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I think @Footflaps is the resident hogbotherer?
I just handfed a dog treat to a young hedgehog, should they be wandering around at this hour? its right on a doggy highway aswell so i don't hold much hope for its survival unless it gets some street smarts!
Absolutely fired away the treat and generally appeared quite happy (found it head buried in cut grass hunting for something)
Not a particular expert but I know that hoglets (yes, really) may be out in the day time at this time of year getting extra food, and mum is likely close by. Just like human babies waking all effin night, but in reverse.
thats kind of the impression i got of its behaviour it was pretty active and moved a fair bit by the time i had been to the shop and back. Its done alright foodwise from me!
its right on a doggy highway
They are usually quite good at protecting themselves from dogs, as long as they roll up in a tight ball.
We have hedgehogs in the garden and 2 feeding stations - we have a wildlife camera and it gets triggered throughout the night. Our dog found a hedgehog in the field opposite in the middle of afternoon last week - pretty pleased with herself - it just rolled up and then scuttled off soon after. We have no foxes or badgers here, so natural predators unless you count eagles.
They are usually quite good at protecting themselves from dogs, as long as they roll up in a tight ball.
Doesn't stop dogs biting them sadly - neighbours dog killed a few....
I just handfed a dog treat to a young hedgehog, should they be wandering around at this hour?
Probably not, but very hard to say without seeing. If it was very small (like small fist sized) it's probably a hoglet which has been kicked out by it's Mum. They kick out the ones which they somehow know won't make it, so you get lots of hyper active hoglets out and about on their own which rarely survive (even with intervention). Hyperactivity esp in the presence of humans is, sadly, not a good sign at all. Counter intuitively those ones rarely make it. The ones which avoid you or freeze in your presence are generally much more likely to make it - but you don't tend to notice them!
Doesn’t stop dogs biting them sadly – neighbours dog killed a few….
Really ☹️
Our German Shepherd always treated them with inquisitive respect.
It was a terrier IIRC - programmed to hunt and kill anything small. Now thankfully dead (the dog as well as the HHs).
Also, it didn't actually kill them, just left them with 3 legs and puncture wounds and I carted them off to the Vets to be euthanaised.
We are now 100% HH free thanks to the Pandemic. The hypothesis is: We live in a very studenty area with lots of take aways etc which sustained a large urban fox population. The lockdown massively reduced the foxes food supply so they got desperate and started trying to eat HHs. I think I took 3 each of them who had had a back leg bitten off to the vet. Talking to the local wildlife centre all the other HH carers locally were doing the same - puncture wounds / missing limbs. Local population wiped out.
I assume they will naturally re-populate at some point - not seen any so far this year. A few years back I had up to a dozen visiting every night.
Our local HH hospital stopped using my area as release site due to the fact they were all getting killed.
If it was very small (like small fist sized) it’s probably a hoglet which has been kicked out by it’s Mum.
nah bigger than that. To be fair i say young because its was smallish, compared to the monster in our garden. I actually thoguth it was a large rat from a distance!
nah bigger than that.
Possibly was disturbed by something. If they make it past 300g they've normally avoided all the infant mortality problems.
Have had HHS in the garden for years but not seen one this year sadly. Had one get tangled up in the netting of the recycling box a few years ago which we had to cut to untangle it was so bad. Looked a bit unwell as probably been there a good while. We rang the local hedgehog hospital for advice on resuscitating it whose immediate reaction surprised us; “sounds about right, sort of thing they do, thick as muck!” Anyway, brought it in doors and gradually fed and watered it back to life. God it stank the house out badly and we couldn’t wait to release it back in to the ‘wild’.
Never seen any in my area except the one I found when I re-excavated a fence post hole I'd dug too late into the previous autumn. Still never forgiven myself.
Our German Shepherd always treated them with inquisitive respect.
Same, ours were more likely to ask them to play.
. God it stank the house out badly and we couldn’t wait to release it back in to the ‘wild’.
Prolific poopers!
I over wintered one in the workshop the first winter I started looking after them - it shat everywhere and it sets like aralidite - still on the rubber matting years later. I then bought a rabbit hutch to keep them in - a bit easier, but had to change the newspaper lining every day and even then it still stank the workshop out.
Made a little box for them inside the hutch and sat it on a USB heated mat to stop them hibernating whilst they were fattened up for release in Sprint..
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50683831712_f39a20b104.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50683831712_f39a20b104.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2kdKTns ]8W USB heated mat for Hedgehog[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
Invite it to your jubilee garden party and press it into service as a mobile cheese and pineapple cube dispenser?
This lady is brill. Basically if you see one during the day it needs attention.
