How do I know if it's a hedgehog?

[AintNobodyHereButUsChickens]

When we moved into our house 4 years ago, we had 2 hedgehogs in our garden both within a few weeks of each other. I got excited and immediately purchased a hedgehog house and set it up in the front garden. However, the house remains unlived in and we haven't seen any hogs since, until last night when DH spotted one running across the road from our garden to over the road neighbours garden.

I put some dog food out next to the hog house and this morning it's all gone! How do I know if it WAS a hedgehog and not just a rat or something? I don't want to keep putting food out just to discover I'm literally putting food on a platter for the local rat population (FYI, we've never seen a rat nor had any sign of them even though we feed the birds!)

How has this thread gone from 'Are hedgehogs eating the food?' To 'How do hedgehogs do the nasty?' 😂😂

We've got a pair of hedgehogs in our hedgehog house. We thought there was only one until I heard them mating a couple of weeks ago. DH thought I was mad when I brought the house a couple of years ago but he's obsessed with it now. We've got a camera set up on it. They do eat the food but not all of it, the jackdaws finish it off just after sunrise.

TheFairyCaravan does that make your dh a voyeur??