Hedgehogs

[Whickerman]

For the past few weeks a fine looking hedgehog has been feeding himself from our cat's bowl, he now comes back pretty much every night and is getting used to having us come out to see him. He is, of course, very welcome. But I also seem to have quite a few slugs in the garden / on walls this year and I know that hedgehogs eat these. How can I coax him into hunting these, without completely removing the cat food? The family are happy with his visits so removing the food and thus putting him off isn't really the best option

[razza]

Just put a very small portion of food out,that way he wont have had his fill and then he will go foraging for more food and he will keep returning knowing there is some food there.

[TTG]

Put a dish of what slugs are attracted to (sorry, don't have suggestions!) near where the hedgehog feeds. Maybe just put a bit less food out for the hedgehog.

[Whickerman]

hi guys - thanks for the suggestions, will give it a try

[mrs.chappie]

With a bit of luck, you might find that he goes off the cat food and starts looking for alternatives.

I have hedgehogs from the hedgehog hospital in my garden. One of them can't be returned to the wild as she had her nose sliced off by a garden strimmer and she would not survive (as you probably know, hedgehogs rely on their sense of smell to sniff out their food).

She occasionally leaves the cat food untouched. Mind you, I do spoil the hedgehogs with occasional treats of soaked mealworms. (And my hubby is even softer than me - he has, on occasion, hand fed them slugs he has found in our garden).

[rowanwitch]

Check the cat food doesn't contain fish....it is better if they have all meat.... Dead jealous we had a hedgie for a few years but we haven't seen him this spring he was a big beggar..even so he may have been finished off by the cold winter I'd use beer traps and keep feeding