We have a few we feed. Took one in recently for treatment for lungworm, now back with us and doing well.
https://twitter.com/HedgehogCabin/status/1367160956992774146?t=H5VlPazVidkJoCuPEBhgbg&s=19
it shat everywhere and it sets like aralidite
Yup, mucky little sods will happily crap in their food dishes, or anywhere else in the vicinity. I well remember about four years ago, when I realised that ‘hogs were actually frequent visitors to my patio because Jo, my late partner would sit outside to have a smoke, and called me outside to see them, then as the weather got warmer, we’d both sit outside in the evening and watch them going after the suet pellets the birds dropped. I started putting out dishes of cat food, as recommended online, which they sort of ate, but then I found a dish untouched apart from a large, fresh poo right in the middle.
I never knew hedgehogs were food critics!
Now I put out dog food with gravy, (they don’t like jelly) and soft-centred kibbles, and calciworms during the winter. The three plates I put into the feeding station are usually completely clear next day. I’ve had four adults and two hoglets in the garden at one time.
Had a surprise one evening recently, I was late putting the food out, and I heard this odd sort of chuckling sound, and it was a female that’s been coming into the garden for nearly four years - other than the males snorting, she’s the only one I’ve ever heard make a noise. It’s obviously female, because I’ve seen amorous males doing the going round in circles thing, snorting loudly while she just carries on munching on suet pellets and chuckling quietly to herself.
One evening we were sat outside, and one of the ‘hogs was scuttling around behind me, then it went under my chair. Jo could see it, and was absolutely killing herself laughing; I couldn’t really see what was up, but I could feel something so I managed to crane my neck round and look under the chair, and the ‘hog had my sock in its teeth, tugging at it for all it was worth!
God knows what it thought it was going to do with my sock! One climbed onto Jo’s fluffy slipper one night, and sat there quite happy for about ten minutes.
It’s a privilege to have them in the garden, they’ve got easy access in and out, the only problem are the busy roads; three have been killed over the last few years close to my house. ☹️ 🦔
I’m not sure, but I think I can hear snorting outside right now, I’ll go and check…
…nah, false alarm, but they’ve been and eaten most of what I put out, I forgot to fill their water dishes after cleaning them though.
Not so long ago, I was a bit later going to to sort out their food, and it was already dark, I lifted the top off of two of the boxes, took the third one off, and a ‘hog was actually in the box, with its bum on the plate! I set about cleaning the empty plates and filling them, using a headtorch, and the ‘hog didn’t move, just sat there. Which left me wondering how to clean and fill the plate it was sat on. I just picked it up, put in down in front of a full plate, and put the top on, sorted the last plate and put the tops on the other two boxes, and I could hear it munching away on the kibbles!
Funny creatures. 😁
Stuff like mealworms and birdseed can be harmful for them if they have too much. Most experts say stick to dry kitten food with meat being the first ingredient. Sainsbury's one is good and cheap too.
Just looked, there's one in the feeder now 🙂
I'm getting a little annoyed, moved house last autumn and I know there's hedgehogs passing through the garden- neighbour has seen them, I put out a feeder and a house and they've both been used, and I've found quite a lot of hedgehog crap. But have I seen the little buggers? Not even once! Used to see the ones at my old place every few days. I call it rude.
Thing about hedgehogs is they're more or less nocturnal by choice, they can function perfectly well in daylight and they're not massively vulnerable to predators (plus, one of their main predators are badgers) so it's mostly just that they hunt better at night and a lot of their prey are easier to find at night, and of course in human areas there's less disturbance. So with long days and hungry babies it's not automatically a problem if they're out in day time, and in some areas it's actually pretty common, but overall it's not a good sign
When I encounter them I'm always struck by how long their legs are and how fast they can run....my sister's cat kills everything (rabbits, moles, shrews, weasels, squirrels, rats) but gives the garden hedgehogs a healthy distance...
Not sure about the 'nocturnal by choice' bit. Seeing them at dusk or dawn is OK, but in the day something's wrong.
I hadn't realize that there was such a thing as manufactured hedgehog food for sale:
https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/brambles-crunchy-hedgehog-food-2kg/p/0504334
My understanding is that soft cat and dog food really isn't good for hedgehogs as in the absence of toothbrushing it accumulates between their teeth and rots them.
Although leaving food out for hedgehogs really isn't an option for me as any food leftovers put out gets immediately eaten by foxes.
TBH, I'm not sure if the hedgehog-specific food I get is any different from cat food, it looks and smells exactly like the cat food we have. Haven't tasted it but the local cats certainly eat it if they get the chance.
Jamze
Full MemberNot sure about the ‘nocturnal by choice’ bit. Seeing them at dusk or dawn is OK, but in the day something’s wrong.
Maybe I'm not describing it well. Like I mentioned, there's places where they've moved away from classic nocturnal behaviour- only found this out when we stayed in one and there were healthy fat hogs out foraging in the august evening. I was a bit concerned when I saw the first one but after that I couldn't stop seeing them and it turned out to be a known phenomenon They'd just adapted habits for whatever reason.
The ones that used to visit my old place would often come round in the late afternoon/early evening if it wasn't hot. I guess they just felt safe and knew there'd be food? First time I saw them they were, er, courting.
