# Mealworm Poll



## lane_m (May 20, 2009)

Hello everyone,

I have always been curious about the type of mealies people feed to their hedgies so I created this poll. If you grow your own, would you mind replying which life stages your hedgehog eats (ie. beetle, pupae etc.). 

Thanks in advance


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

Great idea for a poll Lane  

I grow my own mealies,this way i can feed the mealies the veggies my hedgies refuse to eat.


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## Herisson (Jan 7, 2009)

Great poll Lane!


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## tie-dye hedgie (Dec 19, 2009)

This poll helps a lot! Especially with the thread I posted yesterday asking about mealies! Thanks! What about crunchy, dried ones?


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## lane_m (May 20, 2009)

I think the dried crunchy ones are freeze dried.


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## tie-dye hedgie (Dec 19, 2009)

oh okay, thanks!


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

I buy live and then put them in the freezer. I can never keep them alive long enough to feed them all. I don't have a good container or any room to set it up.

I should add that I didn't vote because I didn't know what category fresh frozen fit under.


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## ILOVElily (Dec 5, 2009)

I voted live, but i do have a little container w/ freezedried ones that i feed Pinchita occasionally, if she takes them at all.
Great Poll!


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## silvercat (Oct 24, 2008)

I feed Exo Terra Canned (these aren't the freeze dried, they've been 'cooked in the can'). I did prefer the live meal worms for gut feeding/freshness. . . until I came home and found a meal worm crawling across my kitchen floor. The canned ones are good too as I'll cut them into 3 pieces & spread them around her cage/playpen to get her moving more.


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

I buy live at a reptile store. I usually get 100 at a time, and they usually give me ~200 :lol: for the price of 100, cause it's all just scoop estimating.


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## nationofamanda (Jan 19, 2010)

i'm the one who's hedgies won't eat mealworms.
the two texas rescues will eat anything else in sight but ignore both freeze dried and store bought live mealies. like i said, the eat EVERYTHING else so since mealworms are only treat foods anyway i'm not worried about it.

my only other hedgehog liked them freezedried only..she ignored live ones and those icky canned ones. she did like the canned crickets though, but watching her eat them gave me the skeevies!


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## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

I feed live mealworms that I buy but hope to set up a small farm soon  One of the reasons I chose it was when researching I remember hearing a few stories where a hedgie got impacted from eatting too many of the freeze dried ones. Not sure how serious the risk was but didn't want to take a chance. I want to do a farm soon though because I don't like that there is no way to tell how they are raised and I remember hearing a story where someones hedgie got sick because the petstore had the worms kept in an incorrect, unsafe location that contaminated them. Freaks me out so its on my list of things I'd like to do soon lol


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## kurai18 (Aug 31, 2009)

My breeder recommended freeze dried mealworms so I feed my Pineapple freeze dried ones and she eats them like cheetos.
I tried giving her live ones but she wouldn't eat them immediately and I ended up with having to hunt for escaped worms in her blankets and it became too much of a nuisance.
Btw, I'm a little bit undecided about the insects vs. kibbles issue..
I know a lot of people on this forum say that meal worms are fatty and should be given as treats and a hedgie's diet should mostly be based on kibble.
But my vet has been telling me that insects are better since it is their natural food
and he's seen more oral cancer in hedgies that have not been fed a diet based on crickets and mealworms.
My breeder says she just gives half and half.. about two tablespoons of kibble and two tablespoons of mealworms a day.
Any thoughts on this?


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Please don't feed freeze dried mealworms. They can cause impaction. There is a story here about it. 
http://www.allstarhedgehogs.com/freezed ... worms.html

I know a lot of people have fed them without a problem but it's not worth the risk. Once she is a bit older she will most likely eat the live ones. Sometimes pulling the head off and squeezing the juice onto their lips will encourage them to eat them. Yep, I know, it's GROSS!

Oral cancer is very common in hedgehogs and possibly food is to blame. I'm not sure if any studies have been done on the incidence of oral cancer in those fed primarily insects but I'm betting there aren't enough on that diet to be able to tell if there is any coloration.

Yes mealworms are fattening but it depends on the hedgehog how many they can eat before there becomes an issue.

I'm glad to see you back. Remember to post lots of pictures of Pineapple. That's a cute name.


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## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

I think thats the story I remember reading about, ty for the link because I had wanted to save it and never did  It would be interesting to explore into insect feeding to see if it would decrease oral cancers. I think if I added a lot more insects into the mix though I'd have to go with something like crickets or something because there is less fat in them. It's very hard though cause what if giving a lot of insects decreases cancers but in return hurt their kidneys because of all the protein. It's definately something I'm going to be thinking about its just hard to go out on the limb because if I did it and the experiment failed it could hurt my hedgie and Im not sure if I can take the chance.


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## rainbowcookie (Dec 21, 2009)

I want to set up a mealworm farm, too. I've read some posts about gut-loading mealworms with veggies and I'd like to do that so my herd can have some healthy treats. Also, then I should always have those white beetle things the worms turn into for my boys with missing teeth. Regular mealworms are too crunchy for them.

All but one of my TX rescues were freaked out by mealworms at first! Now everyone but Pepper snacks them right up. I use a spoon to give them treats, and I squashed the head of the worm so they could smell the guts the first time or two, and they started eating them after that. Now they all know that spoon=treats, so sometimes I sneak apple or veggies on the spoon and they chow down before they even realize it's not a worm.


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