Hedgehog in garden - advice sought

[EFH189]

Evening all!

For the past three nights I’ve been catering for a small hedgehog that turned up in my back garden. It’s been an absolute delight waiting for it to appear at dusk, have a mooch around and then take a feed and drink!

I was wondering what more I could do, any tips etc, and how old it might be? Where do they normally nest during the day?

Pic I took 10 mins ago of Hedgey (original huh).

Edited by EFH189 on Wednesday 21st July 22:13

[Tasmin200]

https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife...

[DFLR]

Queens Brian May is a hedgehog fan.

Lots of advice on his sanctuary website.

https://www.gracethehedgehog.co.uk/

[Evanivitch]

https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/found-a-hedgeh...

They could be travelling quite some distance into your territory. Best thing to make sure they have access in and out, not blocked or overgrown. Water that is safe and fresh. Food is useful, but importantly not just mealworms (cat food is ideal).

At the link you'll see reasons for concern, yours appears to be acting in a healthy manner!

[EFH189]

Thanks for the links guys, I’ll have a good look through all this! It’s the sweetest thing, it’s currently using the cat’s cooling pad.

[Chubbyross]

Gorgeous! I grew up seeing hedgehogs all the time in my garden and local woods. It’s sad but living in London my two children have never seen one at all.

[elanfan]

That is probably one of this years young. Looks a healthy weight, over 500g and they’ll make it through winter. You could make a hedgehog hotel for him to overwinter in. Don’t give milk only water, cat food sachets are good but don’t give too often they’d need to learn to forage for themselves.

[EFH189]

Great, thanks for the input, that’s helpful to know.

Be great if he hangs about, I’ll sort him a little hedgehog hotel out for colder times. I was trying to encourage it to eat a slug crawling up one of my plant pots but I don’t think he understood me.

Bloody slugs.

[dudleybloke]

Rarely see them live or dead around here these days, plenty of foxes and badgers though.
I prefer hedgepigs.

[Harpoon]

Please don't feed them mealworms:



Dry kitten food and fresh water is all you need:



Slugs and snails aren't the most popular food for hedgehogs. They carry fluke and lungworm which can be bad news for a 'hog:

https://littlesilverhedgehog.com/2018/01/05/hedgeh...

Water is critical in this heat - a hedgehog might get up in the day, so an extra saucer or tray of water in a cool part of your garden could be a life saver. We always have a tray of water out all year round (I use a small heated pad to keep it ice free in winter) and it's very popular day & night.

There's some amazing un-paid work done by volunteers treating sick and injured hogs. Some I follow:

https://twitter.com/HedgehogCabin
https://twitter.com/WigglySnouts
https://twitter.com/littlesilverhog

Edited by Harpoon on Thursday 22 July 11:15

[Mr Pointy]

Lots of good information above & there's a bit of a thread here:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

A feeding station is a good idea as it keeps the food dry & the cats out - it's a fancy name for a £6 plastic box from B&Q with a 100mm hole at one end. They don't need fancy food so I feed them Sainsbury's dry kitten food at £1 a bag (they only have small mouths so the kitten type is easier for them). If you make sure they can get in & out of your garden you'll encourage them to vist - I had holes cut in the fence barge boards when it was done.

[blueg33]

EFH189 said:

Great, thanks for the input, that’s helpful to know.

Be great if he hangs about, I’ll sort him a little hedgehog hotel out for colder times. I was trying to encourage it to eat a slug crawling up one of my plant pots but I don’t think he understood me.

Bloody slugs.

They generally only eat slugs if there is no other food available. They will move to a place with more palatable food if slugs are the only food

Edited by blueg33 on Thursday 22 July 16:49

[Old Merc]

blueg33 said:

EFH189 said:

Great, thanks for the input, that’s helpful to know.

Be great if he hangs about, I’ll sort him a little hedgehog hotel out for colder times. I was trying to encourage it to eat a slug crawling up one of my plant pots but I don’t think he understood me.

Bloody slugs.

They generally only eat slugs if there is no other food available. They will move to a lace with more palatable food if slugs are the only food

I wish hedgehogs would return to our garden. Slugs are destroying my wife`s favourite plants.
A few years ago we often saw one wonder past the patio door at night. Then one day I was moving cuttings, leaves and stuff in this secluded corner of our garden that we use as dump/compost heap. Blow me I uncovered a Hedgehog nest, mummy with two or three babies. I very quickly covered it all back up again.

Another one went to sleep on the front door step. I nearly stepped on it leaving the house.

