos Robin 'Insect Medley' fished out from the mealworms. There is always a dish of clean water too.
The plate is always empty in the morning.

 

Still feeding cat biscuits here, great for naturally cleaning their teeth. Also remember folks mealworms as an occasional rare treat.. too many robs their bones of calcium & they are essentially junk food.

 

This one is a bit big for a hedgehog to eat

 

Umm, what is it?

 

On the right, Badger, on the left Hedgehog, yes it's a bad picture

 

Have you considered a cctv ip camera Jiffy, you can pick them up for around £30.

 

I've got cctv but old