AIBU to feed our local hedgehog visitor?

[Titsalinabumsquash]

We have a little hedgehog come into our front garden every night, I leave a saucer of water out for him (we've named him Paulo) and after reading it on our local wildlife hospitals Facebook page I also left out some chopped up hard boiled eggs.

The kids are loving waiting quietly to see if he comes every evening especially as 2 little kittens come and out and hang around him, today we went and got some hedgehog food from the garden centre.

We have put out some more water and some of the food and my neighbour was out in her garden.
She got all cats bum mouth about it and said I was encouraging local cats to run away from their homes and encouraging a pest problem with the 'disease ridden' hedgehogs.

So AIBU to feed the local wildlife?

Not all hedgehogs have fleas - mine didn't - but as far as I know they do all smell. Like really smell. Seriously bad. It's part of their defence mechanism, so the point of the smell is to deter animals who weren't put off by their spikes. They are adorable though, and they do need human friends so do whatever you can for them!

I would love to set up a feeding station, only worried it would attract rats though?

why are they in decline??

No one knows for sure why there has been such a dramatic decline in numbers (something like 35 million in the 60's and now fewer then 1 million) but it's most like due to things like habitat loss through housing developments and agriculture maintaining larger fields etc., being killed on the roads, the use of pesticides and slug pellets and people fencing off their gardens completely so hedgehogs have nowhere to go (and then they get eaten by badgers).

It's very sad, hedgehogs are a bit of a national symbol in my opinion. So if you want to help hedgehogs consider putting a little hole in your fence for them to come through (they won't damage plants or give your dog fleas), set up a feeding station or hedgehog hotel and so on. The British Hedgehog Preservation Society has lots of great info on how you can help them!

No, it sounds like you're doing a great job. We had a big hedgehog visitor one evening and put out some water for it, but sadly it didn't come back. I love hedgehogs and would love to see more in our garden.

RoseyHope, does it hurt (you) to hold the hedgehog like that? Were you getting prickled?

yanbu at all

you are feeding him/her the right food

we used to get hedgehogs and feed them cat food as that is what we had been advised to feed them they would come every year and bring their babies they are so so cute

I have not seen a hedgehog for years :( they are lovely little animals

we had a hedgehog over winter.
it was too small to hibernate and also had an injury.
was great fun seeing this marvelous creature recover.
we fed cat food, cooked veg and boiled eggs (advice from vet). if came back every day after we released it. for years!

gingerandcoffee

Not at all! He's quite light so there's not as much pressure, and the spines tend to sit relatively at an angle when they're relaxed; it's when they get huffy that they stick them out straight and then it hurts!

Yep gingerandcoffee what Rosey said, if they aren't curled up in a ball the spines don't stick out. I pick up un-curled ones with bare hands.

I have only ever seen one hedgehog but that was because I had to rescue it from my dog trying to eat it. Was all curled in a ball :-(

I just put it out of danger from the dog. I hope it's okay.

thats a shocking decline in numbers

I support our local Hedgehog Hospital. The lady said that roadkill accounts for quite a few, because they're such primitive creatures they don't understand about traffic. Also, they trundle about and fall into ponds/pools. My wildlife pool has a 'beach' so they can climb out again. They must never be given milk as it causes bad diarrhoeia. They eat any kind of catfood except fishy stuff. She has a kind vet who comes to treat the hedgehogs for lungworm, a very common affliction, to sort out injuries and to deflea them safely. She also told me that garden machinery causes terrible injuries; legs cut through by strimmers etc. They do pong a bit. She has several sheds where the poorly ones overwinter, and there's a distinctive odour. She even has an albino female, who she keeps in her garden as it's old and a bit frail. I help with fundraising, and at their open day. Lovely little creatures and well worth saving.
Tell that silly woman to go and boil her head. She sounds like one of those people who go "Yeeeeew! Yuk!" at everything. Mrs Cat's-Bum-Face.

Thanks, that's good to know. I think I'd like to hold a hedgehog then. They're very cute.

Catsbummouthlady is an idiot! Hogs need our help as they are in decline due to overly tidy gardening practices (people sweeping up leaves and having gravel where they used to have bushes), loss of hedgerows, pesticides, impenetrable fencing and competition for food.

A hedgehog home would be very welcome, fresh water each day and a little cat/dog food (no fish). Put it down at dusk as that's when they start being active. You could set camera trap to watch him

Leave leaf piles and compost heap in disturbed in case he hibernates there.

*undisturbed

No YANBU, feed it if you like.
One thing to bear in mind though is that you will be making the hedgehogs reliant on you for food so if you begin feeding you MUST continue. If you want to stop for any reason you need to gradually reduce portions, then miss the odd night here and there so the feeding peters out and then stop altogether. If you suddenly withdraw food if will have serious consequences for the animals who have come to rely on you and many may even die as a direct result.

We had a hedgehog which we fed every night, eventually two little hoglets joined their mum for the nighttime feed. It was lovely.

My granddad fed hedgehogs for years. Sadly where I live we don't seem to have any but I'd happily feed them. They eat slugs and I know it U but I can't deal with slugs.

In my last house we had a large garden of about half an acre. I took a lot of trouble to make it wildlife friendly. Huge piles of logs, 'overgrown' corners, piles of dead leaves and twigs, a butterfly-bee flower bed, bat boxes, owl boxes, tit boxes, a huge natural pond (no koi or other fish) and even a mini woodland shady trail with British ferns and foxgloves etc. My goodness the wildlife that arrived in droves! Several hedgehog families, all kinds of deer (muntjac, fallow) foxes, pheasants, partridges, frogs, newts, dragonflies; you name it, it was going like a fair. You only have to provide the necessary habitat and you see all sorts. There's a campaign on at the moment I think, encouraging people to 'invite' wildlife in with small additions to the garden. It's relatively inexpensive to do and the absolute joy it gives you is priceless.

you MUST NOT give fish based cat food
no idea why
dog food is much preferred
have fun

We used to have a family of them living under our shed but I haven't seen them for a very long time. They were never bothered by us or our cats and would ignore us when we were using the patio, waddling past to the shrubbery to feed.

I think the best though was hearing a weird noise one summer evening and finding one had climbed up the step to our back door and was in the kitchen helping itself to the cat biscuits! The cat wasn't very amused but just sat watching it

Apparently they struggle to digest fish and it can give them diarrhoea from anecdotal reports from wildlife rehabbers. Not seen anything published on it but we'd rather be cautious and advise against feeding fish. Poor hogs have enough to deal with :(

I love hedgehogs!

I have just googled hedgehog poo in the hope that I have hogs in the garden. I'm so jealous of you people with resident hedgehogs. I have a lovely overgrown garden. And I know they are in the area as sadly I've seen them flattened on the roads nearby

RE hedgehog fleas . My hairy bichon picked them up from a hedgehog that we were minding.It took a few hours to remove the friggers.
but YANBU.