Mr and Mrs Hedgehog and family

[happyjo]

Hi

We have a family of hedgehogs living in our garden... they used to help themselves to the contents of our binbags and feast on our scraps...

Recently our council have introduced wheelie bins and we no longer have any bags in our garden...

Last night mr H was scurrying around looking slightly thinner and he scuttled away empty pawed..

Can anyone suggest some food I can leave out for them that the local cats wont eat... what is the best time to feed them too

Thanks in Advance
JO x

[jules77]

They like dog food, think only a very hungry cat would eat dog food - could you wait until you see them in the garden before putting it out?

[jules77]

This is a good site to look at - pictures of poor little hedgehogs with their heads stuck in plastic cups when they have been foraging for food, or through the plastic things that hold tin cans in packs

http://www.hedgehogrescue.co.uk/

[jane1098]

i've heard of cat food and strawberries but its best to leave them to it just incase...

[jane1098]

oh at night when you're outside having a fag or watering the garden (so you can scare off the cats)

[plowter]

You local Wildlife Trust might be able to offer some practical advice. These links might help:

Wildlife Turst

Tiggywinkles
(See Emergencies > Hedgehogs > Factsheets)

Hedgehogs

[happyjo]

Thanks guys!!!

We love our hedgehogs.... only a couple of weeks ago I met mr H up close and personal...

I opened my back door ( for a fag...tut tut I know) and I looked down and practically stood on Mr H who was next to a bin bag I had put outside our door an hour before...

He curled up and froze... I took a pic of him and returned inside... An hour or so later, I went out again and saw that he had gone... but noticed a large hole in the bin bag...... I stood there smoking and almost jumped out of my skin when the bag started moving.... Mr H was inside the bag, feasting on our scraps!!! bless him...

Thanks for your tips

Jo x

[Kleiber]

Hi, happyjo - funny you should post this tonight - I've just let the dogs out before bed-time & they were very interested in something under the bird feeder station. When I went ot see what it was, there was a lovely hedgehog! It didn't curl up, but just sat there, so I put the dogs in & got some cat food for it. When I took it out, the little guy was snuffling away in the long grass! Although I live in the country, I haven't seen a hedgehog in my garden for about 4 years, so was really pleased to see this one. There are loads of slugs & snails for him/her to eat and a pile of old wood for it to hibernate in. I hope it stays. Kxx

[chappie]

We put out dried mealworms for the hedgehogs and they love them. They are expensive to buy, but last for ages and we think they are worth the money.

Tonight we had 3 hedgehogs all shuffling around the dish to get at the worms. It was so funny to watch.

[Kleiber]

Cheers, InAPickle - that's really useful! K xx

[bekka]

We have a couple of families of them...nest of one under the shed...the males from each family will fight over the food.

Best time to put out is at dusk...although if they are hungry they will come earlier.

Dried cat food and a dish of water...ours swing between a drink then a mouthful of food then a drink-food and so on...nice to watch.

Not a lot you can do about wandering cats eating the food...we just keep an eye out for them.

They will be hibernating soon and need to fatten up to survive...there are a few good sites on the net to get info on there habits etc.

[Bellringer]

As an alternative to dried meal worms try suet, the sort you cook with. The cheap supermarket stuff is great, the beasties don't care how much it costs.