Hedgehog Help
Natbat
Posts: 62
Hi all,
I haven't had a great track record of helping wildlife in my garden. When I moved here just over a year ago I had two friendly frogs who were hiding out in an overgrown patch of the garden where a pond used to be. After moving paving slabs and establishing new flower beds I disturbed them several times despite my best efforts and they seem to have fled to elsewhere.
I now appear to have a visiting hedgehog and I would like to make him/ her feel welcome. I have only seen him once when I went to rescue two pieces of burnt toast I had thrown out the back door... after I had set the grill on fire!! He was munching away on them and so huge I thought at first he was a cat! I thought that was that with my visitor but after replanting along one side of my fence a hedgehog sized hole has appeared under a fence panel. I'm pretty sure it must be him as it's too small for any cats.
I would love to put put some hedgehog friendly, but not cat friendly food as my feline friend is on a strict diet. Any thoughts? I would love to offer him other comforts and encourage him to visit so any ideas are most welcome.
Posts
Dog food is the usual thing, but if he's visiting he must like the garden so keep the hole open and be careful about using any slug treatments. A hibernation home is easy to construct which he'll investigate and maybe use. You'll have great slug control if he stays. No milk and bread though not good for them in the long run.
Thanks for the advice. I will avoid bread from now on and try dog food when the cat is inside.
Am I right in thinking dusk is the best time to put food out?
Thanks again, would love to help him out!
Hi Natbat, congratulations on your hoggy visitor.
Can I point you in the direction of hedgehog bottom who has a great website and advice on all things hog related. I'd also go onto FB and look up Prickles hedgehog rescue.
They have great photos from people like myself on catproof feeding stations (sorry on holiday so no access to picture on pc). Get a under bed storage box with lid. Hole in box needs to be 4" square or CD shape and put at the short end. Put electric tape or something similar to protect hog from sharp edges. I have videos of the neighbours cats trying to get to the food with no success. All the other contraptions that were recommended didn't work with a persistent cat.
I started off with 1 underweight baby hog in 2014 that I fed up to get thru hibernation and took on 2 rescues last Easter and am now the proud `mum` of 5 babies and 2 additional adults, so 10 in total.
They need a fresh supply of water each day (I use pot saucers) and can have cat biscuits. Meat as an occasional treat but the biscuits help break down the tartar so they don't get tooth decay. Milk gives them diarrhoea.
Good luck and happy to help with more advice if needed.
Great to hear you have a hedgehog!
I make a mix of Go-Cat (no fish),whole peanuts,dried mealworms,sunflower hearts and raisins to feed my hoggies,and always provide drinking water.You can make a simple feeding station so that cats cannot get in from a plastic storage box or even simply construct something out of bricks and a paving stone.
With the weather being so changeable at the moment it is even more important to put out food so they can keep going until their natural food supply is more abundant.
I use chicken cat food and put it into this trap ( with door blocked open ) to keep the cats away. Spikey loves it, cats sniff around and go off in a huff.
Cats are also very good at getting into even small spaces.This one got right inside even after I had put pots in front to make it more difficult!
Madpenguin that video made me laugh! Next door has a kitty that slim, mine is a rescue cat and pretty overweight so I'm hoping wouldn't fit all his body through the cd sized hole.
Bluebellmell, I'm off to check out the websites, I have a plastic box the perfect size which I was going to throw so this is a perfect recycling project. I'm really keen to do it today but I think this will need to be a weekend project. I promise to dig up this post in a few days time to add a picture
I might speak to the neighbours too as he is coming through from their overgrown garden and I would never forgive myself if he got injured if it was strimmed for summer.
Lots of really useful stuff on here http://www.hedgehogstreet.org/
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
As said above, definitely no milk or bread and no fish based pet foods. There are excellent commercial hedgehog diets available.