Hedgehogs

[bearhugger]

Hi, this has possibly been posted before but i'll ask again. Tonight we have dicovered a hadgehog visiting our garden. He was first found foraging around the lawn under the bird feeders where there would be some seed that has been dropped there etc. When my wife, daughter and i paid some respectul attention to 'him' he scarpered to the rear of the garden eventually, but i think that its not too used to humans and just made flight because now he's been left alone he's made his way back to the same general area he was found. What i would like to know is, is there anything we can laeve out to encourage it to return? As far as i remember the bad stuff is milk and bread but i dont know what is good stuff. Unfortunately we have a few feral cats about as well. I think that it must be a young hog or really not usd to humans. Coincidentally i have just put a couple of solar lanterns in the garden and this is the first time we have seen a hog in our garden although tamer ones have been seen just at the end of the road in previous years. Any help would be great thanks.

[wildlifesnapper]

Hi

the general recommendation is cat/dog food but this will obviously attract the cats.What you could do if you know the rough time it appears is put out the food and sit there quietly and watch it eat the food. That way you get a great wildlife watching experience and you can shoo off any cats that may appear.

Good luck

neil

[annes]

In addition maybe it will help, try to leave cooked chicken, apples, corn, rice, and beans. Because they are insectivores, consistently need to have insects. The most common insects are mealworms and crickets. Hope your little hog will return soon.

[Eliza]

Hi there bearhugger :-D

Great to hear you have hedgehogs visiting - I have some at the moment too. Peanuts and sultanas seem to the popular food in my garden

I made a feeding station out of an unturned plastic storage box. I love to see the hedgehogs in the garden

Best wishes with your new garden visitors,

Shirl (Eliza)

[pressld2]

I've been buying hedgehog food called "Spike's Dinner" from my local pet store. It's very popular with the hogs (we have at least three visiting) and the bowl gets cleaned every night.

I have seen a neighbour's cat helping itself and also a fox once but it's usually all scoffed by the hogs.

Dave P.

[shei111]

Thats one animal I would love to visit my garden a hedgehog, I havent seen one yet, maybe I just havent seen one yet, shei

[Dillibags]

Hi Bearhugger, glad you've got a hedgehog in your garden, they're lovely animals and do a brilliant job of keeping your garden slug free

I buy special hog food from a well known bird food supplier which they love, mine licks the bowl clean every night! Luckily he comes around 10'ish every evening so I can watch him

[bearhugger]

Our little hog seems to appear about 21:10ish and seems to like the wild bird seeds that has dropped from the feeders. And roughly how much does the food cost, that some of some of you mentioned? And thanks for all your replies.

[pressld2]

The "Spike's Dinner" that I buy costs £7.99 for a 2.5 Kg bag - enough for about 2-3 months at the amount I put out each night. I have two hogs visiting regularly and occasionally a third, but that always ends in a fight!

I buy it from my local Pets at Home and they were doing a buy one get one half price deal last week so I stocked up. I have enough now to get me through to August next year as the hogs will be snoring from October through to April.

Dave P.

P.s. I always put water out for them too and they do like to wash down their "Spike's Dinner" with a drink.

[bearhugger]

Am i correct in thinking that hedgehogs like to eat snails and slugs? We have a few of these in the garden when our hog visits but it doesn't seem to bother with them.
This evening i went and sat outside just before our hog was due and after about 5 mins he turned up and came to within six inches of my sandaled foot. i was almost expecting it to walk over my foot to get to where we see it normally feeding under the bird feeding station. I think it's a fairly young hog as its a lot more nervous than other hogs i've come accross. I'm glad its coming back and it seems to follow some sort of 'trail' as it makes its way to the rear of the garden and disapears into someone elses.