White hedgehog droppings?

[Elean0r]

Does anybody have any idea why we might be finding white hedgehog droppings in our garden?

No, I haven't thought to take a picture, but they look almost like cement with what looks like little seeds in them. Could it be a reaction to eating spilled bird food?

[HedgehogRescue]

It's almost certainly down to what the animal has eaten but exactly what I can't say.

If the droppings were loose I'd say catch it and get it to a rescue or vet to be checked over. The last one I had in with loose white stools nearly died from enteritis.

Do you put food and water out? If not then fresh water every day plus a dish of hog food or small cat/dog biscuits will help no end, plus, if you feed every day the little one will come to know there's a reliable source of food and water so if it does get any problems you'll be able to grab it and get it seen to.

We just haven't had enough rain in the last few weeks since they've come out of hibernation and he may well be dehydrated hence the concrete consistency. Place shallow dishes of water around the garden and top them up each evening, the birds will appreciate it as well.

[Elean0r]

No, the droppings seemed the right shape and texture, but white. They've broken up now though, with the rain.

No, we don't actively put water out because our pond has animal friendly edges on all but one side. The liner is set below big stones that are partly submerged, so there's plenty of 'fresh' water. Even the bees like it.

The rest of the garden has yet to dry out from the winter wet, and there's a very heavy dew each night. We've been out with a torch and seen loads and loads of slugs, so there should be plenty for it/them to eat.

I did try putting some cat food out, but watched it being eaten by a neighbour's cat so haven't done it again.

If it's nothing to do with bird food, do you think it's possible that it was the first night out after hibernation and a sort of clearing out of the gut after doing nothing for such a long time? It was only the one night, since then there have been more, darker, droppings, but we haven't managed to catch sight of any hedgehog(s).

[HedgehogRescue]

No, pre and post hibernation purge is usually dark green and slightly jelly like but you have to watch that as any other time of year and it means problems.

Slugs. Hmmm, right, here we go....

Hedghogs do eat slugs but they are normally a very small proportion of their diet. They prefer worms, beetles and caterpillars.

They will eat small slugs quite happily but the big ones tend to get eaten as a last resort when there is nothing else available, ie. starvation diet.

We would rather they didn't eat them at all for two reasons.

1. They carry lungworm and when a hog gets that it can kill them if they're not caught and treated. If you hear a hog with a smoker's cough, grab it as it needs lungworm specific wormers and antibiotics. I would reckon 60% of the hogs I get in during the year have lungworm problems.

2. Slugs eat slug pellets. Hedgehog eats slug and gets poisoned.

Any hog you see out in daylight needs to go to a rescue fast. They can die very quickly so we need to treat ASAP.

As far as putting out food. You can get hedgehog specific food that cats won't eat. If you put out cat biscuits or small dog biscuits it doesn't go off as fast as meat but cats will take it. It's very easy to make a feeding station that hogs can get into and cats can't. They work extremely well and keep the food dry, plus, you know where the hogs are going to go so if you put it somewhere you can watch from the house you'll have hours of entertainment.

If you do a Google search for 'hedgehog feeding station' you'll find various ideas. The simplest is bricks on their edge, 4 inch gap as a door, and a paving slab over the top.