I do find the special hedgehog food to be comparatively expensive. Bird food works out only about £1 or less per kilo for seeds and around £2 per kilo for sunflower hearts, suet and mealworms. If they're on a feeding frenzy we can even just put out kitchen scraps. Even tinned dog food comes in at little over £1 per kilo for the basics. The hedgehog food all seems to come in around £5 per kilo and is therefore quite an undertaking if you intend supporting a population for the summer.
I'm not saying I know the answer, but with hogs becoming a 'cause' there are inevitably pressures to buy that £50 pine feeding station from the GC and the £5 per kilo branded hog-food. I won't go as far as to call it profiteering, I just think if we want to make helping the hogs something widely supported it needs to be affordable and easy for kids and kid-pestered parents. I also think people need to consider whether they are putting out food to
encourage the hogs into their garden (as it used to be when they were the 'gardeners friend' and we do with the birds), whether they are replacing what
the hog would normally be eating (creating a dependency culture), or whether they're feeding animals
that would otherwise be starving (providing emergency assistance). Is lack of food and water the problem, are hogs starving to death in the streets? Isn't reduced habitat and an inability to run from cars the bigger issue and therefore is putting out food really necessary - or are we doing it for our own pleasure?
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill
I agree re: hedgehog specific food prices and that's why I was surprised to see such a reasonable offering (if any at all) in said supermarket. Hogs shouldn't be fed bird food at all, although they will hoover up any leftovers from the floors - it's not nutritionally beneficial to them thus never recommended by rescues. Yes, supermarket branded cat/dog biscuits work out cheapest and provide them with everything they need, the tinned 'jelly' is good too but the biscuits help to clean their teeth - where as mealworms help to rot them.
They won't substitute their natural diet, they will simply combine both - often feeding twice nightly.. once upon waking up and the other following foraging. The main aim is help wherever we can for the reasons you stated, they can no longer travel the desired distances looking for food as environmental destruction and fenced in gardens has stopped that.
The hogs that visit my garden always eat what's in my £50 Pine Feeding Station, and then they move onto the other £50 Pine Feeding Station and eat whatever is in that, normally the very expensive branded Hoggy food, Spikes semi moist is a sure favourite without a doubt.
But, more importantly to me, they will then hoover up whatever beasties are hiding in the lawn, I know this because every morning my lawn is covered in copious amounts of Hoggy poop.
My hedgehog (s) visit my cheap home made plastic box feeding station, and also ones at various places around the neighbourhood. Although l haven't seen them so far this year, l have my fingers crossed. In the meantime l have spent the day shredding loads of newspaper for my local rescue.
My hedgehog (s) visit my cheap home made plastic box feeding station, and also ones at various places around the neighbourhood. Although l haven't seen them so far this year, l have my fingers crossed. In the meantime l have spent the day shredding loads of newspaper for my local rescue.
Hogs shouldn't be fed bird food at all, although they will hoover up any leftovers from the floors - it's not nutritionally beneficial to them thus never recommended by rescues.
Hi Mark - I wasn't suggesting feeding them bird food, I was just illustrating the comparative costs and wondering why Hedgehog food should cost so much more than other animals/pets. Even your Tesco example is £2 for 400g or £5/kg and Wilko works out even more expensive. I don't think it's wrong to question why.
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill
My hedgehog (s) visit my cheap home made plastic box feeding station, and also ones at various places around the neighbourhood.
and I made one as well and put out food all last year. However, having seen how large the hog that visited us earlier this week a lack of food did not seem to be its biggest problem particularly given the time of year. I honestly support every one trying to help their numbers recover, but I don't think it should be done blindly and I am wary of retailers taking advantage of a situation.
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill
The new arrivals to join our resident hogs They are being inspected by neighbour's lovely cat. I haven't seen them since they arrived last week although our usual two or three are eating from their dish each night.
Thanks Sheps it was fun to take them all together. Percy knows his place alongside the hogs. They tolerate each other, but as long as they are fed and watered they just enjoy the garden and all it's hidden treasures.
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I do find the special hedgehog food to be comparatively expensive. Bird food works out only about £1 or less per kilo for seeds and around £2 per kilo for sunflower hearts, suet and mealworms. If they're on a feeding frenzy we can even just put out kitchen scraps. Even tinned dog food comes in at little over £1 per kilo for the basics. The hedgehog food all seems to come in around £5 per kilo and is therefore quite an undertaking if you intend supporting a population for the summer.
I'm not saying I know the answer, but with hogs becoming a 'cause' there are inevitably pressures to buy that £50 pine feeding station from the GC and the £5 per kilo branded hog-food. I won't go as far as to call it profiteering, I just think if we want to make helping the hogs something widely supported it needs to be affordable and easy for kids and kid-pestered parents. I also think people need to consider whether they are putting out food to encourage the hogs into their garden (as it used to be when they were the 'gardeners friend' and we do with the birds), whether they are replacing what the hog would normally be eating (creating a dependency culture), or whether they're feeding animals that would otherwise be starving (providing emergency assistance). Is lack of food and water the problem, are hogs starving to death in the streets? Isn't reduced habitat and an inability to run from cars the bigger issue and therefore is putting out food really necessary - or are we doing it for our own pleasure?
They won't substitute their natural diet, they will simply combine both - often feeding twice nightly.. once upon waking up and the other following foraging. The main aim is help wherever we can for the reasons you stated, they can no longer travel the desired distances looking for food as environmental destruction and fenced in gardens has stopped that.
But, more importantly to me, they will then hoover up whatever beasties are hiding in the lawn, I know this because every morning my lawn is covered in copious amounts of Hoggy poop.