Attracting hedgehogs

rooftop · #1 (**permalink**) 24-08-2011, 10:45 AM

Hi Wabbers,
I'm trying to attract hedgehogs into our (wildlife friendly) garden and wanted a bit of advice on leaving food out for them.
I'm told pet food is good for them, but should it be dried or 'fresh' from a tin?
Also What's the best way of protecting that food from nosey cats and foxes who I'm sure will realise its been left out?
Lastly how long should I try doing this for, if there are 'hogs around do they find left out food quit quickly?
Ta Wabbers,
Rooftop

tigertom · #2 (**permalink**) 24-08-2011, 02:00 PM

I have hogs in my garden and the food I put out is a mix of iams kitten roast chicken or iams adult lamb with dried mealworms and wildly tasty insect medley( from wilkos ) pea nuts and sunflower hearts if you do gets cats comeing in leave the cat food out, all so put out some water as well if you have hogs around were you live they will find bit but make sure they can get in to your garden I have made some gaps under my fence for them. Good luck

MIKE

rooftop · #3 (**permalink**) 24-08-2011, 02:40 PM

Thanks Mike..paws crossed!

ediblehedge · #4 (**permalink**) 24-08-2011, 03:01 PM

Hi there,
We have lots of hogs, foxes and cats in our garden and we've seen the hogs eat different things at different times of the year. Fallen apples and the grubs around the apples seem to be a favourite at the end of summer. I also scatter sunflower hearts and a few dried mealworms around the patio and they're all gone in the morning.
I was putting out more food but our fox family of 8 were devouring it all and so the hogs were out numbered! However with that in mind, our garden camera picks up lots of hogs drinking water and also eating the sunflower seeds.
I think if you have a wildlife garden, then they should be able to find lots to eat, like beetles etc and they keep the slugs and snails down too.
You could check out the different hedgehog houses/feeders as I'm thinking about getting one too, but I'm not sure they'll actually use it? The cat food could be put in there and then the cats and foxes can't get to it.
I've also heard that they like chicken flavour and not anything fishy.

We see hogs just as it starts to go dark sometimes but often they don't come until 11'ish. We have lots of holes through our fences and our main gate has a cut out for them. There's also areas in the garden that are kept wild and so they seem to be quite happy there and also in the more gardened areas.
Hope this helps!