The rule is that yep you shouldn't see them during the day, but there's definitely exceptions. If I see one in daytime I always start from thinking it might need help (and tbh I'd love an excuse to abduct a little spiky boi)
I know nothing about hedge hogs, but well done everyone who looks after them. They are cracking wee beasts
Our two, in the feeding shelter I made. I don't tend to make much stuff but this has lasted for six months!
The best food we've found is stuff called Dreamies which are little cat biscuits. They seem to love crunching away at them. They prefer them to the stuff sold as hedgehog food and they're certainly not keen on "wet" cat food.
We had one visit a few months back so I got excited and set up a shelter with food and water. So far I’ve found a frog in the water 😕
Perhaps hedgehogs habits are similar to foxes which when close to human habitation are totally nocturnal but IME when safely away from humans can exhibit perfectly natural diurnal behaviour.
A fox out and about in a busy town centre at midday is probably unwell, but a fox playing with her cubs or sunning herself on a quiet railway embankment at midday is probably fine.
I don't know what they put in hedgehog food but I would expect it to be quite different to cat food. Hedgehogs are omnivores with a reasonable level of insects in their diet, despite cat food flavours designed specifically to appeal to human purchasers, eg turkey and vegetables, cats aren't omnivorous at all and unlike dogs don't really do well on a diet which includes vegetables. Even though domesticated cats do have marginally longer intestines than their wild counterparts to deal with a slightly more varied diet.
My understanding is that food given to hedgehogs should be dry food rather than wet processed food which apparently can cause serious dental issues. I'm sure dry cat food is fine although I suspect dry dog food is even better.
Some info here from that rescue I trust. She says that Brambles food is good but expensive BTW. Most of the other stuff is bird food that has been repackaged and is not suitable.
OUT IN THE DAY (hedgehogcabin.info)
Although leaving food out for hedgehogs really isn’t an option for me as any food leftovers put out gets immediately eaten by foxes.
A feeding box will sort that if you wanted. Basically a box with a lid you can open with a couple of entrances. Needs some sort of baffle or tunnel to deter cats and foxes.
Most of the other stuff is bird food that has been repackaged
Ah, that will explain why Brambles made this claim:
Specifically formulated without phosphorus-rich ingredients such as mealworms and peanuts
I thought it was strange and somewhat unnecessary.
A feeding box is an idea, thanks.
update....
poorly hedgehog in a box having found it flat out in the grass just now.
😟
Well done. Get to a rescue as quick as you can if poss.
HelpWildlife.co.uk – Helping you to Help them
sspca is encruete.
HEllofresh box with hellofresh insulation and some dog food an water. all sitting on a heat pad for some gentle warmth.
finger crossed!
I'm supposed to be handing in a dissertation today...
ANY excuse to procrastinate! 😀
A great excuse for not handing it in 🙂
Fingers crossed, nice feeling that you've done your best, and even better if they ask you to pick them up to release if they recover.
I’ve made a couple of feeders from a discarded mussel buoy/floats and 2 plastic bin lids. The domed end pieces make great hedgehog houses + short length of 6” plastic pipe. We feed them GoCat kitten food - far cheaper than hedgehog food. Ring StickUp camera also works well - sends an alert when there’s movement. I’d post pics but this site is rubbish…
Fingers crossed, nice feeling that you’ve done your best, and even better if they ask you to pick them up to release if they recover.
Whoa they do that?! Its brought my attention once again to the fact i need to build a pond and some more habitats
A couple of summers ago, went out into my back garden and saw two tiny sibling hogs huddled together on my patio sunning themselves, it was in the afternoon and after I’d got passed the omg they’re so cute phase I wondered if that was ok. An hour or so later found one looking a bit wobbly with a few flies buzzing around it. Rang the hedgehog place and they said it’ll probably be dead by the evening so popped it in a box with a warm hot water bottle and took it in. Exact same thing happened next day with its sibling, they were probably too young to fend for themselves.
They were in the early stages of getting fly strike which is common with young ones, and quickly fatal as the eggs hatch within hours.
A couple of months later they called me back and told me one had died but one had made it, and to go and pick it up, the most likely place they’ll survive once released is the place you find them.
Saw one in my garden last night, first one in ages, I’ve been putting food out, cat food pouches plus have a paint roller tray I use for water, topped up every day or two.
They seem to want them released back where you found them. Makes sense, otherwise they'd create too many hogs in one place if they used their own site.
ah that makes sense, I'd have thought it was ideal habitat. streams and ponds lots of insects and bgs etc and good access to Glentress
We've got a feeding station - basically some battens to form a box with a ply roof and ply on 2 sides and chicken wire on the others so we can see inside with the wildlife camera. There's an entrance tunnel formed by sticking a bit of 4x2 to the roof so cats can't get to the food - we're using the wilko stuff and it seems popular.
We're regularly seeing 3 or 4 different males this year but no females yet, so no chuffing and circling but a fair bit of argy bargy if one of the males is feeding when another turns up. Watching last night's action is essential breakfast viewing these days.