# Dried Mealworms



## GsMom (Mar 12, 2016)

I keep seeing references to not feeding dried mealworms, because they cause intestinal obstruction, but my attempts to look into this further have consistently returned me to the description of a single incident. 

Am I missing something? And does anyone have information about this issue, that doesn't lead back to the single source/incident cited on God knows how many hedgehog websites?


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## FinnickHog (Dec 1, 2014)

It's the freeze dried ones specifically that are the problem, because the process takes out all of the moisture. Other, natural processes may be safe but I personally avoid them.

There are cases of leopard geckos, bearded dragons, wild insectivorous birds, and other mammalian insectivores having bad cases of impaction due to freeze dried mealworm consumption. You can do your own research there if you want to learn more, but the reptiles are a few named species I've seen recorded cases of impaction in.

I figure why risk it? Kill and freeze your own if live bugs are a problem, or buy dead but moist canned ones. That way you'll never have to risk adding to the list of recorded cases with your own hedgehog.


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## GsMom (Mar 12, 2016)

I didn't say I planned on risking my hedgehog's health. BUT, there's a lot about this issue that doesn't make physiological sense, and when things don't make sense, I look deeper. So far, looking deeper isn't producing much useful information, outside a single incident - thus my question, does anyone have other references. 

I'd be interested in other mammals, but can't say I'm particularly interested in reptiles or birds, because there are too many significant differences in GI function.


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## FinnickHog (Dec 1, 2014)

Well I tried to help. Let us know if you find any more information!


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## GsMom (Mar 12, 2016)

It's not a lack of appreciation, it's just focus. I've put well over 3,000 into researching my cats' diet, and those are only the hours I can account for, in the last 5 years. I've been researching and compiling date for much longer than that - the last 5 years have been mainly revisions and modifications. 

Even though the hedgehog population in my home (1) is substantially lower than the feline population (37), I think he deserves the same diligence in my research. I'm stymied by the freeze dried worm thing, because if you take it at face value (feeding freeze dried worms --> intestinal obstruction --> death) it becomes very difficult to choose a worse food for a hedgehog than dry cat kibble. 

It's the worst choice for cats too, but that's a different topic.


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## FinnickHog (Dec 1, 2014)

I'm not a fan of cat kibble either. But it has 10-20% moisture content depending on the brand and the way the ingredients were prepared and preserved. Freeze dried foods have only 1-2% of their original moisture. Having eaten a few freeze dried things like astronaut ice cream I can tell you it's unpleasant in how dry it is. It feels like it absorbs your saliva to a painful degree the more you eat. And with something like mealworms who have an exoskeleton, I have to imagine it would be difficult to swallow without the creamy center in tact. I just don't like the idea of freeze dried unless it's meant to be reconstituted. I wish there were studies to back up my discomfort but apart from the moisture content values there seems to be nothing.

I can compare consuming large portions of freeze dried food to the videos of people eating tablespoons of cinnamon though due to personal experience. It's dry and ucky and you want to cough but there's no saliva left.

So that's my personal reasoning behind freeze dried insects being "bad" Nothing in nature is meant to have 1% moisture.

Hopefully you can find more about freeze dried insects than I could. There doesn't seem to be much out there apart from the reptile stuff I mentioned >_<.


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