Edited by Old Merc on Thursday 22 July 16:51

[nute]

We have half a dozen or more regularly eating the food we put out in a hog house I made. We get through 20-30kg of food a year and have a bird box camera in it so we can watch them come and go without disturbing them. There are a few little ones running about now which i assume are this years young.

As above a good quality pet food or you can get hog food from specialist on line shops. Probably just rebadged dog/cat food.

No bread/milk, no mealworms, no peanuts or sunflower seeds. Always have a dish of water out too.

If you are going to provide a hibernation box try to put it out of the way where its not going to be disturbed and avoid the temptation to take a peek. If you rest a twig against the entrance you can see if its been pushed aside so you might have an occupant. They frequently wake up and go for a mooch about during warm spells over the winter.

[EFH189]

Some great insight and input, thanks guys.

Hedgey has returned for the last 5 nights but I’m not entirely sure where he’s nesting, it’s not in my garden AFAIK.

[MesoForm]

Bumping this thread as I had thought hedgehogs were a very occasional visitor to the garden (only found out they were visiting when one of the dogs tried to play with one), it's not the best design for them as it's surrounded by walls with the only way in being under the gate and that just leads to the patio which has a step up onto the lawn and flower beds. But lo and behold -


So first step is to make it easier for them to reach the garden then I'll look at getting a feeder - we have cats visit the garden at night so I don't want to just leave it out. We do have a tiny pond / big bird bath they should be able to use to drink from but I'll put the camera on that for a few nights and see if they are using it.
Wife is very excited about our nocturnal visitors!

[Mr Pointy]

MesoForm said:

Bumping this thread as I had thought hedgehogs were a very occasional visitor to the garden (only found out they were visiting when one of the dogs tried to play with one), it's not the best design for them as it's surrounded by walls with the only way in being under the gate and that just leads to the patio which has a step up onto the lawn and flower beds. But lo and behold -

So first step is to make it easier for them to reach the garden then I'll look at getting a feeder - we have cats visit the garden at night so I don't want to just leave it out. We do have a tiny pond / big bird bath they should be able to use to drink from but I'll put the camera on that for a few nights and see if they are using it.
Wife is very excited about our nocturnal visitors!

Have a look at this link & there's more information on feeders & feeding.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

The B&Q box is very cheap & will last a couple of years before being affected by sunlight. I wedge it into a corner so the cats can't get into it but the hedgehogs can.

[MesoForm]

Mr Pointy said:

Have a look at this link & there's more information on feeders & feeding.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

The B&Q box is very cheap & will last a couple of years before being affected by sunlight. I wedge it into a corner so the cats can't get into it but the hedgehogs can.

Thanks, the B&Q box didn't really fit our garden aesthetic but I've bought a wooden one and they seem to be using it -

(quite a long video of a hedgehog scurrying about)

Mrs bought some hedgehog food from a pet shop but following the advice on that thread I'll be swapping to dry kitten food once it runs out.

[Mr Pointy]

MesoForm said:

Mr Pointy said:

Have a look at this link & there's more information on feeders & feeding.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

The B&Q box is very cheap & will last a couple of years before being affected by sunlight. I wedge it into a corner so the cats can't get into it but the hedgehogs can.

Thanks, the B&Q box didn't really fit our garden aesthetic but I've bought a wooden one and they seem to be using it -

(quite a long video of a hedgehog scurrying about)

Mrs bought some hedgehog food from a pet shop but following the advice on that thread I'll be swapping to dry kitten food once it runs out.

The problem you may find is that they crap & piss everywhere, including in the feeding bowls & it's important to keep the feeding area clean, hence the use of something you can clean easily. I put newspaper down in the box & it needs replacing every day.

Nice video - what camera are you using?

[MesoForm]

Mr Pointy said:

The problem you may find is that they crap & piss everywhere, including in the feeding bowls & it's important to keep the feeding area clean, hence the use of something you can clean easily. I put newspaper down in the box & it needs replacing every day.

Nice video - what camera are you using?

Ah OK, the base is open to the ground so I'll give that a regular rinse out and see if anything stinky builds up.

I got this one from Amazon
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B9XV4NMG
For £50, I didn't want to splash out too much before knowing if there was anything worth recording or not. It's not brilliant to use (screen is on the section that hinges out so setting up what's in frame takes guesswork) and there's a delay between seeing something and recording, but for what I use it for it's fine and the battery lasts a while (haven't measured it but I'm guessing about 250-300 30 second clips at night-time from a set of 2000 mAh Energizer rechargeables).