THE SPIKE'S FAMILY - At Spike’s, we value the the health and well-being of wild hedgehogs. It is our priority to help facilitate a flourishing future for hedgehogs. Shop the rest of the range for all of your spikey friends needs Hedgehogs are not insectivores as many people think. Studies have shown they are omnivorous. These studies have analysed faeces and stomach contents of wild hogs, and food preference trials in captive wild hedgehogs. There are so many easy ways to support and provide food for hedgehogs, that there are simply never reasons to offer milk, salted food or sweets. Hedgehogs may well appear to be enjoying them but you could well be killing them with kindness. Do not feed these items.

Like many wild animals in the UK, hedgehogs face disappearing habitats, as well as predators and various other threats, so their numbers continue to decline. As a result, they have learned to be adaptable, right down to the foods they eat. What else should I consider when feeding hedgehogs? They may seem timid and slow, but Hedgehogs actually have a pretty greedy eating style as a result of their high energy lifestyle when living in the wild. Did you know they can cover up to 12 miles a night? That’s a lot of foraging!

Ingredients

So does the child who only wants to eat chocolate… but seriously – rescues are admitting an ever increasing volume of hogs with severe dental disease, even in young hogs. How severe you ask? One rescue had a hog with such severe dental disease, the jawbone had become infected and crumbled. Hogs cannot clean their teeth. Sweet sugary foods cause dental decay in other mammals too. PLEASE do not feed these things. Store in cool, dry conditions away from direct sunlight. Once open, store in an airtight container. Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD) is caused by a hedgehog consistently eating foods which are too low in calcium and too high in phosphorus. This can result in the hedgehog’s body leaching the calcium stored in its bones into the bloodstream to try to counterbalance. But this means that their bones then don’t get enough calcium, causing the bones to break or become misshapen. If a hedgehog fills up solely on peanuts, mealworms, oats and sunflower hearts, they won’t have a balanced diet and this can lead to MBD. MBD in hedgehogs is harrowing: it’s a debilitating, excruciatingly painful condition that can lead to death. All WildThings foods are produced to ensure they provide a convenient and economical way of supporting wildlife, whilst also taking into consideration the wider positive environmental impact feeding these foods may have. Our range consists of:

But peanuts and seeds are also not so good for hedgehogs because of the ratio of calcium to phosphorous which, similar to mealworms, but to a slightly lesser extent, can contribute to bone problems. Those who keep hedgehogs as pets tend to feed them a variety of things to give them all the nutrients they need to grow healthily. Plus, hedgehogs naturally have a varied diet, so owners should try to replicate it as best they can. So I suggest that if anyone wants to continue this conversation that they start it again under one of the other headings and preferably use the most recent advice on feeding. No-one will go far wrong following the advice from http://www.valewildlife.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Feeding-wild-hedgehogs.pdf If you have a bird feeder with peanuts in, please ensure it is safe and the nuts are not falling out on to the floor, there are little trays you can get to put underneath to catch any loose nuts and seeds.If we miss you on the first delivery attempt, we will try again the next working day. Alternatively, you can visit DHLand easily re-arrange your delivery to something which suits you better! You can choose from the following options: It really IS as simple as that. So if you wanted a short answer, please dont feel you have to read any further 🙂 For those of you with all the if’s, but’s, and maybe’s, please do read on. Ark Wildlife continue to research hedgehog wellbeing and dietary health and are currently carrying out trials on new ways of providing highly palatable balanced nutrition with improved digestibility.