Mine seem to be out and about in other places at the moment. I had three frequent visitors who would pop in and out of the garden several times a night and clear two bowls of food. The last few weeks they seem to only have a brief snack whilst passing through. Hedgehogs gonna hedgehog 🤷♀️
They haven't been interested in the food for a week or so @februarysgirl, but l think that now things are drying out rapidly they might come back as the slug supply etc will be disappearing. One of our neighbours has one of those open entrance hedgehog house out in the open in full sun. I hope to god there's no hedgehog in it.
@AnniD I always thought hedgehogs were big eaters of slugs and was looking forward to them clearing them out of my garden but it turns out they only make up a small portion of their diet 😭 Not a bad thing I guess, lungworm doesn't sound a pleasant way to go. I've got bark chippings in my hedgehog area and they love snuffling round in that for bugs!
Hopefully most hedgehogs will have the sense to steer clear of your neighbour's hedgehog house. Mine is down the bottom of the garden under the hawthorn tree and amongst the ferns. Very shady 👍
I've had an upturned storage box as a feeding station for some time now but recently been struggling with one particularly determined cat eating the food before the hogs get there. I've tried a number of things to keep this cat away but it seems to be double jointed.
Mother Nature don't straight lines, Broken moulds in a grand design, We look a mess but we're doing fine, We're card carrying lifelong members of the Union Of Different Kinds.
@1945crewood Some cats can be pretty tenacious. I haven't had too much of a problem but I think that's partially because the cats don't seem to like Spike's hedgehog food. I did mix some kitten biscuits in once and our cat was trying to get at it the moment my back was turned. I've heard that putting a tray of water outside the entrance to the feeding station can work. Hedgehogs don't give a monkeys about walking through water but cats aren't wild about it.
@1945crewood Some cats can be pretty tenacious. I haven't had too much of a problem but I think that's partially because the cats don't seem to like Spike's hedgehog food. I did mix some kitten biscuits in once and our cat was trying to get at it the moment my back was turned. I've heard that putting a tray of water outside the entrance to the feeding station can work. Hedgehogs don't give a monkeys about walking through water but cats aren't wild about it.
It's the Spike's brand that I use now and as I mentioned that one particular cat seems to enjoy it. Perhaps the cat knows I'm trying to stop it getting at the food and is testing how far I will go with my attempts. I'll certainly give the water a try though.
Mother Nature don't straight lines, Broken moulds in a grand design, We look a mess but we're doing fine, We're card carrying lifelong members of the Union Of Different Kinds.
A Facebook post from my local rescue. The work these people do for our spiky friends.
" Today the last 6 weeks of 2 or 3 hourly hoglet feeding, through the night on my work days have caught up with me, so feeling rough!
So rough that while walking to the bathroom I saw a hedgehog on my lawn out in the day, panic hit me for a split second until I realised it’s one of the soft toys the hand rear hoglets have been using to cuddle up to it must have been in the load of fleece washing I hung out earlier
New human mums have baby brain, in the summer months those of us hand rearing have hoglet brain, the summer months are the most draining and demanding for rescues, and for those with rescues in their home like us, it’s 24/7.
When it’s gets tough with the workload, the abuse we get for being closed, being unable to take more hogs or telling people the advice they don’t want to hear along with life revolving around hand feeds, we have to remember why we are doing what we do, there are no wages or sick leave, everything in my life revolves around the hedgehogs, at times my job has to and even my 5 day holiday this year involved hand feeding hoglets in our holiday apartment every 3 hours.
Only those running rescues, especially in their homes knows the hours we devote, it can be very easy for those on the outside to make judgement on the little they do see.
Everything we do is for the hogs, to make them well, get them back into the wild or to stop their suffering "
Posts
Also this article from a rescue.
https://littlesilverhedgehog.com/2016/06/20/hedgehog-feeding-station/
One of our neighbours has one of those open entrance hedgehog house out in the open in full sun. I hope to god there's no hedgehog in it.
Hopefully most hedgehogs will have the sense to steer clear of your neighbour's hedgehog house. Mine is down the bottom of the garden under the hawthorn tree and amongst the ferns. Very shady 👍
A fine cause. There is a just giving page but wasn't sure if l'm allowed to link to it 🦔🦔🦔🦔
" Today the last 6 weeks of 2 or 3 hourly hoglet feeding, through the night on my work days have caught up with me, so feeling rough!